OPINION

OPINION | TOM DILLARD: Our statewide devotion to dogs

Dogs are among the original settlers of Arkansas. The first humans to reach the state arrived more than 10,000 years ago, most likely accompanied by their dogs.

European breeds were brought to the Americas with the arrival of the Spanish, and since then generations of Arkansans have shared their lives with dogs.

Scholars disagree about the specifics of dog domestication, but genetic studies have verified that dogs evolved from gray wolves. Recent research suggests domestication possibly began more than 100,000 years ago--long before humans settled into village life.

Dogs served as guards, as skilled partners in the hunt, and as beasts of burden by numerous North American native peoples. Until the coming of Europeans, the dog was one of only seven domesticated animals in the New World (the largest being the llama; the smallest a stingless bee).

Some Indian groups consumed dogs as food, including the Quapaws, who served dog meat at least on special occasions. The Nez Perce Indians greeted the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1806 with a warm welcome, but were appalled to learn that the white men ate dogs. Even Meriwether Lewis, who loved dogs and brought his dog Seaman along on the expedition, relished dog meat.

The dog was well ensconced in American culture long before 1803 when Arkansas and the rest of the Louisiana Purchase was acquired from the French. In 1818, while Arkansas was still a part of Missouri Territory, a young mineralogist named Henry Rowe Schoolcraft made a circuitous journey through the Ozarks, discovering that the early settlers had a special relationship with their dogs: "The hunter [meaning settler], although habitually lazy ... is nevertheless a slave to his dog, the only object around him to which he appears really devoted."

Likewise, Frederick Gerstacker, a German hunter and visitor to Arkansas in 1837-43, found that dogs had a special place in the hearts of Arkansas hunters. Arriving decked out in a green leather jacket and thigh-high laced leather boots, Gerstacker, looking like a pudgy and bearded Peter Pan, took his time in exploring the verdant forests and fields of Arkansas Territory. He especially became fond of a hound named Beargrease, a dog of such bravery that Lassie would sulk away in shame.

Beargrease was a natural for hunting bears, of which Arkansas had a huge population.

At the same time Gerstacker was enjoying his sojourn in the hunter's paradise that was early Arkansas, dogs were being used to track down runaway slaves, a process which sometimes resulted in severe injuries for the fugitive.

The old-world tradition of using dogs to hunt foxes found an eager acceptance in America and early Arkansas. However, instead of riding to the hounds in the British tradition, Arkansas fox hunters received great joy in merely listening to hounds. Each foxhound had a distinctive voice, allowing the owner to follow the progress of his dog.

Jim Myrick, a famed foxhound trainer born near Mena in Polk County in 1903, took a liking to fox hunting at age 7: "While yet in the first grade in school I laid awake many nights and listened to the sweet notes of [neighbor] Mr. Waters' fox horn and the melodious pack running a fox."

Myrick later published a memoir titled "Life Behind the Chase" in which he likened fox hunting to a religious experience: "Once you have heard the chase, you are born again ... and fox hunters are rarely made, they are born with this gift."

While a fox hunt might include many people, using dogs to hunt raccoons was usually done by individuals or perhaps with a son or friend. In 1911, a Pulaski County coon hunter named Tom Cody, who had consumed too much alcohol and went to sleep on a sidewalk after a hunt, was hauled before the Little Rock Police Court.

When the presiding judge asked about Cody's coon dogs, the defendant launched into a tribute to his hunting dogs: "Judge, you ain't seen no coon dogs till you git this here bunch o' mine strung out after a ole ram coon down in the bottoms."

Cody went on to say that listening to his coon dogs was like hearing the Lord's Prayer sung at far distance, whereupon the judge dismissed the charge, explaining "... a man with good coon dogs has a Christian duty to hunt, and if he hunts at night he has to sleep in the day."

Dogs have played important roles in both warfare and policing work. The Spanish made effective use of "dogs of war," huge mastiffs in many cases which, along with horses, caused panic among the Indians. It was Hernando de Soto, gold seeker and practiced killer of Indians, who in 1541 brought European dogs to what is today Arkansas. Included among the dogs was his favorite greyhound, Bruto.

During the Civil War a surprising number of officers in both armies took dogs into the service. U.S. Army General Alexander Ashboth rode into the Battle of Pea Ridge with his dog York running and barking alongside the general's horse.

Police departments in Arkansas were using dogs by 1913, six years after New York City initiated canine patrols. Argenta had two police dogs in 1913, and their activities were frequently covered in the local press.

Little Rock added dogs to its police force in 1914 at the insistence of police judge Fred Isgrig, who thought the dogs "will be useful in bringing down fleeing Negroes or other people ..." A few larger police departments purchased bloodhounds, which were especially useful for tracking jail escapees or finding missing people.

As time passed, Arkansas cities--like municipalities across the nation--began taxing dogs. That story and so much more dog history will be addressed in a future column.

Tom Dillard is a historian and retired archivist living with his wife Mary and her Yorkshire terrier near Glen Rose in Hot Spring County. Email him at Arktopia.td@gmail.com.

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