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Tuesday 8 April 2014

A-Z Challenge 2014 - 'G'


G - German Shepherd, Great Dane, Greyhound.

We met Axel as an Alsatian under 'A' and here he is again.


Axel - German Shepherd (Alsatian)
I mentioned then that German Shepherds were in demand as police dogs. They are also used as guard dogs at many military establishments.

MOD Guard Service Dog Handler
at Army Air Force station at Middle Wallop
(Open Government Licence v1.0 - source http://www.defenceimagery.mod.up)
In my North Yorkshire village a German Shepherd, called Kaiser has to do as it is told.

By Marley, a Great Dane
I've known Marley from when he barely came up to my knee, Now he is as tall as my waist; he is really gentle and will pose properly for his photo, not at all jealous of Kaiser.

Marley and Kaiser
You don't have to be a Manchester United football fan to have heard of Peter Schmeichel, goalkeeper at the heart of many of their spectacular successes. It case you didn't know, his nickname was "Great Dane."

Another great Dane in the literary field was Hans Christian Andersen. His fairy tale "The Tinderbox"was about a soldier who acquired a magic tinderbox capable of summoning three powerful dogs to do his bidding. Unfortunately the tale does not tell us what breed they were.

If like me you are fan of cartoons. then you will know that Scooby-Doo was based on a Great Dane by his creator.

A Great Dane was the only dog to be officially enlisted in the Royal Navy during WWII, It served at the RN shore establishment at Simonstown in South Africa from 1939-1944. It had a memorable name and was honoured by a memorial statue.

Just Nuisance's statue erected at Simonstown in 1985
(Artist Jean Doyle - photo by Jon Plowman - CC BY-SA 3.0)
When it comes to racing Mick the Miller (1926-1939) was the world's most famous greyhound. Somehow I don't think that Sapphire, owned by J K Rowling, will receive an accolade like that. For a greyhound depicted as a statue you may have to travel to the Isle of Wight off England's south coast. There you will find EOS the dog once owned by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert..

EOS statue - Terrace Gardens, Osborne House, IOW
(By Chris Newman, 30 Apr 2008 - Geograph Project Collection - CC BY-SA 2.0)
It's unlikely that my local greyhound will have a statue either, A rescued greyhound she is very much alive.

In her winter coat.





9 comments:

David Robinson said...

Brilliant pictures, Bob, and I love dogs of all shapes and sizes.

Duncan D. Horne - the Kuantan blogger said...

I was going to mention Peter Schmeichel, the Great Dane, and then I noticed you had wrote that! The best goalkeeper ever, he was :)

Teaching English with Mr. Duncan
A-Z of hotels

Anonymous said...

love dogs but husband is allergic to them, my dream dog is a lab or a beagle.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Bob - lovely photos .. and to read about the dogs at work. I certainly can't remember seeing Just Nuisance, but now you mention him - I'm sure I've heard about him.

I want to visit Osborne ... so will get to see EOS ... my 'aunt' in South Africa had Alsations .. and now of course when I think about it - so did my uncle, who I looked after here, but once their old friend had gone they decided no more .. though he did love talking about his 'puppies' ...

And I'm sure you remember the Alsations lined up at the Police College or Army base was it - a classic .. that was framed in their home.

Cheers and fun to see .. Hilary

Donna Smith said...

Lots of dogs in our lives. I always enjoy seeing pictures and learning about different breeds.
Donna Smith
The A-to-Z Challenge
http://mainelywrite.blogspot.com
Mainely Write

Jo said...

Lovely pictures. I didn't know of any of the famous dogs. Nor the soccer goalie. I've told you, I think, we use to have three German Shepherds when we lived in England and belonged to the British Alsatian Society. Was very involved in training them at that time.

Michelle Wallace said...

A dog is a man's best friend... sounds cliched but it's true!
Thanks for visiting my blog!

Liz Brownlee said...

Oooh, that Hans Christian Anderson story made me have nightmares as a child... the eyes, the eyes!

I have a working assistance dog - she is a miniature labradoodle! She is on my blog as well as me... latest post about her is Zoo (2) where she visits the zoo.

Liz http://www.lizbrownleepoet.com

Lisa said...

Some friends of mine have a rescued greyhound and they love her. She is very friendly, and sneaky. She can reach the meat on your counter and take it before you can stop her!