The story of the thoroughly Victorian origins of dog breeds.
For centuries, different types of dogs were bred around the world for
work, sport, or companionship. But it was not until Victorian times that
breeders started to produce discrete, differentiated, standardized
breeds.
In The Invention of the Modern Dog, Michael Worboys, Julie-Marie
Strange, and Neil Pemberton explore when, where, why, and how Victorians
invented the modern way of ordering and breeding dogs. Though talk of
"breed" was common before this period in the context of livestock, the
modern idea of a dog breed defined in terms of shape, size, coat, and
color arose during the Victorian period in response to a burgeoning
competitive dog show culture. The authors explain how breeders,
exhibitors, and showmen borrowed ideas of inheritance and pure blood, as
well as breeding practices of livestock, horse, poultry and other fancy
breeders, and applied them to a species that was long thought about
solely in terms of work and companionship.
The new dog breeds embodied and reflected key aspects of Victorian
culture, and they quickly spread across the world, as some of Britain's
top dogs were taken on stud tours or exported in a growing international
trade. Connecting the emergence and development of certain dog breeds to
both scientific understandings of race and blood as well as Britain's
posture in a global empire, The Invention of the Modern Dog
demonstrates that studying dog breeding cultures allows historians to
better understand the complex social relationships of
late-nineteenth-century Britain.
