Sunday 21 July 2013

Moffat Companions




Recently I visited Scotland for the first time, one of the prettiest places I visited was the historic coaching town of Moffat. I haven't got a huge amount of Scottish dog photographs in my collection, but on my return from my trip sorting through my collection I found this photograph, taken where else but Moffat.

Here we have a man photographed by J. Weir with his Retriever companion. I can but speculate that the sitter enjoyed walking or rambling, wearing his tweed coat and deer stalker hat, carrying a stick. He also wears shoes deeply ridged tread, which I've never come across before.



His Retriever is old in years, greying around his face. Dog breeds in the 19th century were not nearly as refined as they are today. Hugh Dalziel and Pathfinder wrote in 1889:

I should be inclined to say that any specimen of the canine race which at first sight was not decidedly a pointer, setter, bloodhound, mastiff, sheep dog or terrier, so long as it had a suspicion of curl in its coat, a tendency to fetch and carry, and no decided aversion to water on a summer day, must be a retriever proper.

The reverse of the photograph


Sources:
  • Breaking and Training Dogs, 1889 by Pathfinder & Hugh Dalziel

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