Today is Sarajevo Day (1914), a dreadful occasion, and also Stonewall Day (1969), an astounding occasion, but this posting has nothing to do with either of them. Instead, it’s a little present for my grand-daughter Opal, to whom the paucity of dog postings on this blog must be absolutely scandalous.
So, from Pinterest this morning, this group photo of the four types of Swiss Mountain Dogs:
(#1) [from the National Purebred Dog Day [May 1] site (“celebrating the heritage, diversity and predictability of the purebred dog”) on 2/27/17:] “The Greater Swiss Mountain Dog is the largest, the Entlebucher is the shortest, the Bernese Mountain Dog has the longest hair, and the Appenzeller Sennenhunde has a tail that curls”
A bit more on the one with the cute curly tail. From Wikipedia:
The Appenzeller Sennenhund is a medium-size breed of dog, one of the four regional breeds of Sennenhund-type dogs from the Swiss Alps. The name Sennenhund refers to people called Senn, herders in the Appenzell region of Switzerland [famous also for its cheese; see my 6/22 posting “Raw, firm, and tasty”].
(#2)
… The Appenzeller Sennenhund was originally kept primarily as a cattle-herding dog and a flock guardian. It was also used as a draft dog and general farm dog. The breed also was known for its affinity to both herd and guard with such devotion that they would give their lives to protect their charges. Today, the breed is primarily kept as companions, and excels in agility/flyball competitions, obedience competitions, and Schutzhund [a sport of protection dog training]. They are also still used in many places as working cattle dogs even now. They are highly intelligent and learn quickly.
Bring on the hard-working and highly companionable Swiss dogs!
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