The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-26

The Tallest Dog ON Record WAS 81
Inches High, the Heaviest WAS :3I
Pounds

Pounds.
From the London Field
The weights and dimensions of big dogs
are, from some cause or other. subject to
great exaggeration, almost as much so az
is the case with the captures of certain
anglers who desire to obtain the credit
of exceeding what has been accomplished
by some fellow disciple OF the gentle
craft 1t is not easy to understand why
the dog should be made the victim of such
methods for, not being such a perishable
commodity as the fishers prize. the OPP
portunity is always there to arrive at the
truth of the statement. "A dog as big as
a donkey is quite usual term to use
when an owner or admirer of some St
Bernard or Great Dane is expatating up-
on the merits of his favorites, and trav-
elers have repeatedly told us in similar
words of gigantic dogs they have seen
during their peregrinat ons in foreign
countries. We need scarcely point out
here that no dog has yet been produced
which is as big as an ordinary-sized ass,
whose measurement at the shoulders
would be from 10 TO IL hands which means
from 40 inches TO As inches
SO far as is known, the dog has not yet
been born which stands even SO inches at
the shoulders, and many animals whose
owners have claimed for them a hight Of
yard have, when put through careful
measuremC Mt, been proved to be nearly
half foot below the standard which hal
been made for them. This was especially
marked 1T the first show held by the Great
Dane Club in 1855 in the grounds Of The
Ranelagh Club near London Sundry
great dogs exhibited here. which tore the
reputation of being a yard or more In
night < ~ 1lg1
away terribly even to less than 30 inches
while the biggest hounds In the lot were
Mr.. Reginald Herbert's Leal and Mr. NJ
Ricgo's Cid Campeador, which were 1914
inches and 33ls inches in hight at the
shoulders respectively. Since that time
we have seen a bigger Great Dane than
either and possibly the heaviest, too, OF
lis race which has appeared In this
country. This was a dog belonging 10
Mr.. Woodruff Hill, called Moro. mis-
hight carefully measured, bsing "a inches.
AMI he weighed 1870 pounds.
The Great Dane must not, however be
taken as the tallest and heaviest variety
of the canine race, an honor which I'M
doubleday rests with the dog of st. Ber-
nard. Some writer's in the olden days
about the Irish wolfhound have claimed
for him extraordinary hight but hitherto
they have failed to produce proof Of their
statements, and it Is extremely probable
that the Irish wolfhound of to-day is a
bigger and even more powerful dog than
the historical creature usually coupled
with Ireland when she had King of her
own to rule her. There are, we believe,
at the present time three or four Irish
wolfhounds which I'm hight exceed by a
trifie the measurements given In connec-
ton with Great Danes. Mr.. Angeles Goth
H. stood "a inches at the shoulders; Mr.
Trainers Thuggum Thu was of equal
hight, and we fancy that Mrs. Williams
handsome couple of hounds, Dermot
Ashore and Wargrave, within a trine
approach that figure, while Mr.. G.. E.
Crisp's O'Leary, benched at the latest
Kennel Clubs show, went close up to 34A
inches al the shoulders. Perhaps the fin
est, if not actually the talest, Irish wolf
hound seen during the present generation
appeared at lslington in 1888. Col. Gar
nier's Merlin, which, though not fully
furnished, weighed $50 pounds and stood
"a inches at the shoulders. The chances
are he would have grown had he lived
but. like so many other good young. dogs
he fell a victim to disease developed at
the exhibition in question. Owing to his
somewhat graceful and slim build, the
Irish hound is not a heavy dog seldom
exceeding the weight Of Merlin.
The bloodhound and the Newfoundland
are sometimes placed under the category
of big dogs, but both fall short in hight
and weight when placed alongside other
equally popular varieties Then we have
repeatedly been told stories of the great
size of the mastifs of Thibet, the hight
and weight Of which were, It was said
only exceeded by their ferocity Speci-
mems have been occasionally imported to
this country and did not reach even a
hundred pounds in weight, and travellers
who have seen them in their native coun-
try have told us that the biggest soecl-
mems are inferior in size to our New
foundlands The borzois or Russian wolf
hounds are, as a rule pretty tall the
largest of them coming up to about 30
inches at the shoulder, but in weight they
are far behind many other varieties, about
seven stones of fourteen pounds each be-
ing the extreme the best hounds reach.
and the Scottish deerhounds are some few
POUNDS lighter and smaller generally.
There is a crossbred continental dog
known as the Leonberg which bears a
reputation for bgness, but any specim ms
seen in this country are almost diminutive
when placed alongside our biggest st. Bar-
nards. Some of the Pyrenean so-called
"sheepdogs so far as size is concerned.
compare fayoraby with our largest dogs
and few years ago, in 1891, the we'll
known London dealer. Wilson brought
a splendid specimen Of what he called an
Afghan sheepdog for us 10 see II stood
hard on 10 S5 inches at the shoulders, and
looked what il actually was. pretty wen
the tallcst dog we ever saw but IL was by
no means the heaviest
Our English mastiffs take but secoo-
dairy place wfth regard to hight but their
massive bodies and big bones enable them
TO come Out better, so far as weight is