Evening star., 1940-04-14
KEEPING TAB ON THE DOC WORLD
News of Leaders in Dogdom and Their Masters Comments
Breeds Notes Shows Here and Elsewhere
By r. r. Tay,,fon.

By r. r. TaynfoM.
When the British laid seige to
the royal palace In Peking In 1890
they carried OF more than the usual
war loot. In one OF the royal
chambers they found the body, Of
the aunt Of the Empress who had
Just committed suicide. Guarding
her were I'VE little dogs Of . type
not heretofore seen. These five,
four bitches and q dog, were the
foundation Of the British Pekingese
fancy and. through England, the
American. Hytien. one Of the i've,
was presented to the Duchess Of
wellington; two were given to the
Duchess Of Richmond and Gordon
and were the foundation Of the
famous doodwood strain. A couple
Of years later Gen. Dunn presented
q parti-color bitch to Queen Vic
toria, who named her Looty.
The age Of the Pekingese as a
separate breed is lost in the mists
of antiquity. A Korean bronze
dating from 1000 B. G. is q model
Of the Pekingese. In 1900 B. G. the
Dalai Lama Of Tibet paid to the
Emperors Of China, as part Of his
annual tribute, number Of lion
dogs. There Is little doubt that
the lion dogs Of Tibet, now known
as lhassa terriers, and the Pekingese
Of the ancient Chinese palace, were
very closely related, II not identical.
Since the ownership of the
Fekingese outside the royal family
In China was q crime punishable
by death the blood of this type of
dog was kept free from mixture
with other breeds or inferior strains.
While no pedigrees of the court
favorites were kept the breeding
was skillfully done and the Chinese
in charge Of the dogs had very good
memories for the genealogy Of their
wards.
The show career OF the Pekingese
started In 1893 when Lotus Allen
presented to his wife Pekin Peter,
which was shown at the Chester
show, winning flrst In the foreign
dog class over an entry which con-
tained elbows, Samoyedes and other
large dogs. Later Peter was sold
to Mrs. H. Kingscote, for whom he
sired the second Pekingese cham
pion in England. It was in 1900
that the last two dogs from the
palace, Glenbrane Boxer and,
Guiana. were imported by Maj.
Gwynne.
Came TO America.
A number Of the dogs from the
royal palace found their way to
America, although, unfortunately.
they were not much used for breed
Ing In this country. The dowager
empress, Tzu Hsi, liked Americans,
and as a token Of her esteem pre-
sented to q number Of them the
royal dogs. The first so presented
was given to DR.. Mary Cotton, a
black dog named Chau Chung,
which subsequently became the first
American Peke champion. Others
who received dogs from the en-
press were ]. Pierpont Morgan and
Alice Roosevelt.
Pekingese were first exhibited in
this country in 1901 at the Phila-
delphia show by Mrs. Eva Guyer
and A. ]. s. Edwards. In 1905, the
Westminster Kennel Club provided
separate classes for this breed. And
tn 1909, the Pekingese Club Of
America was founded by DR.. Mary
Cotton, Mr.. and Mrs. Mandy, Mrs.
B. Guinness, Anna Sands and Mrs.
Philip Lydig. At the first spe-
cialty show held by this club, in
1911, 81 dogs were entered. Two
years later. almost twice that num-
ber were shown at the specially
show.
While the unthinking person may
consider lion dog a far-fetched
name for this diminutive member OF
the canine family, it Is nevertheless
q name that Is highly appropriate.
Not only Is the dog on-shaped, with
his heavy front. thick name and
lighter, pear-shaped body, but he
~ q LULA AOA CVO4 age. NV Alu1Qdl II
too big for the Pekingese to defy,
and attack on occasion. In his ma
tive home. he is the king of dogs, as
the lion is the king Of other beasts.
The bright, yellow-red dogs of this
breed are known as Sun Dogs, while
the tiny specimens which often
appear in ordinary ntters, and weigh
less than 6 pounds at maturity, are
called sleeve dogs, because they were
carried in the capacious sleeves Of
their Chinese owners.
Established Traits.
The Pekingese has many distinc-
tions, not least among them q
unique standard written by the
Empress TZu Hsi. Among other
things, she says: Let the lion dog
be small; let it wear the, swelling
cape of dignity around its neck !;
let it display the billowing standard
of pomp above It's back. =" Let
its body be shaped like that Of a
hunting lion spying for its prey.
Let it comport itself with dignity;
let it learn to bite the foreign devils