The book uncovers, in great depth and with much insight, the invention of dog breeds in Victorian Britain. Eschewing futile attempts to locate the origins of dog breeds, the book shows how dog breeds were constructed in Victorian Britain as dog breeders adopted livestock breeders’ emphasis on purity, lineage and blood. Rather than simply reflecting pre-existing canine diversity, dog breeders drew out and isolated elements within the existing varied mass of dogs to create distinct breeds of dogs. The authors provide the telling example of how Newfoundlands went from being a physically diverse type of dog to become ‘the Newfoundland’ distinguished by their black coats and other specific physical attributes. A focus on – some might say obsession with – appearance through the concept of confirmation to breed standards drove dog breeding. Breeders aimed to produce dogs who conformed closely to breed standards and who could clearly be distinguished from other types of dog. These breeds could then be refined and reproduced. Modern dog breeding emerged within the shifting economic, social and cultural history of Victorian Britain, including the rise of consumerism, imperialism and the veneration of ‘order and hierarchy’ (p. 7). Breeding transformed attitudes towards dogs and canine bodies, and Worboys, Strange and Pemberton argue convincingly that the new breeding ideas and practices made dogs modern. To support their argument, the authors draw on a wide range of primary sources, including the sporting press, breed publications and breed histories.
Building on and expanding the arguments of Harriet Ritvo's The Animal Estate (1987), the authors draw out the complexities of dog breeding, and show how its history shifted over the nineteenth century as rural aristocratic breeders gave way to urban middle- and working-class breeders. Like Ritvo, they pay close attention to how cultural values found expression in canine breeds and bodies, and focus on deep empirical research rather on the theoretical debates that animate animal studies. This approach succeeds in bringing out the diversity of dog breeding along regional, class and gender lines. Nonetheless, the authors accord more agency to dogs than Ritvo did, and pay more attention to the materiality of dog breeding, not least its impact on canine bodies.
The book's narrative starts at the beginning of the nineteenth century when dogs were divided into loose groups (shepherd dogs, lapdogs, pointers) bred and promoted by various groups, including aristocratic hunters and working-class men who bred for sport and looks (the ‘dog fancy’) and who founded breed clubs and held shows, often in public houses. Physical uniformity was not expected within these types and more emphasis was placed on dogs’ characters and abilities. Cross-breeding was more than acceptable, and nor did ‘cur’ and ‘mongrel’ have the pejorative connotations that they would have by the end of the nineteenth century. A major turning point occurred in the 1860s when the emergence of larger dog shows in northern cities and in London opened up dog breeding to more and more Victorians. The shows brought together different social classes and sparked controversy over the standards of judging and their lurid commercialism. In response, John Henry Walsh, editor of The Field, proposed more objective breeding standards under which dogs would be awarded points for their confirmation to an ideal breed type (the first being a pointer called Major in 1865).
The disagreements amongst the promoters of various dog shows rumbled on, with the National Dog Club in Birmingham and the Committee of Gentlemen in London battling for supremacy. The latter eventually morphed into the Kennel Club in 1873, which prevailed over its rivals. Its name, membership and aims denoted exclusivity at the expense of working-class breeders and shows. Worboys, Strange and Pemberton give an excellent overview of the development of the Kennel Club, its attempts to improve dog breeds and make dog shows more respectable, and the creation of its famous stud book, which was intended to provide clarity about a dog's pedigree to avoid corruption and deceit. The expanding specialist canine press and regional specialist breed clubs challenged its authority, but the Kennel Club accommodated the latter by allowing them to set breed standards.
The narrative then shifts to an analysis of breeders’ attempts to improve and resituate breeds, such as the Irish wolfhound, and debates over how to achieve purity of blood, which raised questions about inbreeding and ‘telegony’. Scientific theories came to inform breeding as Everett Millais sought to bring Frances Galton's ideas on heredity to breeders and combat distemper at dog shows. The biggest scientific impact, though, came from Spratt's and other manufacturers of pre-prepared dog food, who claimed that their products offered modern and rational ways of feeding pedigree dogs. Throughout the book, Worboys, Strange and Pemberton show how the rise of dog breeding was always met with controversy. This was especially true at the end of the nineteenth century when critics attacked the cropping and docking of tails, the degeneration of dogs in the pursuit of breed standards, and the sexism of the dog show world.
Worboys, Strange and Pemberton do an excellent job in outlining the transformation of ideas and practices towards dogs in Victorian Britain. They show convincingly that breeds are social constructions and eminently malleable. Ironically, the ideology of improvement that underscored breeding meant that breeds constantly changed despite breeders’ veneration of ancestry and pure blood. This excellent book is well researched, fluently written and beautifully presented, and will become required reading for those interested in animal history, Victorian Britain and the popularization of science. The book should also provide a spur for further research on the spread and contestation of dog breeds around the world, and the impact of genetics on dog breeding in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
