Our dog of the day is the bloodhound, or at least it is in the British Isles, for in Europe it is called Le Chien de Saint-Hubert, after the Abbey of Saint-Hubert, in Belgium, where it was first bred, in 1000 AD. Though we think the monks got the first pair from France.
Strange then, that to this day it has a reputation for hunting and tracking people, and is most connected with being the dog the police send out after criminals.
What we do not know is where its extraordinarily great ability to follow a scent, sometimes mant moons after the person who left it has moved on. But today it also has a more pleasing use, finding people who have wandered away or lost their bearings, and sometimes reuniting straying pets with their worried owners.
Our card shows a liver coloured dog with a black marking on its back, which is amusingly called a saddle. Here the saddle is dark, but genetics can make it lighter, or not present at all.
So confusion reigns but I think this is the right set, do tell if not. It is described in our original Wills booklets as :
- DOGS (1915-16) - Dark backgrounds. Large cards, size 79 x 62 m/m. Fronts lithographed in colour. Backs in grey. with descriptive text. Home issues.
182. 25. "A Series of 25" . issued 1915
183. 25 "2nd Series of 25" Issued 1916.
We get the May 1914 issue date from Wills themselves from that handy list which was printed in their "Works Magazine" and reprinted by us in a hardback version of all the Wills reference books as a single volume. The second series was issued in June, 1915