An April Fool's Test

On this April Fool's Day, let's explore the bunk, blarney, and fraud endemic to so many dog breed histories.

First, let us start with a generalized guide to bunko.

The secret is to slip a plausible lie between the pages of truth, while occasionally telling a truth that is so outrageous that your audience breaks its pick checking it for fraud.

For examples of the former, I recently posted the following breed histories to Facebook.

** Belgium's Lost Breed of Shepherd
** The Carter Pocket Terrier
** The Genenessee Valley Beaver Dog
** The Kill Devil Terrier
** The Bactrian Terrier
** The North American Pocket Lurcher
** The Monopoloy Game's Tort Terrier
** The Scarlett Point Terrier
** The Heugervein Wall Dog

How many readers thought these breed "histories," complete with links to detailed source material, were real? 

More than a few!

But what about truth that sounds like bunko?  For an example of that, see these old missives:

** The Congo Terrier
** Poodles in the Iditarod

The typical dog breed history is complete nonsense, but it’s nonsense that follows a basic structure based around a predicable set of content.

As an example of that phenomenon, I point to the alleged history of the "Coton de Tulear" dog (When Wild Poodles Roamed Africa), where we find the basics:

1. A specific location of creation, preferably exotic (Madagascar!);
2. An ancient "possible" provenance (somewhere back there in a 200-year span of time);
3. A big dollop of romance (Pirates!)
4. A weak claim for work (any dog can rat and rabbit);
5. A very recent date of Kennel Club registration (early-1970s);
6. A named person or two who "discovered" the dog (and who put together all of this nonsense "history");
7. A bit of ancillary garbage to give the illusion of granular detail;
8. A putative claim that the dog is descended from some other dog lost in the mists of time (in this case a "Tenerife Terrier").

To cap it all off, I added this TRUE story of April Fool's Day, and yes I can associate it with a true terrier story.

From Wikipedia: "A disputed association between April 1 and foolishness is in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (1392). In the 'Nun's Priest's Tale', a vain cock Chauntecleer is tricked by a fox 'on Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two.' Readers apparently understood this line to mean "32 March", i.e. April 1."

Perhaps this is true. Who is to say?

What is true is that the Tower of London once housed a menagerie or "bestiary" with a fantastic assortment of creatures, ranging from wolves, lions, and leopards to giraffes, monkeys, and tigers.

The "Tiger Tower" stood for over 600 years (beginning in the 1230s), and was located where the gift shop at the Tower of London is now situated. This precursor to the London Zoo provided London residents with a glimpse of the fauna to be found in the larger world.

Among the famous who visited were Samuel Pepys, William Blake (who illustrated his poem “The Tyger" after sketching the animal from life at the Tower), and one Geoffrey Chaucer who worked at the Tower for two years (1389-1390).

A terrier features prominently in the closing of the Tiger Tower. By the early 1830s, the close quarters and poor condition of the animals kept at the Tower had become a minor issue. Exotic animals expired with some regularity. They were difficult to replace, and their death made for poor public relations.

Things came to a head on April 29, 1834, when a "large and furious" wolf managed to slip out of his cage inside the Tiger Tower. The wolf immediately headed for the interior of the Tower across a short moat, but he was thwarted by a keeper - one Sergeant Cropper - who quickly shut a door to prevent the wolf from gaining further access.

Cropper's small terrier, always at his side, rushed in to do battle with the wolf. The terrier quickly realized it was over-matched, however, and it raced up the stairs into Cropper's little residence where his wife and daughter were located. The wolf, of course, followed close on his heels, and the battle continued inside the apartment. Once can only be imagine the carnage and sound that ensued, but the battle interlude gave the woman and girl time to flee, though it surely cost the terrier its life.

The wolf was eventually recaptured, but the Tiger Tower was closed the next year and the animals transferred to the newly opened London Zoo in Regent's Park.

In 1852, the Tiger Tower itself was destroyed, although the "Lion Gate" remains. This tale can be found in The Tower Menagerie by Daniel Hahn.

Finally, three tests of your bunko meter.  Are these statements true, or are they lies?  

1. In the 18th century the price for admission to the Tower of London menageries was three half-pence or the supply of a cat or dog to be fed to the lions.
2. The largest financial scam in the world was perpetrated by Bernie Madoff, and I knew all about this scam years before it was made public.
3. I used to be trapped in the body of a woman.