Scottish deerhound wins at Westminster Dog Show
As some of you may have heard, a Scottish deerhound named Hickory (pictured above) won Best in Show at the 2011 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York earlier this week.
I'm not much of a "dog person", but I couldn't help noticing this particular bit of news, because deerhounds are mentioned in OUTLANDER.
"And this," he laid an affectionate hand on the enormous black head, which slobbered in appreciation, "is Bran."
"I'll take your word for it," I said, cautiously extending a knuckle to be sniffed. "What is he?"
"A staghound." He scratched the pricked ears, quoting
"Thus Fingal chose his hounds
Eye like sloe, ear like leaf,
Chest like horse, hough like sickle
And the tail joint far from the head."
"If those are the qualifications, then you're right," I said, inspecting Bran. "If his tail joint were any further from his head, you could ride him."
(From Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 26 ("The Laird's Return"). Copyright© 1991 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)
Here's an article about deerhounds. "Gentle and very friendly....good around the kids." Yeah, that seems right, based on the way Jamie describes them. <g>
Here's the Wikipedia article about Scottish deerhounds. They're beautiful dogs, but much too large for my taste!
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