The unlucky dogs of war
QUESTION During World Wars I and II, did dachshunds fall out of favour in Britain? William llewellyn ‘Buster’ lloyd-Jones (1914-1980) was a British veterinary practitioner. Buster cared for sick, injured and abandoned animals during World War ii and founded Denes herbal medicine for animals.
Buster lloyd-Jones wrote in his autobiography, The animals Came in One By One, that ‘the men went off to war and the women to war work, the children were evacuated; with the family gone there was no place for the family pets. all over the country they were put to sleep in their thousands...as soon as the war started the dachshund began to feature in political cartoons as wicked, cowardly, treacherous, evil German sausage dogs, opposing the gallant British Bulldog.
‘in an instant the dachshund became unpopular. People threw things at them, chased them, kicked them. Dachshund owners were looked upon as dangerously unpatriotic. They came to me to be destroyed and i couldn’t bring myself to do it.
‘i had 60 dachshunds and almost 100 others of all shapes and sizes, as well as dozens of cats, and still they came. indeed the accommodation problem became so acute that we soon realised that we had to move.’
Ms A. Murfitt, St Austell, Cornwall. DurinG both World Wars anti-German sentiments were expressed in propaganda cartoons, advertisements and postcards. The dachshund became the symbol of anti-German feeling. One cartoon featured a bulldog (representing Britain) shouting ‘Well, you are a dirty dog!’ to a skulking dachshund. another had a bulldog with a dachshund in its mouth, and the caption ‘i’ve got him’.
adding to the dachshund’s World War i woes, the Kaiser’s love of dachshunds was well-documented.
Two particularly bad-tempered dachshunds belonging to the German Emperor, named Wadl and Hexl, almost caused an international incident when they set upon the heir-presumptive archduke Franz Ferdinand’s priceless golden pheasant on a State visit.
British author Graham Greene was a schoolboy in Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire at the outbreak of World War i, and recorded in his 1971 autobiography, a Sort of life: ‘There were dramatic incidents even in Berkhamsted. a German master was denounced to my father as a spy because he had been seen under the railway bridge without a hat, a dachshund was stoned in the High Street.’
Hard evidence for dachshund decline is hard to come by, but the american Kennel Club reported that the breed had gone from being the sixth most popular breed in the u.S. to the 28th by 1930.
attempts were made to rebrand the breed, with the Kennel Club officially renaming it the ‘badger dog’ (a literal translation from the German). in the u.S. it was also known as the ‘liberty pup’.
German shepherd dogs received a similar treatment, and are still known by some as alsatians today — a label given in an attempt to emphasise the breed’s original popularity in alsace in France, rather than its German roots.
Eric Bruce, Dunstable, Beds.
QUESTION What are the most poisonous plants in the average garden? THE Horticultural Trades association (HTa) lists 117 potentially harmful garden plants. There are about 15 others that might appear in the garden but are not generally sold, the best known being hemlock (Conium maculatum). There are also a number of vegetables that contain toxins; asparagus, parsnip, potato and rhubarb have poisonous parts.
The common yew, Taxus baccata, is probably the most poisonous plant in the average garden. Gardeners who have trimmed yew hedges without protection have reported vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, dizziness, and convulsions. it can also cause blistering of the skin. Every part of the plant, other than the pulp around the seed, is poisonous.
Other common plants that produce blisters are rue (Ruta graveolens), giant hogweed, cow parsnip and ivy. The affected areas can be hypersensitive to sunlight for several years after healing.
The laburnum (Laburnum anagyroides) is a beautiful tree with hanging yellow flowers, but the seed and wood both contain the poisonous alkaloid cytisine, which can cause severe nausea, vomiting and respiratory problems. it is a legume, so the seeds are carried in pods not dissimilar to a pea pod, and children should be made aware of such trees.
rowan berries contain the toxic parasorbic acid. However, when cooked, as in jellies, it becomes sorbic acid, which is safe. it may be worth pruning cherry laurel and privet hedges after flowering so their toxic fruit does not develop. Other toxic plants include cuckoo-pint,
Nerium oleander, lily of the valley and castor oil plant (Ricinus communis). The seeds of the latter plant are used to make the deadly poison ricin.
Forewarned is forearmed. i recommend Elizabeth a. Dauncey’s stellar book Poisonous Plants: a Guide for Parents & Childcare Providers. Mrs Charlotte Massiter,
Wool, Dorset.
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