HOW well behaved is King Harold’s high-stepping horse in a hawking scene on the Bayeux Tapestry? A quintet of hounds accompanies the King on his expedition, running alongside the royal mount. The embroiderers have portrayed the hounds in motion, legs and tails extended, noses scenting the air. Three of Harold’s hounds wear sturdy collars fitted with leash rings.
A carved stone panel depicting hunting dogs on leashes is about 8,000 years old
Dating from the fourth quarter of the 11th century, the Bayeux Tapestry is an unusually early depiction of dogs in English art. Its inclusion of collars, however, is not an innovation. Dog collars were probably invented by the ancient Mesopotamians. A carved stone panel depicting hunting dogs on leashes, excavated at Shuwaymis, in modern-day Saudi Arabia, south of ancient Mesopotamia, is an estimated 8,000 years old, and from ancient Egypt survives a
