Show public Is puzzled over names given thoroughbred dogs because purebred pure bred dogs come from so many corners of the earth there are many misconceptions held by the general public concerning the breeds recognized by the american kennel club the names of the breeds seem to be particularly puzzling to most people and few can understand why some are capitalized and others are not this confusion is increased because foreign words often seem like proper nouns A visit to the at the headquarters of the A K C sheds light on the derivation of the names of the breeds and reveals that mistaken meanings are taken even from english names for instance the bloodhound is not so called because he can scent the blood of criminals in the past he hd was iwas called the blooded hound meaning simply that he was an aristocrat among dogs the french word papillon was given to a toy breed because its fringed ears resembled the wings of a butterfly also from france comes the basset hound and its name means merely that it is low to the ground the originated in belgium and it earned its flem flemish ish name which means little captain because it was found so generally as a guard on the canal boats |