"Dogs in the English Civil War?" Topic

this may seem like a strange question but does anyone know of dogs being used as mascots for regiments on either side? i'm looking to make my command bases a little more interesting and this is one of the things i'm entertaining to do that.

Also, does anyone know what dog breeds would have been around back then? I know about Boye but i'm just not a poodle kind of guy.

In the PP ECW range there are 3 commanders with different dogs in each. Poodle for the royalists ( a big one) Do have a look on the PP ECW site fir pictures too

Boye was Prince Rupert's poodle mascot.

IIRC Essex was depicted in a contemporary engraving with his dog called Pepper facing off against Rupert and Boye. Mo idea What breed pepper was.

Can't find what you're referring to Timbo but I appreciate the comment.

I think I might go with some Warlord Mastiffs, they are only really going to appear on one or two stands.

Hi,

I also used the Warlord mastiffs for english civil war ( link and link ).

Warbases ( war-bases.co.uk ) do also have a nice selection of dogs.

Kind regards,

Benoit

"Peper" was in a print shown at link

Thanks GurKhan, that's the one I was thinking of, but a generic 'Toby' the Parliamentarian rather than Essex, my mistake!

King Charles spaniel, as someone on here once said – the Royalist secret weapon for "shock and awwwwww"

In grislier mode one tactic occasionally used at sieges etc was to collect up dogs and cats and tie fire crackers onto them with match cord, then light and release into enemy camp at night, presumably as a harassment or distraction from something else going on.

Benito, fantastic work and thanks for the links.

Maybe I'll have to add a Peper to my Roundhead force, much appreciated gents!