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How do you picture the riding dog ?
- Thread starter JiCi
- Start date
frankthedm
First Post
Looking at what we have for dogs today really dose not give a good indication of the D&D riding dog.
The first thing is, our world never bred canines for combat riding, unlike the horse, which got centuries of it. In our modern world, a dog’s Constitution gets dump-stated to maintain the Breed Standard [Cha?]. On the most part, even Sentry / Guard / Attack dogs are bred Breed first, purpose second.
In D&D worlds, breeders of wardogs will be choosing purpose first, mixing bloodlines intentionally and often to make a better mount. Someone selling inbred war dogs with bad hips will find their reputation destroyed, if they are not run through by someone’s next of kin. The nobles can have their inbred pets, those going to the battlefield will choose bad coat colors over bad health.
Want an Idea what a D&D war mount dog would be like? Look at the breed mixing Karl Friedrich Louis Dobermann did to breed a dog to guard himself while tax collecting. He mixed so many dog breeds together no one can say for certain which ones made the breed. A breed which is very good at what it does.
Now picture the largest breeds of dogs and start mixing them in that manner for strength, stamina and the ability to bear a rider. And if the campaign lets that riding dog get to large size, you may wind up with a mount whose loyalty to the rider makes the “Faithful Steed” seem like a traitorous coward.
I like picturing Newfoundland like riding dogs for riders who may need to take watery paths.
Now picture if they were trying to breed mount size
The first thing is, our world never bred canines for combat riding, unlike the horse, which got centuries of it. In our modern world, a dog’s Constitution gets dump-stated to maintain the Breed Standard [Cha?]. On the most part, even Sentry / Guard / Attack dogs are bred Breed first, purpose second.
In D&D worlds, breeders of wardogs will be choosing purpose first, mixing bloodlines intentionally and often to make a better mount. Someone selling inbred war dogs with bad hips will find their reputation destroyed, if they are not run through by someone’s next of kin. The nobles can have their inbred pets, those going to the battlefield will choose bad coat colors over bad health.
Want an Idea what a D&D war mount dog would be like? Look at the breed mixing Karl Friedrich Louis Dobermann did to breed a dog to guard himself while tax collecting. He mixed so many dog breeds together no one can say for certain which ones made the breed. A breed which is very good at what it does.
Now picture the largest breeds of dogs and start mixing them in that manner for strength, stamina and the ability to bear a rider. And if the campaign lets that riding dog get to large size, you may wind up with a mount whose loyalty to the rider makes the “Faithful Steed” seem like a traitorous coward.
I like picturing Newfoundland like riding dogs for riders who may need to take watery paths.
Now picture if they were trying to breed mount size
Last edited:
taliesin15
First Post
Great suggestions on this thread, folks--one thing for sure, if some humanoids (partic. Goblins) can ride Worgs, it doesn't seem that far-fetched that Halflings esp and Gnomes would train domesticated wolves for the same purpose--though I myself don't have a problem with small demi-humans riding horses, however
HeavenShallBurn
First Post
Frank has it pretty much right, shepards are just too small and don't have a broad enough build. Most of the really big working breeds almost went extinct in the late 1800s and had to be in-bred rather badly to keep the line from going extinct that's where most of the health problems come from.
But mix up mastiffs, Bernards, and New Foundlands and you'd get a damned good war dog. My family always raised mastiffs and Bernards and the average figures are really on the low side. None of our males ever went under 170lb and most of them hovered around the 200 mark some bigger. Most people don't realize the difference between a small dog like a shepard or a doberman and one of the really big breeds. Usually mastiffs and bernards are pretty laid back, but if one decides to get violent its about like being attacked by a small bear. I once saw our mastiffs literally pull apart a deer that jumped our fence, tore two of its legs clean off and pretty near decapitated it when they pulled it down. When we had to leave the back fence gates open to get a tractor through or move something big we had to chain them to 8x8 fence posts and more than once they got pulled up or cracked so bad they had to be replaced. When I was in High School my first car crapped out a miled short of home and with just two of our Bernards harnessed I pulled the thing to the driveway a mile down an ungraded dirt road.
Personally I think it would be pretty cool to try breeding a dog big enough for a grown man to ride. Especially now that we have a full genome for domesticated dogs and could apply some engineering where necessary to artificially select for traits that otherwise we couldn't get.
But mix up mastiffs, Bernards, and New Foundlands and you'd get a damned good war dog. My family always raised mastiffs and Bernards and the average figures are really on the low side. None of our males ever went under 170lb and most of them hovered around the 200 mark some bigger. Most people don't realize the difference between a small dog like a shepard or a doberman and one of the really big breeds. Usually mastiffs and bernards are pretty laid back, but if one decides to get violent its about like being attacked by a small bear. I once saw our mastiffs literally pull apart a deer that jumped our fence, tore two of its legs clean off and pretty near decapitated it when they pulled it down. When we had to leave the back fence gates open to get a tractor through or move something big we had to chain them to 8x8 fence posts and more than once they got pulled up or cracked so bad they had to be replaced. When I was in High School my first car crapped out a miled short of home and with just two of our Bernards harnessed I pulled the thing to the driveway a mile down an ungraded dirt road.
Personally I think it would be pretty cool to try breeding a dog big enough for a grown man to ride. Especially now that we have a full genome for domesticated dogs and could apply some engineering where necessary to artificially select for traits that otherwise we couldn't get.
Last edited:
pawsplay
Hero
When I was 13, I went to a birthday party, and as I was walking around to the back of the house, I was like, "WHooooa!" They had a bear penned in.
Except it wasn't a bear. It was half poodle, half great dane mix, and over 250 pounds. It was penned because the neighbors were so scared of it they kept claiming it chased and attacked people, and the owners were afraid it would be destroyed. Sweet animal. But I will never forget those dark, beady eyes peering out from underneath a coat of curly, impossibly thick black fur.
Except it wasn't a bear. It was half poodle, half great dane mix, and over 250 pounds. It was penned because the neighbors were so scared of it they kept claiming it chased and attacked people, and the owners were afraid it would be destroyed. Sweet animal. But I will never forget those dark, beady eyes peering out from underneath a coat of curly, impossibly thick black fur.
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