PRESENTED BY
THE DOMESDAY BOOK OF DOGS
Stuckle Dog
Stuckle dogg, Stucklecurr
Mentioned in a list of unexpeditated (unmutilated) dogs found in the Forest of Essex in the early seventeenth century thus:
"The officers of Waltham Forest did not confine their presentments to mastiffs, but reported to the Courts 6 ... kinds of unexpeditated dogs. Of 147 so presented at the Regard of 1630, 9 were greyhounds, 41 mastiffs, 85 " mungrells," 3 " stucklecurrs," 3 hounds, and 6 spaniels. The jurors found in that year, that some of the dogs in the Forest were lawed, but for the most part they were not. "
This breed was almost certainly a farm dog of some sort. A stuckle is a collection of sheaves of corn so it's possible the dog was employed to keep vermin away from the sheaves. Several types of medieval working dogs were described as curs, probably to denote their usefulness.
The name appears to have been known in Germany as Heinrich Anselm von Ziegler und Kliphausen uses the name stucklehund in 1701 but this may be a completely different dog and he could even be using the name as an insult. One other point should be born in mind 'stichelhaar' (usually Anglicised to 'sticklehaar') or, more accurately, 'Stichelhaarig' means prick-coated in German.
"The forest of Essex : its history, laws, administration and ancient customs, and the wild deer which lived in it. With maps and other illustrations"
The Mini-Atlas of Dog Breeds.
Andrew De Prisco and James B.Johnson, TFH, 1990
