HUNTING DOGS IN THE ANCIENT WORLD

 Hunting dog on a tight leash

Dogs are mentioned frequently in the Scriptures. They were used 

• as watchdogs to guard houses
• for guarding flocks of sheep and goats
• for hunting.

There were as well numerous packs of wild dogs roaming the countryside, and it was because of these that the Bible held dogs in poor esteem. These wild dogs became so fierce and cruel that enemies were poetically called 'dogs' as a term of abuse.

The hunting dogs kept at Jezreel were quite different. They were not the good-natured domesticated dogs we know today. These were dogs who could bring down a lion - hunting was a popular past-time of the nobility, a test of endurance and courage. Dogs were specially bred with

• muscular bodies for coursing or running; hunting on open plains or deserts is not so much a problem of finding game as of catching it
• powerful jaws with teeth suitable for seizing and holding prey
• keen senses of smell and hearing.

The personalities of the different breeds were suited for the work they did. Hunting breeds had been selected to work independent of human handlers, and so they were difficult to keep under strict control. Dogs who had been bred to shepherd flocks of animals were selected for their ability to work under direction, and so it was easier to teach them restraint. 

Dogs in the ancient Middle East were similar to the Saluki and the Kurdish/Turkish herding dog. The latter is a large breed something like the mastiffs and war dogs that appeared in Babylonian art in 2200 BC.

Hunting dogs like this were valuable, and kept within the city, unlike herding dogs or wild dogs. So it is reasonable to assume they were the dogs that ate Jezebel's body as she lay mortally wounded in the courtyard of the palace at Jezreel.

 These Turkish Kangal Dogs are something like
the hunting dogs used in ancient Israel.