The image of the dog, like that of other animals, does not have the same meaning in the different historical periods, nor in the different contexts in which it has been represented. In the Greco-Latin pantheon it was the attribute of Diana, the goddess of hunting, of Mars, god of war due to the voracity of the animal, and of Pluto, in this case the three-headed cerberus, guardian of three heads. It also appears with other hunter myths such as Adonis, Cephalus and Actaeon. In the latter, remembering the young man who was transformed into a deer and devoured by his dogs, for having dared to observe Diana and the nymphs bathing naked.

In the East, the dog had a bad reputation as a predator and thief. The Bible considers it an impure animal because of its habit of healing its wounds by licking itself with the language and turning over what it vomits. With this last action he was compared to the sinner who heals with confession and, after recognizing his sins, incurs them again. The origin of this symbolic interpretation is found in the Book of Proverbs and a text of a letter of St. Peter that says: "The dog returned to eat what he vomited and the washed sow to wallow in the mire". Some authors like Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History compared him to the devil.
 

With antagonistic meanings

The Age average, on the one hand, rehabilitated its symbolism, considering the dog as a faithful and loyal friend of man, for guarding his house and flocks and accompanying him in his hunts. On the other hand, it was assimilated with one of the capital sins, envy, and by derivation with the personification of the hypocrite, flatterer and ungrateful. 

In the metaphors and emblems from the end of the Middle Ages and throughout the Modern Age, their positive or negative meanings continued and even diversified. It will be the contexts that explain their correct reading. Thus, we will find it assimilated with the good guide and guardian of the flock, as an allegory of smell (in the allegories of the five senses), fidelity (according to Pliny, the dog and the horse are, of all animals, the most faithful to man), the report (for knowing how to return to where they left or recognize their masters), vigilance (destined to guard houses and temples with the notice de cave canem) and envy. In this last case Cesare Ripa, compiler of personifications of vices and virtues, allegorizes envy as an old woman with hair covered with serpents who eats her own heart, as punishment for her own envy. He adds to all this a thin dog "a very envious animal, for all that belongs to others he would want for himself alone".

As might be expected, both positive and negative connotations were well assimilated in society. Among the former and to gloss fidelity we find famous paintings with dogs next to marriages (the Arnolfini by Jan Van Eyck or the family of Jordaens' painter) or portraits of great lords (James Stuart by Van Dyck or the Marquis of Legarda and Justino de Neve, by Murillo) and even next to the allegorization of a locality (Madrid in 1808, by Goya). In certain cases, such as the Velázquez portraits of Philip IV, the Cardinal Infante and Balthasar Carlos as hunters, the presence of the dog obeys the preparation of the monarch for war with the exercise of hunting, from agreement with the Latin motto si vis pacem para bellum (if you want peace, prepare for war).

Among the negative ones, not only the arts glossed envy with its images (Table of the Deadly Sins by El Bosco or the Tunic by José de Velázquez), but insults have traditionally put the name "dog" in the mouth of those who wanted to offend, with obvious desires of affront and contempt, as can be seen in the testimonies collected in the magnificent Dictionary of insults, recently edited by Cristina Tabernero and Jesús M. Usunáriz.

Religious iconography also presents dogs in Christmas scenes, whether popular breeds or well-kept hounds, depending on whether we are looking at the shepherds or the magi. The Holy Family and other scenes of Christ's childhood and biblical scenes, such as the return of the prodigal son, also place the dog in the family or landscape setting, despite the fact that post-Tridentine painting was reluctant to this subject of accessories that distracted from the catechetical content. In this regard, we can recall the contract for paintings with pairs of saints for the Escorial, where it was made very clear to Navarrete el Mudo that "do not put cat, nor dog, nor any other figure that is dishonest, but that they should all be saints and provoke devotion", from agreement with the strict rule of the IV Council of Milan, which prohibited the anecdotal representation of animals in sacred paintings. Nevertheless, some passages in the life of some saints required the presence of the dog, such as the legend of Saint Julian, of whom we can contemplate in Vidaurreta and Ororbia, two examples from the 16th century with the scene in which the deer spoke to him and communicated to the saint the fatal outcome of the patricide. The dog also appears in the passage of Tobias with the angel, besides being found next to Judas, in this case clearly with a negative meaning, linked to betrayal or ingratitude. As an attribute of saints it appears with St. Roque, St. Quiteria and St. Domingo de Guzmán. 

Outstanding examples of Navarrese Gothic and in the Evreux coat of arms.

One of the voussoirs of the door of the Judgment of Tudela, work of the first third of the 13th century, illustrating the sin of greed that leads merchants and money changers to defraud their clients, presents a butcher who cheats in the weight, putting his hand on the scales, besides the fact that the meat he sells could be that of the dog next to him. This censured the merchants in the manipulation of the quality, weight or measures that they put on sale, but also the lie and the perjury, to obtain immoderate profits. 

In the cathedral of Pamplona there is an abundance of reliefs of dogs in various scenes. In the Gothic cloister and its outbuildings we find them in hunting scenes, harassing bulls or with hunters. In the refectory, completed in 1335, in a very graphic way, there is sample in a polychrome bracket a hunter sticking his long knife into a wild boar that is bitten by a dog, while stepping on another dog. Another corbel in the same room presents an excellent example of the mancorneo, in which a strong bearded man appears holding the horns of the bull, while a dog of prey ferociously bites the left ear of the bull. Inside the temple there are also some illustrative corbels with dogs attacking a wild boar or a bear.

In some tombs they appear at the feet of the wife, signifying fidelity. In the tomb of Carlos III and Doña Leonor in the cathedral of Pamplona, work of Johan Lome (1413-1419) we find two greyhounds at the feet of the queen, something that leads us to think of fidelity, from agreement with a rule not general, but very extended. However, both dogs appear next to a bone, something that in the choir stalls of the end of the century is synonymous with envy, in line with fables and sayings of the time. However, in this funerary context, as Clara Fernández-Ladreda points out in her monograph on Gothic art in Navarre, these elements must be read as life corroded by the passage of time and the destructive action on human evolution, without forgetting that the greyhounds had a high significance as the motto of the Evreux and gave their name to the order, founded by Carlos III. The impossible relationship of these sculptures with the motto erroneously attributed to the Prince of Viana(utrimque roditur) and its lack of historical basis has been studied by Mikel Zuza.

The greyhound was chosen as a motto by King Charles II and testimonies of its presence are preserved in works related to Charles III or the Prince of Viana, such as several coats of arms, paintings of the cathedral of Pamplona, the reliquary of Saint Saturnino, some miniatures, objects and documentary testimonies and manuscripts. It was in the middle of the 14th century when Charles II chose the greyhound as his motto, perhaps playing with the phonetic proximity to his Evreux dynasty. María Narbona has studied the topic and links the fact with several circumstances of general and particular historical context of the monarch. His successor and son, Charles III founded the Order of Chivalry of the Collar of Good Faith and/or of the White Hound in 1391. As the aforementioned professor points out, it is not clear if it is the same order or two, since it was the chestnut leaf collar and not the greyhound with the Bonne foy motto that was linked to his collar, although it is possible that members of the royal house incorporated the emblematic animal into the collar, as was the case in a prized jewel of the Prince of Viana.

Attribute of three saints

St. Dominic, St. Quiteria and St. Roch share the same attribute, albeit with very different connotations. In the first case, it was because of an early account by Blessed Jordan of Saxony, successor at the head of the Order of St. Dominic, who wrote in 1233 the Origins of the Order of Preachers, collecting this passage spread in letters and images: "His mother, before she conceived him, was shown in a vision that she carried in her womb a little puppy with a lighted fire in its mouth and that, coming out of its entrails, it set fire to the whole world: by which it was foreshadowed that the son she was to conceive would be a distinguished preacher who, with the bark of his holy word, would excite to vigilance the sleeping souls...". The very denomination of the Dominicans has its etymology in the saint and the little dog: canes Dominici.

Saint Quiteria, special advocate against rabies, would have substituted from the end of the Age average the chained demon for the dog, often with the attitude of fierceness: furious eyes and language out, stiff ears and threatening jaws. There was a conviction that the dogs were calmed by the presence of their images. In Navarre there were brotherhoods in Tudela and Bigüézal. The joys of the latter town, printed more than a century ago, proclaimed: "Remedio sois desde el cielo / contra la rabia contagiosa /dad a los fieles consuelo / Santa Quiteria gloriosa" (You are a remedy from heaven / against contagious rabies / give the faithful comfort / Santa Quiteria gloriosa). In some villages, such as Urzainqui, there was the iron of Santa Quiteria with which animals were branded.

As for St. Roch, a few weeks ago we explained in this section that he was a nourishing dog. After spending a few years in Rome, the saint passed through Piacenza, where he fell ill and took refuge in a forest, outside the city so as not to infect anyone, surviving thanks to a miraculous source , to an angel who comforted and cured him and to a dog that, daily, brought him bread that he took from the table of his master, Gottardo Pallastrelli, who after observing the behavior of the dog for several days, discovered Roque, helped him and became his disciple. Sometimes, the dog licks the saint's sore for parallelism with the evangelical parable of the poor Lazarus.

On a votive offering from Arguedas and a report from a garden in Dicastillo.

Finally, we will refer to a couple of dogs in unusual environments: an ex-voto of the sanctuary of the Virgen del Yugo in Arguedas and a funerary report for the former pet of the Countess of Vega del Pozo, in Dicastillo.

The first of them is dated 1719 and is related to a hunter, who is represented with the shotgun firing at the moment of exploding the weapon and releasing fire. The attire of the protagonist has been subsequently modified, as it does not correspond to the date of the painting, moreover, the repainting is visible in the area of the jacket if you look closely. The history of the event is related in its explanatory text: "In 13 of setieme of 1719 Dn Diego Martin de Ziga, hunting quails in the term of the Villa de Caderita the shotgun was opened to him from the butt asta average bara , inboco to Nª Sª del Yugo and remained without lesion none".

The famous dog Merlin of the Countess of Vega del Pozo in Dicastillo, had a funeral report in the form of a memorial monument, in the gardens of his palace in Dicastillo, attributed to Mariano Benlliure, who made the mausoleum of Gayarre, in Roncal (1891-1897 and placed in 1901). The Dicastillo work, studied by Blanca Sagasti, is partially preserved, as the dog is currently in a Madrid collection. The aristocrat's decision must have been influenced both by the animal's loyalty and her affection for it. Regarding loyalty, it should be remembered that it had been defended since classical times, when Pliny tells the story of the Roman Titus Labienus, imprisoned and followed by his dog. When he was executed, the dog did not leave his side, showing great pain and taking to his master's mouth all the food he could get. When the body of his master was thrown into the Tiber, the dog threw himself behind him, holding him as long as he could above the waters. As for affection, we cannot fail to mention some programs of study about the relationship between dogs and humans, in which it is stated that the gaze between the two increases the brain's oxytocin, nothing less than the hormone of love and happiness, which is secreted, for example, when a mother and a baby look at each other.