Within every breed’s history are stand-outs: Dogs that were foundation dogs, set records, were the first of their breed to earn a title, and so forth.

A lass named “Magentas” is important in her breed for it is named for her, or rather, because of her. We don’t have a registered breed known as the Magentas, of course, but when the little lady walked into the ring at the first major French dog show at Paris’s Jardin d’Acclimatation in 1863, it was the first documented reference of her breed. Magentas won, and since she had been born in Aquitaine where the breed was most popular, the entire breed was named the Dogue de Bordeaux after that region’s capital.

And now you know.

Image: “Stormy” by Michelle Wrighton is available as fine art and in home decor and lifestyle items here