On the Chaffin Coat of Arms (seen at the left) is what appears to be a Great Dane which, back in the day, would have been regarded as a mastiff or mastiff-type dog. In heraldry, the presence of a such a dog on a family crest denoted courage, vigilance, and loyalty.

A dog is also found on the coat of arms of St. Dominic, A.D. 13th century, founder of the Dominican Order. Dominicans were known as Friar’s preachers, and also called, “the watch dogs of the Lord, defending the folds of the church with the fire of the Holy Spirit.”  The friars in Robin’s Hood Forest were Dominican monks, and it’s interesting to note that Dominican monks were tonsured, or had a bald spot, and that the meaning of the name, “Chaffin” (the coat of arms you see here) is “bald”.

As the legend goes, Saint Dominic de Guzman was born in Caleruega, half-way between Osma and Aranda in Old Castile, Spain at the castle of the Guzmáns. He was named after the patron saint of the Benedictine Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos, a few miles north of Caleruega. His mother was Blessed Joan of Aza who, when pregnant, had a vision that her unborn child was a black-and-white dog who would set the world on fire with a torch it carried in its mouth. This legend seems to use the medieval pun on the name of the Dominicans, Domini canes, “dogs of the Lord”. The dog symbolizes a preacher and is represented by a “Veltro,” or hunting/hound dog, and that’s why another coat-of-arms dogs is the Dalmatian.