Angus, the Scottish Deerhound

Angus, the Scottish Deerhound

Ever wonder why Brookgreen Gardens has a Scottish Deerhound named Angus? Anna Hyatt Huntington, who founded Brookgreen Gardens with her husband, Archer Huntington, raised these dogs. Anna created many beautiful sculptures and worked hard in her studio. But, Anna also had been sick with tuberculosis, which is a disease that affected her lungs. She loved animals and especially dogs, so she wanted to raise a breed that would encourage her to get outside in the fresh air to exercise.

Why did Anna choose to raise deerhounds? She loved the breed’s gentle and friendly disposition (personality) and she wanted to reintroduce the breed and make it popular in America. In Scotland, the nobility used deerhounds to hunt deer. These dogs hunted by chasing the deer (“sight hounds”), instead of sniffing out their trail (“scent hounds”). So, you can imagine they are very fast runners and are built for speed.

Anna’s Stanerigg Kennel was in Bethel, Connecticut. Stanerigg is the Scottish word for “stony ridge”. She had eight miles of country roads on her farm on which to run her dogs. She had a special bus that she used to bring the dogs to Atalaya, their home in South Carolina on the Brookgreen property. Here the dogs were able to run along the beach to get their exercise.

Many years later, Brookgreen was able to trace Anna’s deerhound family to a kennel in Kentucky. We brought Angus home to Brookgreen and raised him from a puppy. He went to school to learn how to behave himself so he could be an animal ambassador for Brookgreen Gardens. Angus is now two years old and weighs about 92 pounds. You can come visit him at Brookgreen Gardens and hear his story and connection to our founders, Anna and Archer Huntington.

Some people wonder why we don't allow dogs at Brookgreen, but we have Angus. Angus is actually part of the animal collection of our Lowcountry Zoo. That means he is taken care of by the same veterinarian that cares for all our other animals, so we know exactly what vaccinations he has and any health issues. If other people's pets visited Brookgreen, we wouldn't know about their health status and if they might bring a disease in that could hurt our animals!