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Hookk D. Dog Yard: The Case of the Night Guard at the State Hermitage Museum

Daria Hookk
State Hermitage Museum
Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0000-0002-3380-9426
E-mail: hookk@hermitage.ru

 

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ABSTRACT. A small courtyard can be seen from the halls of the first floor of the New Hermitage, in particular, from the Hall of Hercules (No. 114). Relatively recently, it underwent major reconstruction and renovation. This article explains why the courtyard is called Dog Yard, when and how this name came about. There is a lot of information on the Internet on the development of service dog breeding in the USSR, related to the organization of experimental kennels in the Red Army units — schools of military and sports dogs — where methods and techniques for breeding, training and using dogs for military tasks, as well as for the protection of important railway and industrial facilities, search and detention of looters of public property, were developed and tested. There are no publications about night guarding of the museum with the use of dogs, and this article is intended to draw attention to this precedent in museum work. It is useful for dog handlers to know which breeds (German Shepherds and Doberman Pinscher) and how they have proven themselves in the museum guard service. A number of documents from the State Hermitage archive, which have not previously appeared in scientific publications and require special commentary, are being introduced into scientific circulation.

 

KEYWORDS: museum studies, State Hermitage Museum, New Hermitage, Dog yard, night guard, service dog breeding

 

FOR CITATION: Hookk D. Dog Yard: The Case of the Night Guard at the State Hermitage Museum. Kunstkamera. 2025. 3 (29): 128–137. (In Russian). DOI: 10.31250/2618-8619-2025-3(29)-128-137

 

DOI 10.31250/2618-8619-2025-3(29)-128-137
UDC 069.27:636.74

 

REFERENCES

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