In the period after the fall of the Roman Empire, the bubonic plague, or Black Death, was one of the galvanizing events. It was during this time that the dog acquired much of its more negative lore. During the plague, in which fleas transported the deadly disease, historian Mary Elizabeth Thurston points out in her book, The Lost History of the Canine Race, that the dog was now on its own. Most livestock was killed by the disease, and people killed each other over food. Few people during this period kept pets. Ownerless, dogs ran wild, usually in packs, eating corpses and killing in groups.

During feudal times, the aristocracy assumed ownership of many fertile lands, especially the great forests in which many animals and other natural resources were still abundant. During this time, the hunt became very ritualized, and many different dogs were used to pursue many different kinds of game. Lords and barons had different dogs to take down deer, bears, bulls, wolves, large fowl, and foxes, and they had other dogs for small game, mostly vermin. Others were bred for specific duties, such as tracking, coursing, and retrieving on land and in water.

Thurston points out that Henry I of England had a kennel of 200 dogs for huntsmen to train, care for, and deploy. As the aristocracy grew, so did their land claims. And unless you were someone of rank, you could not rightfully take game from a claimed preserve.

It was not until after the fall of the French king in the late 1700s, during the French Revolution, that ordinary people were allowed to hunt in the largest and most heavily stocked game forests. In the early 1800s many lands across Europe were opened up in an attempt to dissuade the masses from overthrowing various monarchies. These policies were part of larger political agendas, which all worked to varying degrees. However, one thing was an absolute success — sport hunting became popular to the extreme.