The Dog

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Orders were now given, much to the children's delight, for the
conveyance of the favourite to the city; but, alas! this arrangement
came too late, as the poor creature sank from exhaustion, while in the
wagon on his way to join those beloved companions whose short absence
had broken his heart and grieved him even unto death.--L.]

We will not further pursue this part of our subject at present. We shall
have other opportunities of speaking of the disinterested and devoted
affection which this noble animal is capable of displaying when he
occupies his proper situation, and discharges those offices for which
nature designed him. It may, however, be added that this power of
tracing back the dog to the very earliest periods of history, and the
fact that he then seemed to be as sagacious, as faithful, and as
valuable as at the present day, strongly favour the opinion that he
descended from no inferior and comparatively worthless animal,--that he
was not the progeny of the wolf, the jackal, or the fox, but he was
originally created, somewhat as we now find him, the associate and the
friend of man.

If, within the first thousand years after the Deluge, we observe that
divine honours were paid to him, we can scarcely be brought to believe
his wolfish genealogy. The must savage animals are capable of affection
for those to whom they have been accustomed, and by whom they have been
well treated, and therefore we give full credit to several accounts of
this sort related of the wolf, the lion, and even the cat and the
reptile: but in no other animal--in no other, even in the genus
'Canis'--do we find the qualities of the domestic dog, or the slightest
approach to them.

"To his master he flies with alacrity," says the eloquent Buffon, "and
submissively lays at his feet all his courage, strength, and talent. A
glance of the eye is sufficient; for he understands the smallest
indications of his will. He has all the ardour of friendship, and
fidelity and constancy in his affections, which man can have. Neither
interest nor desire of revenge can corrupt him, and he has no fear but
that of displeasing. He is all zeal and obedience. He speedily forgets
ill-usage, or only recollects it to make returning attachment the
stronger. He licks the hand which causes him pain, and subdues his
anger by submission. The training of the dog seems to have been the
first art invented by man, and the fruit of that art was the conquest
and peaceable possession of the earth."

"Man," says Burns, "is the God of the dog; he knows no other; and see
how he worships him. With what reverence he crouches at his feet--with
what reverence he looks up to him--with what delight he fawns upon
him, and with what cheerful alacrity he obeys him!"

If any of the lower animals bear about them the impress of the Divine
hand, it is found in the dog: many others are plainly and decidedly more
or less connected with the welfare of the human being; but this
connexion and its effects are limited to a few points, or often to one
alone. The dog, different, yet the same, in every region, seems to be
formed expressly to administer to our comforts and to our pleasure. He
displays a versatility, and yet a perfect unity of power and character,
which mark him as our destined servant, and, still more, as our
companion and friend. Other animals may be brought to a certain degree
of familiarity, and may display much affection and gratitude. There was
scarcely an animal in the menagerie of the Zoological Society that did
not acknowledge the superintendent as his friend; but it was only a
casual intercourse, and might be dissolved by a word or look. At the
hour of feeding, the brute principle reigned supreme, and the companion
of other hours would be sacrificed if he dared to interfere; but the
connexion between man and the dog, no lapse of time, no change of
circumstances, no infliction of evil can dissolve. We must, therefore,
look far beyond the wolf for the prototype of the dog.

Cuvier eloquently states that the dog exhibits the most complete and the
most useful conquest that man has made. Each individual is entirely
devoted to his master, adopts his manners, distinguishes and defends his
property, and remains attached to him even unto death; and all this
springing not from mere necessity, or from constrain, but simply from
gratitude and true friendship. The swiftness, the strength, and the
highly developed power of smelling of the dog, have made him a powerful
ally of man against the other animals; and, perhaps, these qualities in
the dog were necessary to the establishment of society. It is the only
animal that has followed the human being all over the earth.

There is occasionally a friendship existing between dogs resembling that
which is found in the human being. The author pledges himself as to the
accuracy of the following little anecdote. Two dogs, the property of a
gentleman at Shrewsbury, had been companions for many years, until one
of them died of old age. The survivor immediately began to manifest an
extraordinary degree of restless anxiety, searching for his old
associate in all his former haunts, and refusing every kind of food. He
gradually wasted away, and, at the expiration of the tenth day, he died,
the victim of an attachment that would have done honour to man.

The Dog, belongs to the division of animals termed VERTEBRATED, (see
'The Horse', 2d edition, page 106), because it has a cranium or skull,
and a spine or range of VERTEBRAE proceeding from it. It ranks under the
'class' MAMMALIA, because it has teats, by which the female suckles her
young; the 'tribe' UNGUICULATA, because its extremities are armed with
nails; the 'order' DIGITIGRADES, because it walks principally on its
toes. The 'genus' CANIS has two tubercular teeth behind the large
carnivorous tooth in upper jaw; and the 'sub-genus familiaris', the DOG,
has the pupils of the eye circular, while those of the wolf are oblique,
and those of the fox upright and long.

There has been some dispute whether the various species of dogs are of
different origin, or sprung from one common source. When we consider the
change that climate and breeding effect in the same species of dog, and
contrast the rough Irish or Highland greyhound with the smoother one of
the southern parts of Britain, or the more delicate one of Greece, or
the diminutive but beautifully formed one of Italy, or the hairless one
of Africa or Brazil--or the small Blenheim spaniel with the magnificent
Newfoundland; if also we observe many of them varied by accident, and
that accidental variety diligently cultivated into a new species,
altogether different in form or use, we shall find no difficulty in
believing that they might be derived from one common origin.

One of the most striking proofs of the influence of climate on the form
and character of this animal, occurs in the bull-dog. When transported
to India he becomes, in a few years, greatly altered in form, loses all
his former courage and ferocity, and becomes a perfect coward.

It is probable that all dogs sprang from one common source, but climate,
food, and cross-breeding caused variations of form, which suggested
particular uses; and these being either designedly or accidentally
perpetuated, the various breeds of dogs thus arose, and they have become
numerous in proportion to the progress of civilization. Among the ruder,
or savage tribes, they possess but one form; but the ingenuity of man
has devised many inventions to increase his comforts: he has varied and
multiplied the characters and kinds of domestic animals for the same
purpose, and hence the various breeds of horses, and cattle, and dogs.

The parent stock it is now impossible to trace; but the wild dog,
wherever found on the continent of Asia, or Northern Europe, has nearly
the same character, and bears no inconsiderable resemblance to the
British fox-dog, while many of those from the Southern Ocean can
scarcely be distinguished from the English lurcher. There is, however,
no more difficulty in this respect with regard to the dog, than any
other of our domesticated animals. Climate, or chance, produced a change
in certain individuals, and the sagacity of man, or, perhaps, mere
chance, founded on these accidental varieties numerous breeds possessed
of certain distinct characteristic properties. The degeneracy of the
dog, also, in different countries, cannot for a moment be disputed.

The most natural arrangement of all the varieties of the dog is
according to the development of the frontal sinus and the cerebral
cavity, or, in other words, the power of scent, and the degree of
intelligence. This classification originated with M.F. Cuvier, and has
been adopted by most naturalists. He reckoned three divisions of the dog:

I. Those having the head more or less elongated, and the parietal bones
of the skull widest at the base, and gradually approaching towards
each other as they ascend, the condyls of the lower jaw being on the
same line with the upper molar teeth. The _Greyhound_ and all its
varieties belong to this class.

II. The head moderately elongated, and the parietals diverging from each
other for a certain space as they rise upon the side of the head,
enlarging the cerebral cavity and the frontal sinus. To this class
belong our most valuable dogs,--the _Spaniel_, _Setter_, _Pointer_,
_Hound_, and the _Sheep-dog_.

III. The muzzle more or less shortened, the frontal sinus enlarged, and
the cranium elevated, and diminished in capacity. To this class
belong some of the _Terriers_, and a great many dogs that might
very well be spared.

This division of the different species of the dog is adopted here as
being the most simple, intelligible, and satisfactory.

[Footnote 1: Gen. iv. 2.]

[Footnote 2: Deut. xxiii. 18.]

[Footnote 3: In some of Belzoni's beautiful sketches of the frieze-work
of the old Egyptian temples, the dog appears, with his long ears and
broad muzzle, not unlike the old Talbot hound.]

[Footnote 4: Herodotus, lib. ii. c. 66.]

[Footnote 5: No dog was suffered to come within the precincts of the
Temple at Jerusalem. [Greek: Ex_o kunes] was a prevalent expression
among the Jews. Byrant's 'Mythology', vol. ii. p. 42.]

[Footnote 6: Phil. iii. 2.]

[Footnote 7: Rev. xxii. 15.]

[Footnote 8: Job xxx. 1. See also Isaiah lvi, 10, 11.]

[Footnote 9: Psalm lix. 6.]

[Footnote 10: Carpenter's 'Scripture Natural History', p.109. It is a
remarkable fact that from this faithful animal, the companion of man,
and the guardian of his person and property, should originate as many
terms of reproach as "dog," "cur," "hound," "puppy," "dog-cheap," "a
dog's trick," "dog sick," "dog-weary," "to lead the life of a dog," "to
use like a dog." All this probably originated in the East, where the dog
was held in abhorrence as the common scavenger of the streets.]

[Footnote 11: Arrian's 'Cynegeticus', cap 26.]

[Footnote 12: ''New Sporting Magazine, vol. xiv. p. 97.]

[Footnote 13: Oppian's 'Cynegeticus', lib. i. v. 468-480.]

[Footnote 14:

["At contra faciles, magnique Lycaones armis.
Sed non Hyrcanae satis est vehementia genti."]]

[Footnote 15: Pope's 'Odyssey', xvii.]

* * * * *

CHAPTER II.

THE VARIETIES OF THE DOG.

FIRST DIVISION.

The head more or less elongated, the parietal bones widest at the base
and gradually approaching to each other as they ascend, and the
condyls of the lover jaw being on the same line with the upper molar
teeth.

To this division belong the greater number of the

WILD DOGS.

The wild dog, as existing in considerable numbers or communities, seems
to be nearly extirpated in the southern parts of Europe; but there are
several cases on record, of dogs having assumed native independence. A
black greyhound bitch, belonging to a gentleman in Scarisbrick, in
Lancashire, though she had apparently been well broken in, and always
well used, ran away from the habitation of her master, and betook
herself to the woods. She killed a great number of hares and made free
with the sheep, and became an intolerable nuisance to the neighbourhood.
She was occasionally seen, and the depredations that were committed were
brought home to her. Many were the attempts made to entrap or destroy
her, but in vain: for more than six months she eluded the vigilance of
her pursuers. At length she was observed to creep into a hole in an old
barn. She was caught as she came out, and the barn being searched three
whelps were found, which, very foolishly, were destroyed.

The bitch evinced the utmost ferocity, and, although well secured,
attempted to seize every one who approached her. She was, however,
dragged home and treated with kindness. By degrees her ferocity abated.
In the course of two months, she became perfectly reconciled to her
original abode, and, a twelve-month afterwards (1822), she ran
successfully several courses. There was still a degree of wildness in
her appearance; but, although at perfect liberty, she seemed to be
altogether reconciled to a domestic life.

In 1784 a dog was left by a smuggling vessel on the coast of
Northumberland. He soon began to worry the sheep for his subsistence,
and did so much mischief that he caused very considerable alarm. He was
frequently pursued by hounds and greyhounds; but when the dogs came up
he lay upon his back as if supplicating for mercy, and in that position
they would never hurt him. He therefore lay quietly until the hunters
approached, when he made off without being followed by the hounds until
they were again excited to the pursuit. He one day led them 30 miles in
this way. It was more than three months before he was caught and was
then shot [1].

A dog with every character of the wild one has occasionally been seen in
some of the forests of Germany, and among the Pyrenean mountains; but he
has rarely been found gregarious there. In the country on the eastern
side of the Gulf of Venice wild dogs are more frequent. They increase in
the Austrian and Turkish dominions, and are found on almost every part
of the coast of the Black Sea, but even there they rarely gather in
flocks: they do not howl in concert, as the wolf; nor are they the
precursors of other and larger beasts, like the jackal. Most of these
dogs have the muzzle and head elongated, the ears erect, triangular, and
small, the body and neck large and muscular, and the tail short, but
with a brush of crisped hair. In many parts of Arabia the wild dog--or
'dakhun'--is occasionally found. In Persia, they are most decidedly
congregated together, and still more so in almost every part of India
[2].

Mr. Hodgson has favoured the Zoological Society with an account of

THE WILD DOG OF NEPAL,

the 'buansu', and, finding it more or less prevailing through the whole
of Northern India, and even southward of the coast of Coromandel, he
thought that he had discovered the primitive race of the dog. This is a
point that can never be decided.

"These dogs hunt their prey by night, as well as by day, in packs of
from six to ten individuals, maintaining the chase more by the scent
than by the eye, and generally succeeding by dint of strength and
perseverance. While hunting, they bark like the hound, yet the bark is
peculiar, and equally unlike that of the cultivated breeds of dogs,
and the cries of the jackal and the fox."

Bishop Heber gives the following account of them.

"They are larger and stronger than a fox, which in the circumstances
of form and fur they much resemble. They hunt, however, in packs, give
tongue like dogs, and possess an exquisite scent. They make of course
tremendous havoc among the game in these hills; but that mischief they
are said amply to repay by destroying wild beasts, and even tigers."
[3]

Wild dogs are susceptible of certain social combinations. In Egypt,
Constantinople, and throughout the whole of the East, there are in every
village troops of wandering dogs who belong to no particular person.
Each troop has its own quarter of the place; and if any wander into a
quarter which does not belong to him, its inhabitants unite together and
chase him out. At the Cape of Good Hope there are many dogs
half-starved. On going from home the natives induce two or more of these
animals to accompany them, warn them of the approach of any ferocious
animal, and if any of the jackals approach the walls during the night,
they utter the most piercing cries, and at this signal every dog sallies
out, and, uniting together, put the jackals to speedy flight. [4]

The wild Nepal dogs caught when at an adult age make no approach towards
domestification; but a young one, which Mr. Hodgson obtained when it was
not more than a month old, became sensible to caresses, and manifested
as much intelligence as any sporting dog of the same age. [5]

Captain T. Williamson gives an interesting account of the ferocious
character of some of these wild dogs.

"They have considerable resemblance to the jackal in form. They are
remarkably savage, and frequently will approach none but their
'doonahs' or keepers, not allowing their own masters to come near
them. Some of them are very fleet; but they are not to be depended
upon in coursing; for they are apt suddenly to give up the chase when
it is a severe one, and, indeed, they will too often prefer a sheep or
a goat to a hare. In hog-hunting they are more valuable. It seems to
suit their temper, and they appear to enjoy the snapping and the
snarling, incident to that species of sports."

He says that many persons affect to treat the idea of degeneration in
quadrupeds with ridicule; but all who have been any considerable time
resident in India must be satisfied that dogs of European breed become,
after every successive generation, more and more similar to the pariah,
or indigenous dog of that country. The hounds are the most rapid in
their decline, and, except in the form of their ears, they are very much
like many of the village curs. Greyhounds and pointers also rapidly
decline, although with occasional exceptions. Spaniels and terriers
deteriorate less, and spaniels of eight or nine generations, and without
a cross from Europe, are not only as good as, but far more beautiful
than, their ancestors. The climate is too severe for mastiffs, and they
do not possess sufficient stamina; but, crossed by the East Indian
greyhound, they are invaluable in hunting the hog [6].

Colonel Sykes, at one of the meetings of the Zoological Society,
produced a specimen of

THE WILD DOG OF DAKHUN

or Deccan, a part of India far to the south of Nepal, and gave the
following description of this supposed primitive dog:

"Its head is compressed and elongated, but its muzzle not very sharp.
The eyes are oblique, the pupils round, and the 'irides' light-brown.
The expression of the countenance is that of a coarse ill-natured
Persian greyhound, without any resemblance to the jackal, the fox, or
the wolf. The ears are long, erect, and somewhat rounded at the top.
The limbs remarkably large and strong in relation to the bulk of the
animal. The size is intermediate between the wolf and the jackal. The
neck long, the body elongated, and the entire dog of a red-brown
colour. None of the domesticated dogs of Dakhun are common in Europe,
but those of Dakhun and Nepal are very similar in all their
characters. There is also a dog in Dakhun with hair so short as to
make him appear naked. It is called the 'polugar' dog."

THE WILD DOG OF THE MAHRATTAS

possesses a similar conformation; and the fact is, that the East Indian
wild dog is essentially the same in every part of that immense extent of
country. There is no more reason, however, for concluding that it was
the primitive dog, than for conferring on the Indian cattle the same
honour among the ruminants. The truth of the matter is that we have no
guide what was the original breed in any country. The lapse of 4000
years would effect strange alterations in the breeds. The common name
of this dog, in the track lying between South Bahar and the Mahratta
frontier towards Maghore, is

DHOLE,

the 'Chryseus Scylex' of Hamilton Smith.

Captain Williamson, in his Oriental Field Sports, gives the following
account of the Dholes:

"They are to be found chiefly, or only, in the country from Midnapore
to Chamu, and even there are not often to be met with. They are of the
size of a small greyhound. Their countenance is enlivened by unusually
brilliant eyes. Their body, which is slender and deep-chested, is
thinly covered by a coat of hair of a reddish-brown or bay colour. The
tail is dark towards its extremity. The limbs are light, compact, and
strong, and equally calculated for speed and power. They resemble many
of the common pariah dogs in form, but the singularity of their colour
and marks at once demonstrates an evident distinction.

"These dogs are said to be perfectly harmless if unmolested. They do
not willingly approach persons; but, if they chance to meet any in
their course, they do not show any particular anxiety to escape. They
view the human race rather objects of curiosity, than either of
apprehension or enmity. The natives who reside near the Ranochitty and
Katcunsandy passes, in which vicinity the 'dholes' may frequently be
seen, describe them as confining their attacks entirely to wild
animals, and assert that they will not prey on sheep, goats, &c.; but
others, in the country extending southward from Jelinah and
Mechungunge, maintain that cattle are frequently lost by their
depredations. I am inclined to believe that the 'dhole' is not
particularly ceremonious, but will, when opportunity offers, and a
meal is wanting, obtain it at the expense of the neighbouring village.

"The peasants likewise state that the 'dhole' is eager in proportion
to the size and powers of the animal he hunts, preferring the elk to
every other kind of deer, and particularly seeking the royal tiger. It
is probable that the 'dhole' is the principal check on the
multiplication of the tiger; and, although incapable individually, or
perhaps in small numbers, to effect the destruction of so large and
ferocious an animal, may, from their custom of hunting in packs,
easily overcome any smaller beast found in the wilds of India.

"They run mute, except that they sometimes utter a whimpering kind of
note, similar to that sometimes expressed by dogs when approaching
their prey. This may be expressive of their own gratification, or
anxiety, or may serve as a guide to other 'dholes' to join in the
chase. The speed of the 'dhole' is so strongly marked in his form as
to render it probable no animal in the catalogue of game could escape
him for any distance. Many of the 'dholes' are destroyed in these
contests; for the tiger, the elk, and the boar, and even many of the
smaller classes of game are capable of making a most obstinate
defence. Hence the breed of the 'dholes' is much circumscribed."

THE THIBET DOG.

Mr. Bennett, in his scientific and amusing description of the Zoological
Gardens, gave the best account we have of this noble dog, and our
portrait is a most faithful likeness of him. He is bred in the
table-land of the Himalaya mountains bordering on Thibet. The Bhoteas,
by whom many of them are carefully reared, come down to the low
countries at certain seasons of the year to sell their borax and musk.
The women remain at home, and they and the flocks are most sedulously
guarded by these dogs. They are the defenders of almost every
considerable mansion in Thibet. In an account of an embassy to the court
of the Teshoo Llama in Thibet, the author says, that he had to pass by a
row of wooden cages containing a number of large dogs, fierce, strong,
and noisy. They were natives of Thibet, and, whether savage by nature or
soured by confinement, they were so impetuously furious that it was
unsafe even to approach their dens. Every writer who describes these
dogs, speaks of their noble size, and their ferocity, and antipathy to
strangers.

It is said, however, that the Thibet dog rapidly degenerates when
removed from its native country, and certainly the specimens which have
reached the Zoological Gardens exhibited nothing of ferocity. The one
that was in that menagerie had a noble and commanding appearance; but he
never attempted to do any injury.

The colour of the Thibet dog is of a deep black, slightly clouded on the
sides, his feet alone and a spot over each eye being of a full tawny or
bright brown hue. He has the broad short truncated muzzle of the
mastiff, and the lips are still more deeply pendulous. There is also a
singular general looseness of the skin on every part of him.

THE PARIAH.

There are several varieties of this dog. There is a wild breed very
numerous in the jungles and in some of the lower ranges of the Himalaya
mountains. They usually hunt in packs, and it is not often that their
prey escapes them. They generally are very thin, and of a reddish-brown
colour, with sharp-pointed ears, deep chest, and tucked-up flanks. Many
persons hunt with these dogs singly, and they are very useful. They
bring the hog to bay, or indicate the course that he has taken, or
distract his attention when the sportsman is at hand.