Plate II. TYPICAL SPORTING DOGS.
(_From Photos by Bowden Bros._)
[Illustration: ENGLISH SETTER.]
[Illustration: POINTER.]
[Illustration: IRISH SETTER.]
[Illustration: LABRADOR RETRIEVER.]
[Illustration: FLAT-COATED RETRIEVER.]
[Illustration: IRISH WOLF-HOUND.]
[Illustration: IRISH TERRIER.]
[Illustration: DACHSHUND.]
[Illustration: ROUGH-COATED FOX TERRIER.]
[Illustration: FIELD SPANIEL.]
The Hindus also regard the dog as unclean, and submit to various
purifications if they accidentally come in contact with it, believing
that every dog is animated by a wicked and malignant spirit condemned to
do penance in that form for crimes committed in a previous state of
existence. In every Mahommedan and Hindu country the most scurrilous
epithet bestowed on a European or a Christian is "a dog," and that
accounts for the fact that in the whole of the Jewish history there is
not a single allusion to hunting with dogs. Mention is made of nets and
snares, but the dog does not seem to have been used in the pursuit of
game.
In the early periods of the history of other countries this seems to
have been the case even where the dog was esteemed and valued, and had
become the companion, the friend and the defender of man and his home;
and in the 2nd century of the Christian era Arrian wrote that "there is
as much difference between a fair trial of speed in a good run, and
ensnaring a poor animal without an effort, as between the secret
piratical assaults of robbers at sea and the victorious naval
engagements of the Athenians at Artemisium and at Salamis." The first
hint of the employment of the dog in the pursuit of other animals is
given by Oppian in his _Cynegetica_, who attributes it to Pollux about
200 years after the promulgation of the Levitical law. The precise
species of dog that was cultivated in Greece at that early period cannot
be affirmed, although a beautiful piece of sculpture in the possession
of Lord Feversham at Duncombe Hall, representing the favourite dog of
Alcibiades, differs but little from the Newfoundland dog of the present
day. In the British Museum is another piece of early sculpture from the
ruins of the villa of Antoninus, near Rome. The greyhound puppies which
it represents are identical with a brace of saplings of the present day.
In the early periods of their history the Greeks depended too much on
their nets to capture game, and it was not until later times that they
pursued their prey with dogs, and then not with greyhounds, which run by
sight, but with beagles, the dwarf hound which is still very popular.
Later, mention is made of large and ferocious dogs which were employed
to guard sheep and cattle, or to watch at the door of the house, or even
to act as a companion, and G. Cuvier expresses the opinion 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 springs not from mere necessity nor
from constraint, but simply from gratitude and true friendship.
The swiftness, the strength and the highly developed power of scent in
the dog, have made it a powerful ally of man against the other animals;
and perhaps these qualities in the dog were necessary to the
establishment of society. Instances of dogs having saved the lives of
their owners by that strange intuition of approaching danger which they
appear to possess, or by their protection, are innumerable: their
attachment to man has inspired the poet and formed the subject of many
notable books, while in Daniel's _Rural Sports_ is related a story of a
dog dying in the fulness of joy caused by the return of his master after
a two years' absence from home.
It is not improbable 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 arose, and became
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, 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 dog of
the ordinary type; while many of those from the southern hemisphere can
scarcely be distinguished from the cross-bred poaching dog, the lurcher.
Dogs were first classified into three groups:--(1) 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 condyles of the lower jaw being on the same line with the upper
molar teeth. The greyhound and all its varieties belong to this class.
(2) 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 most of the useful dogs, such as the spaniel, the setter, the
pointer and the sheepdog. (3) 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 most of the toy
dogs.
Later, however, "Stonehenge" (J.H. Walsh), in _British Rural Sports_,
classified dogs as follows:--(a) Dogs that find game for man, leaving
him to kill it himself--the pointer, setters, spaniels and water
spaniels. (b) Dogs which kill game when found for them--the English
greyhound. (c) Dogs which find and also kill their game--the bloodhound,
the foxhound, the harrier, the beagle, the otterhound, the fox terrier
and the truffle dog. (d) Dogs which retrieve game that has been wounded
by man--the retriever, the deerhound. (e) Useful companions of man--the
mastiff, the Newfoundland, the St Bernard dog, the bulldog, the bull
terrier, terriers, sheepdogs, Pomeranian or Spitz, and Dalmatian dogs.
(f) Ladies' toy dogs--King Charles spaniel, the Blenheim spaniel, the
Italian greyhound, the pug dog, the Maltese dog, toy terriers, toy
poodles, the lion dog, Chinese and Japanese spaniels. In 1894 _Modern
Dogs_ (Rawdon B. Lee) was issued, the simple classification of sporting
and non-sporting dog--terriers and toy dogs, being adopted; but although
there had been an understanding since 1874, when the first volume of the
_Kennel Club Stud Book_ (Frank C. S. Pearce) was issued, as to the
identity of the two great divisions of dogs, an incident at Altrincham
Show in September 1900--an exhibitor entering a Russian wolfhound in
both the sporting and non-sporting competitions--made it necessary for
authoritative information to be given as to how the breeds should be
separated. Following petitions to the Kennel Club from exhibitors at the
club's own show at the Crystal Palace, and also at the show of the
Scottish Kennel Club in Edinburgh during the autumn of 1900, the
divisions were decided upon as follows:--
_Sporting._--Bloodhound, otterhound, foxhound, harrier, beagle, basset
hound (smooth and rough), dachshund, greyhound, deerhound, Borzoi, Irish
wolfhound, whippet, pointer, setter (English, Irish and black and tan),
retriever (flat-coated, curly-coated and Labrador), spaniel (Irish
water, water other than Irish, Clumber, Sussex, field, English springer,
other than Clumber, Sussex and field: Welsh springer, red and white and
Cocker); fox terriers (smooth- and wire-coated); Irish terrier, Scotch
terrier, Welsh terrier, Dandie Dinmont terrier, Skye terrier
(prick-eared and drop-eared), Airedale terrier and Bedlington terrier.
_Non-Sporting._--Bulldog, bulldog (miniature), mastiff, Great Dane,
Newfoundland (black, white and black, or other than black), St Bernard
(rough and smooth), Old English sheepdog, collie (rough and smooth),
Dalmatian, poodle, bull terrier, white English terrier, black and tan
terrier, toy spaniel (King Charles or black and tan, Blenheim, ruby or
red and tricolour), Japanese, Pekingese, Yorkshire terrier, Maltese,
Italian greyhound, chow-chow, black and tan terrier (miniature),
Pomeranian, pug (fawn and black), Schipperke, Griffon Bruxellois,
foreign dogs (bouledogues francais, elk-hounds, Eskimos, Lhasa terriers,
Samoyedes and any other varieties not mentioned under this heading).
On the 4th of May 1898 a sub-committee of the Kennel Club decided that
the following breeds should be classified as "toy dogs":--Black and tan
terriers (under 7 lb.), bull terriers (under 8 lb.), griffons, Italian
greyhounds, Japanese, Maltese, Pekingese, poodles (under 15 in.), pugs,
toy spaniels, Yorkshire terriers and Pomeranians.
All these varieties were represented at the annual show of the Kennel
Club in the autumn of 1905, and at the representative exhibition of
America held under the management of the Westminster Kennel Club in the
following spring the classification was substantially the same,
additional breeds, however, being Boston terriers--practically unknown
in England,--Chesapeake Bay dogs, Chihuahuas, Papillons and Roseneath
terriers. The latter were only recently introduced into the United
States, though well known in Great Britain as the West Highland or
Poltalloch terrier; an application which was made (1900) by some of
their admirers for separate classification was refused by the Kennel
Club, but afterwards it was granted, the breed being classified as the
West Highland white terrier.
The establishment of shows at Newcastle-on-Tyne in June 1859 secured for
dogs attention which had been denied them up to that time, although
sportsmen had appreciated their value for centuries and there had been
public coursing meetings since the reign of Charles I. Lord Orford,
however, established the first club at Marham Smeeth near Swaffham, where
coursing is still carried on, in 1776. The members were in number
confined to that of the letters in the alphabet; and when any vacancy
happened it was filled up by ballot. On the decease of the founder of the
club, the members agreed to purchase a silver cup to be run for annually,
and it was intended to pass from one to the other, like the whip at
Newmarket, but before starting for it, in the year 1792, it was decided
that the winner of the cup should keep it and that one should be annually
purchased to be run for in November. At the formation of the club each
member assumed a colour, and also a letter, which he used as the initial
of his dog's name. The Newcastle dog show of 1859 was promoted by Mr
Pape--a local sporting gunmaker--and Mr Shorthose, and although only
pointers and setters were entered for in two classes immense interest was
taken in the show. But neither the promoters nor the sportsmen who
supported it could have had the faintest idea as to how popular dog shows
would become. The judges at that historic gathering were: Messrs J.
Jobling (Morpeth), T. Robson (Newcastle-on-Tyne) and J. H. Walsh (London)
for pointers, and E. Foulger (Alnwick), R. Brailsford (Knowsley) and J.
H. Walsh for the setters. Sixty dogs were shown, and it was said that
such a collection had not been seen together before; while so even was
the quality that the judges had great difficulty in making their awards.
The prizes were sporting guns made by Mr Pape and presented by him to the
promoters of the show. So great a success was scored that other shows
were held in the same year at Birmingham and Edinburgh; while the
Cleveland Agricultural Society also established a show of foxhounds at
Redcar, the latter being the forerunner of that very fine show of hounds
which is now held at Peterborough every summer and is looked upon as the
out-of-season society gathering of hunting men and women.
Mr Brailsford was the secretary of the show at Birmingham, and he had
classes for pointers, English and Irish setters, retrievers and Clumber
spaniels. Another big success was scored, and the National Dog Show
Society was established for the purpose of holding a show of sporting
dogs in Birmingham every winter. Three years later proposals were made
in _The Field_ to promote public trials of pointers and setters over
game, but it was not until the 18th of April 1865 that a further step
was taken in the recognition of the value of the dog by the promotion of
working trials. They were held at Southill, near Bedford, on the estate
of S. Whitbread, M.P., and they attracted great interest. The order of
procedure at the early field trials was similar to what it is to-day,
only the awards were given in accordance with a scale of points as
follows: nose, 40; pace and range, 30; temperament, 10; staunchness
before, 10; behind, 10. Style of working was also taken into
consideration. In 1865 a show was held in Paris, and after the National
Dog Club--not the Birmingham society--had failed, as the result of a
disastrous show at the Crystal Palace, a further exhibition was arranged
to be held in June 1870 under the management of G. Nutt and a very
strong committee, among whom were many of the most noted owners of
sporting dogs of that time. The details of the show were arranged by S.
E. Shirley and J. H. Murchison, but the exhibition, although a most
interesting one, was a failure, and the guarantors had to face a heavy
loss. A second venture proved to be a little more encouraging, although
again there was a loss; but in April 1873, the Kennel Club, which is now
the governing body of the canine world, was founded by S. E. Shirley,
who, after acting as its chairman for many years, was elected the
president, and occupied that position until his death in March 1904. His
successor was the duke of Connaught and Strathearn; the vice-presidents
including the duke of Portland, Lord Algernon Gordon Lennox, J. H.
Salter and H. Richards. The progress of the club has been remarkable,
and that its formation did much to improve the conditions of the various
breeds of dogs, to encourage their use in the field by the promotion of
working trials, and to check abuses which were common with regard to the
registration of pedigrees, &c., cannot be denied. The abolition of the
cropping of the ears of Great Danes, bull terriers, black and tan
terriers, white English terriers, Irish terriers and toy terriers, in
1889 gained the approval of all humane lovers of dogs, and although
attempts have been made to induce the club to modify the rule which
prohibits the exhibition of cropped dogs, the practice has not been
revived; it is declared, however, that the toy terriers and white
English terriers have lost such smartness by the retention of the ears
that they are becoming extinct. The club has control over all the shows
held in the United Kingdom, no fewer than 519 being held in 1905, the
actual number of dogs which were entered at the leading fixtures being:
Kennel Club show 1789, Cruft's 1768, Ladies' Kennel Association 1306,
Manchester 1190, Edinburgh 896 and Birmingham 892. In 1906, however, no
fewer than 1956 dogs were entered at the show of the Westminster Kennel
Club, held in Madison Square Garden, New York; a fact proving that the
show is as popular in America as it is in the United Kingdom, the home
of the movement. The enormous sum of L1500 has been paid for a collie,
and 1000 guineas for a bulldog, both show dogs pure and simple; while
L500 is no uncommon price for a fox terrier. Excepting for greyhounds,
however, high prices are rarely offered for sporting dogs, 300 guineas
for the pointer "Coronation" and 200 guineas for the retriever "High
Legh Blarney" being the best reported prices for gun dogs during the
last few years.
The foreign and colonial clubs which are affiliated to the Kennel Club
are: the Guernsey Dog Club, the Italian Kennel Club, the Jersey Dog
Club, La Societe Centrale (Paris), Moscow Gun Club of the Emperor
Alexander II., New South Wales Kennel Club, Nimrod Club (Amsterdam),
Northern Indian Kennel Association, Royal St Hubert's Society (Brussels)
and the South African Kennel Club (Cape Town). Its ramifications
therefore extend to all parts of the world; while its rules are the
basis of those adopted by the American Kennel Club, the governing body
of the "fancy" in the United States. A joint conference between
representatives of the two bodies, held in London in 1900, did much
towards securing the uniformity of ideas which is so essential between
associations having interests in common.
Most of the leading breeds have clubs or societies, which have been
founded by admirers with a view to furthering the interests of their
favourites; and such combinations as the Bulldog Club (incorporated),
the London Bulldog Society, the British Bulldog Club, the Fox Terrier
Club, the Association of Bloodhound Breeders--under whose management the
first man-hunting trials were held,--the Bloodhound Hunt Club, the
Collie Club, the Dachshund Club, the Dandie Dinmont Terrier Club, the
English Setter Club, the Gamekeepers' Association of the United Kingdom,
the International Gun Dog League, the Irish Terrier Club, the Irish
Wolfhound Club, the St Bernard Club, the National Terrier Club, the
Pomeranian Club, the Spaniel Club, the Scottish Terrier Club and the Toy
Bulldog Club have done good work in keeping the claims of the breeds
they represent before the dog-owning public and encouraging the breeding
of dogs to type. Each club has a standard of points; some hold their own
shows; while others issue club gazettes. All this has been brought about
by the establishment of a show for sporting dogs at Newcastle-on-Tyne in
the summer of 1859.
America can claim a list of over twenty specialist clubs, and in both
countries women exhibitors have their independent associations, Queen
Alexandra having become one of the chief supporters of the Ladies'
Kennel Association (England). There is a ladies' branch of the Kennel
Club, and the corresponding clubs in America are the Ladies' Kennel
Association of America and the Ladies' Kennel Association of
Massachusetts.
_The Gazette_ is the official organ of the Kennel Club. _The Field_,
however, retains its position as the leading canine journal, the
influence of J. H. Walsh ("Stonehenge"), who did so much towards
establishing the first dog shows and field trials, having never forsaken
it: the work he began was carried on by its kennel editor, Rawdon B. Lee
(d. 1908), whose volumes on _Modern Dogs_ (sporting, non-sporting and
terriers) are the standard works on dogs. _Our Dogs_, _The Kennel
Magazine_, and _The Illustrated Kennel News_ are the remaining canine
journals in England. Several weekly papers published on the continent of
Europe devote a considerable portion of their space to dogs, and canine
journals have been started in America, South Africa and even India:
while apart from Lee's volumes and other carefully compiled works
treating on the dog in general, the various breeds have been written
about, and the books or monographs have large sales. At the end of 1905
E. W. Jaquet wrote _The Kennel Club: a History and Record of its Work_,
and an _edition de luxe_ of _Dogs_ is edited by Mr Harding Cox; Mr
Sidney Turner, the chairman of the Kennel Club committee, edited _The
Kennel Encyclopaedia_, the first number of which was issued in 1907. Dog
lovers are now numbered by their tens of thousands, and in addition to
shows of their favourites, owners are also liberally catered for in the
shape of working trials, for during the season competitions for
bloodhounds, pointers, setters, retrievers, spaniels and sheepdogs are
held.
_Breeds of Dog._
Nothing is known with certainty as to the origin of the vast majority of
breeds of dogs, and it is an unfortunate fact that the progressive
changes which have been made within comparatively recent times by
fanciers have not been accurately recorded by the preservation, in
museums or collections, of the actual specimens considered typical at
different dates. No scientific classification of the breeds of dogs is
at present possible, but whilst the division already given into
"sporting" and "non-sporting" is of some practical value, for
descriptive purposes it is convenient to make a division into the six
groups:--wolfdogs, greyhounds, spaniels, hounds, mastiffs and terriers.
It is to be remembered, however, that all these types interbreed freely,
and that many intermediate, and forms of wholly doubtful position,
occur.
_Wolfhounds._--Throughout the northern regions of both hemispheres there
are several breeds of semi-domesticated dogs which are wolf-like, with
erect ears and long woolly hair. The Eskimo dog has been regarded as
nothing more than a reclaimed wolf, and the Eskimo are stated to
maintain the size and strength of their dogs by crossing them with
wolves. The domestic dogs of some North American Indian tribes closely
resemble the coyote; the black wolfdog of Florida resembles the black
wolf of the same region; the sheepdogs of Europe and Asia resemble the
wolves of those countries, whilst the pariah dog of India is closely
similar to the Indian wolf. The Eskimo dog has small, upright ears, a
straight bushy tail, moderately sharp muzzle and rough coat. Like a
wolf, it howls but does not bark. It occurs throughout the greater part
of the Arctic regions, the varieties in the old and new world differing
slightly in colour. They are fed on fish, game and meat. They are good
hunters and wonderfully cunning and enduring. Their services to their
owners and to Arctic explorers are well known, but Eskimo dogs are so
rapacious that it is impossible to train them to refrain from attacking
sheep, goats or any small domesticated animals. The Hare Indian dog of
the Great Bear Lake and the Mackenzie river is more slender, gentle and
affectionate than the Eskimo dog, but is impatient of restraint, and
preserves many of the characters of its wild ally, the coyote, and is
practically unable to bark.
The Pomeranian dog is a close ally of the Eskimo breed and was formerly
used as a wolfdog, but has been much modified. The larger variety of the
race has a sharp muzzle, upright pointed ears, and a bushy tail
generally carried over the back. It varies in colour from black through
grey to reddish brown and white. The smaller variety, sometimes known as
the Spitz, was formerly in some repute as a fancy dog, a white variety
with a black tip to the nose and a pure black variety being specially
prized. Pomeranians have been given most attention in Germany and
Belgium, while the so-called Spitz has been popular in England and
America.
The sheepdogs and collies are still further removed from the wolf type,
and have the tip of the ear pendent. The tail is thick and bushy, the
feet and legs particularly strong, and there is usually a double
dew-claw on each hind limb. The many varieties found in different
countries have the same general characters. The bark is completely
dog-like, and the primitive hunting instincts have been cultivated into
a marvellous aptitude for herding sheep and cattle. The training takes
place during the first year, and the work is learned with extreme
facility. The Scotch collie is lighter and more elegant, and has a
sharper muzzle. Since it became popular as a pet dog, its appearance has
been greatly improved, and whilst it has lost its old sullen
concentration, it has retained unusual intelligence and has become
playful and affectionate. The wolfdogs all hunt chiefly by scent.
_Greyhounds._--These are characterized by slight build, small ears
falling at the tips, elongated limbs and tails and long narrow muzzles.
They hunt entirely by sight, the sense of smell being defective. The
English greyhound is the most conspicuous and best-known member of the
group, and has been supposed to be the parent of most of the others. The
animal is thoroughly adapted for extreme speed, the long, rat-like tail
being used in balancing the body in quick turns. The favourite colour is
a uniform sandy, or pale grey tone, but characters directly related to
capacity for speed have received most attention. The Italian greyhound
is a miniature greyhound, still capable of considerable speed but so
delicate that it is almost unable to pull down even a rabbit, and is
kept simply as a pet. The eyes are large and soft, and a golden fawn is
the colour most prized. The Scotch deerhound is a larger and heavier
variety of the English greyhound, with rough and shaggy hair. It has
been used both for deer stalking and for coursing, and several varieties
exist. The Irish wolfhound is now extinct, but appears to have been a
powerful race heavier than the deerhound but similar to it in general
characters. Greyhounds have been bred from time immemorial in Eastern
Europe and Western Asia, while unmistakable representatives are figured
on the monuments of ancient Egypt. The existing Oriental varieties are
in most cases characterized by silky hair. The hairless dogs of Central
Africa are greyhounds employed chiefly in hunting antelopes, and there
are somewhat similar varieties in China, Central and South America.
The whippet is a local English dog, used chiefly in rabbit coursing and
racing, and is almost certainly a cross between greyhounds and terriers.
The lurcher is a dog with the general shape of a greyhound, but with a
heavier body, larger ears and rougher coat. Lurchers are cross-bred
dogs, greyhounds and sheepdogs, or deerhounds and collies, being the
parents.
_Spaniels_ are heavily built dogs with short and very wide skulls rising
suddenly at the eyes. The brain is relatively large and the intelligence
high. The muzzle is short, the ears large and pendent, the limbs
relatively short and heavy, and the coat thick and frequently long. It
is supposed, from their name, that they are of Spanish origin. They may
be divided into field spaniels, water spaniels and the smaller breeds
kept as pets. Field spaniels are excellent shooting dogs, and are
readily trained to give notice of the proximity of game. The Clumber,
Sussex, Norfolk and Cocker breeds are the best established. The Clumber
is long, low and heavy. It is silent when hunting, and has long ears
shaped like vine leaves. The ground colour of the coat is white with
yellow spots. The Sussex is a lighter, more noisy animal, with a wavy,
golden coat. The Cockers are smaller spaniels, brown, or brown-and-white
in the Welsh variety, black in the more common modern English form. The
head is short, and the coat silky and wavy. Of the water spaniels the
Irish breeds are best known. They are relatively large dogs, with broad
splay feet, and silky oily coats.
The poodle is probably derived from spaniels, but is of slighter, more
graceful build, and is pre-eminent even among spaniels for intelligence.
The best known pet spaniels are the King Charles and the Blenheim, small
dogs with fine coats, probably descended from Cockers.
Setters owe their name to their having been trained originally to crouch
when marking game, so as to admit of the net with which the quarry was
taken being drawn over their heads. Since the general adoption of
shooting in place of netting or bagging game, setters have been trained
to act as pointers. They are pre-eminently dogs for sporting purposes,
and special strains or breeds adapted to the peculiarities of different
kinds of sporting have been produced. Great Britain is probably the
country where setters were first produced, and as early as the 17th
century spaniels were used in England as setting dogs. It is probable
that pointer blood was introduced in the course of shaping the various
breeds of setter. The English setter should have a silky coat with the
hair waved but not curly; the legs and toes should be hairy, and the
tail should have a bushy fringe of hairs hanging down from the dorsal
border. The colour varies much, ranging according to the strains, from
black-and-white through orange-and-white and liver-and-white to pure
white, whilst black, white, liver, and red or yellow self-coloured
setters are common. The Irish setter is red without trace of black, but
occasionally flecked with white. The Gordon setter, the chief Scottish
variety, is a heavier animal with coarser hair, black-and-tan in colour.
The Russian setter has a woolly and matted coat.
The retriever is a large dog used for retrieving game on land, as a
water spaniel is used for the same purpose in water. The breed is almost
certainly derived from water-spaniels, with a strong admixture of
Newfoundland blood. The colour is black or tan, and the hair of the
face, body and tail is close and curly, although wavy-coated strains
exist.
The Newfoundland is simply an enormous spaniel, and shows its origin by
the facility with which it takes to water and the readiness with which
it mates with spaniels and setters. It has developed a definite instinct
to save human beings from drowning, this probably being an evolution of
the retrieving instinct of the original spaniels. The true Newfoundland
is a very large dog and may reach 31 in. in height at the shoulder. The
coat is shaggy and oily, and is preferred with as little white as
possible, but the general black coloration may have rusty shades. The
eyes and ears are relatively small, and the forehead white and
dome-shaped, giving the face the well-known appearance of benignity and
intelligence. Although these dogs were originally brought to Great
Britain from Newfoundland and are still bred in the latter country,
greater size, perfection and intelligence have been attained in England,
where Newfoundlands for many years have been the most popular large
dogs. They are easily taught to retrieve on land or water, and their
strength, intelligence and fidelity make them specially suitable as
watchdogs or guardians. The Landseer Newfoundland is a black and white
variety brought into notice by Sir Edwin Landseer, but the exact
ancestry of which is unknown. The Labrador Newfoundland is a smaller
black variety with a less massive head. It occurs both in Newfoundland
and England, and has been used largely in producing crosses, being
almost certainly one parent of the retriever.
The St Bernard is a large breed taking its name from the monastery of
Mount St Bernard in the Alps, and remarkable for high intelligence and
use in rescuing travellers from the snow. The origin of the breed is
unknown, but undoubtedly it is closely related to spaniels. The St
Bernard attains as great a size as that of any other breed, a fine
specimen being between 60 and 70 in. from the tip of the nose to the
root of the tail. The colour varies, but shades of tawny-red and white
are more frequent than in Newfoundlands. In the rough-haired breed the
coat is long and wavy, but there exists a smooth breed with a nearly
smooth coat.
_Hounds._--These are large dogs, hunting by smell, with massive
structure, large drooping ears, and usually smooth coats, without
fringes of hair on the ears, limbs or tail. The bloodhound is probably
the stock from which all the English races of hounds have been derived.
The chief character is the magnificent head, narrow and dome-like
between the huge pendulous ears, and with transverse puckers on the
forehead and between the eyes. The prevailing colour is tan with large
black spots. Bloodhounds, or, as they are sometimes termed,
sleuthhounds, have been employed since the time of the Romans in
pursuing and hunting down human beings, and a small variety, known as
the Cuban bloodhound, probably of Spanish origin, was used to track
fugitive negroes in slaveholding times. Bloodhounds quest slowly and
carefully, and when they lose the scent cast backwards until they
recover the original trail and make a fresh attempt to follow it.
Staghounds are close derivatives of the bloodhound, and formerly
occurred in England in two strains, known respectively as the northern
and southern hounds. Both breeds were large and heavy, with pendulous
ears and thick throats with dewlaps. These strains seem to be now
extinct, having been replaced by foxhounds, a large variety of which is
employed in stag-hunting.
The modern English foxhound has been bred from the old northern and
southern hounds, and is more lightly built, having been bred for speed and
endurance. The favourite and most common colour is black-white-and-tan.
The ears are usually artificially clipped so as to present a rounded lower
margin. Their dash and vigour in the chase is much greater than that of
the bloodhound, foxhounds casting forwards when they have lost the trail.
Harriers are a smaller breed of foxhounds, distinguished by their
pointed ears, as it is not the custom to trim these. They are used in
the pursuit of hares, and, although they are capable of very fast runs,
have less endurance than foxhounds, and follow the trail with more care
and deliberation.
Otterhounds are thick, woolly harriers with oily underfur. They are
savage and quarrelsome, but are naturally excellent water-dogs.
Beagles are small foxhounds with long bodies and short limbs. They have
a full bell-like cry and great cunning and perseverance in the tracking
of hares and rabbits. They are relatively slow, and are followed on
foot.
Turnspits were a small, hound-like race of dogs with long bodies,
pendulous ears, out-turned feet and generally black-and-tan coloration.
They were employed as animated roasting jacks, turning round and round
the wire cage in which they were confined, but with the employment of
mechanical jacks their use ceased and the race appears to be extinct.
Basset hounds are long and crooked-legged dogs, with pendulous ears.
They appear to have been produced in Normandy and the Vendee, where they
were employed for sporting purposes, and originally were no very
definite breed. In comparatively recent times they have been adopted by
English fanciers, and a definite strain with special points has been
produced.
The dachshund, or badger hound, is of German origin, and like the basset
hound was originally an elongated distorted hound with crooked legs,
employed in baiting and hunting badgers, but now greatly improved and
made more definite by the arts of the breeder. The colour is generally
black-and-tan or brownish, the body is extremely long and cylindrical;
the ears are large and pendulous, the legs broad, thick and twisted,
with everted paws. The coat is short, thick and silky, and the tail is
long and tapering.
The pointers, of which there are breeds slightly differing in most
European countries, are descendants of the foxhound which have been
taught to follow game by general body scent, not by tracking, nose to
the ground, the traces left by the feet of the quarry, and, on
approaching within sight of the game, to stand rigid, "pointing" in its
direction. The general shape is like that of the foxhound, but the build
is lighter and better knit, and the coat is soft, whilst white and
spotted colorations are preferred. Pointers are employed to mark game
for guns, and are especially useful in low cover such as that afforded
by turnip fields.
Plate III. TYPICAL SPORTING DOGS.
(_From Photos by Bowden Bros._)
[Illustration: BORZOI.]
[Illustration: GREYHOUND.]
[Illustration: DEERHOUND.]
[Illustration: BLOODHOUND.]
[Illustration: FOX HOUND.]
[Illustration: HARRIER.]
[Illustration: OTTER HOUND.]
[Illustration: AUSTRALIAN TERRIER.]
[Illustration: SKYE TERRIER.]
[Illustration: SCOTCH TERRIER.]
[Illustration: BEDLINGTON TERRIER.]
Plate IV. TYPICAL TOY DOGS.
[Illustration: _Photo, Bowden Bros._