(_Canis familiaris--Sagax avicularius._)
There is a wide difference of opinion among naturalists as to the
stock from which our dogs of the present day came. Hallock says that
some have it the wolf, others the jackal or fox, while not a few claim
that the wild dog of India is the source from which sprang all the
varieties. He maintains, however, that it cannot be declared with any
degree of certainty what the parent stock was. Certain it is that to no
one animal can the paternity of these useful races be credited, as they
are so widely different in form, color, and characteristics, and man
could never have developed and brought together such vast differences,
opposite natures and shapes, as can be seen in domestic dogs, unless
the original species were in possession of the rudiments. Neither could
food, climate, nor any contrivance whatever so completely alter the
nature, decrease the powers of scent, render the coat short, long,
or curly, lengthen or shorten the limbs, unless separate types had
furnished the material.
Ancient bas-relief and monumental delineations picture the dog as
distinct in its characteristics thousands of years ago as at the
present day, and fossil remains have been repeatedly discovered so
little resembling either the wolf, jackal, or fox, and so different in
type, as to be classified with the spaniel, terrier, hound, bulldog,
pointer, and pug; and as we know these to be made dogs, or in other
words hybrids, the species must have been fully as numerous as at the
present time.
There are numerous species of wild dogs differing from one another
almost as much as our own domestic animals of to-day. Granting that
the spaniel, greyhound, and terrier sprang originally from the
wolf, as some argue, why not point out first why the male dogs are
so dissimilar? And again, why are the wolves of different countries
unlike, and which species of wolf is the true and only one? Without
wishing to conflict with the opinions of those so much more learned on
the subject than ourselves, we would ask, would it not be much more
reasonable to suppose, without positive proof, that the origin of the
domestic dog can be referred to numerous aboriginal species, crossing
with the wild varieties--as we know our dogs will frequently do,
including the wolf, jackal, and the fox, if we like, climate assisting,
and man aiding by judicious intermixing and breeding--until the present
high standard of this useful animal has been reached?
It is noticeable that we have in America far more well-bred setters
than pointers, and greater attention seems to have been paid in the
last few years in procuring the former blood than the latter. This
arises from the fact that the setter is the greater favorite of the
two, and justly the choice of the sportsman when he desires a dog that
will unflinchingly stand the rough-and-tumble nature of our shooting.
Of the two, the point of the shorter-haired animal is far the more
marked when on game, and the training once received by him is always
retained, and on each returning season he enters the field to be
depended upon, while the setter oftener has to be partially rebroken
each year; and if not owned by a sportsman who shoots continually,
becomes headstrong and unreliable.
"For the person whose business will not allow him to take his gun in
hand but two or three times in the autumn," says an authority, "we
advise by all means that his dog should be the pointer; but for the
one who takes advantage of the open season for different game from its
beginning to its close, we recommend the setter as best able to bear
continued work in all descriptions of cover."
The short hair of the pointer enables him to do work on the prairies
while "chicken" shooting where water is seldom found, and which he can
do without for a long time; but in New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland,
and in countries where the game invariably takes to the briery thickets
on being started, the pointer is at a disadvantage, as it refuses to
enter them.
The pointer originally is a cross of the Spanish dog with the
greyhound, or foxhound, by which the delicacy of the nerves of the
nose, to some extent, is diminished, and the body rendered more light
and elegant. No dog has a higher step, sense of smell, or shows greater
intelligence or docility. The principal reason that he becomes rigid,
or points, by the scent of game, is from the extraordinary condition
of his nervous system, acquired centuries ago and handed down by his
ancestors. According to Hallock, a thoroughly broken pair of high-bred
pointers are so obedient to the voice and gesture of their master and
so well trained to act with each other, that a wave of the hand will
separate them, one going to the right and the other to the left, so
that they hunt the entire ground, crossing each other regularly in
front of the sportsman as he walks forward. There is one matter that
is generally overlooked in ranging with the pointer. If in early life
you have taught him to retrieve, and a case occurs in the field where
he has to cross a stream, as the dog returns with the bird, never tell
him "down charge." His coat is so thin and his organization so delicate
that he is sure to catch cold; therefore, by all means, allow him to
run around a little.
Points for the show bench, as given by the _Fancier's Gazette_, are:
Head should be moderately long, narrowing from the skull; the skull
not too prominent above the eyes, as this gives a heavy appearance;
rather deep in the lip, but not any flaw, or very slight; nostrils
open, with level jaw; eyes moderately bold; ears thin, set in to the
head, just where the skull begins to recede at the sides of the head,
hanging flat on the cheek; throwing the ears back so as to show the
insides has a bad appearance, and too often indicates a cross; neck
medium in proportion to head, and body rather inclined to be long, but
not much so, thickening from the head to the set-in of the shoulders;
no looseness of the throat skin; shoulders narrow at the meeting of
the blade bones, with a great amount of muscle, long in the blades,
set slanting, with arm of the leg strong and coming away straight, and
elbow neither out nor in; the legs not great, heavy boned, but with a
great amount of muscle; leg pressed straight to the foot, well-rounded,
and symmetrical, with foot well rounded (this is the forelegs and
feet); chest moderately deep, not over wide, but sufficiently wide
and deep to give plenty of breathing-room; back level, wide in loins,
deeply ribbed and with ribs carried well back; hips wide and full of
muscle, not straight in the hock, but moderately bent; stifles full
and well developed; the stern nearly straight, going off tapering to
the point, set-in level with the back, carried straight, not above the
level of back; symmetry and general appearance racy, and much beauty
of form appears to the eye of a real pointer breeder and fancier. The
weights considered best for different purposes are from fifty pounds to
about sixty-five pounds. Coat short and glossy, but a deal here depends
on condition.