Walter Baxendale and Peter C. Mitchell

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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 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. ”

“ Mastiffs are powerful, heavily built dogs, with short muzzles, frequently protruding lower jaws, skulls raised above the eyes, ears erect or pendulous, pendulous upper lips, short coats and thin tails. The English mastiff is a huge and powerful dog with pendent ears but short and silky coat. Fawn and brindle are the colours preferred. The Tibetan mastiff is equally powerful, but has still larger pendent ears, a shaggy coat and a long brush-like tail. Mastiffs are employed for fighting or as watchdogs, and for the most part are of uncertain temper and not high intelligence. ”

“ 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 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 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. ”

“ Pointers are employed to mark game for guns, and are especially useful in low cover such as that afforded by turnip fields.
The Dalmatian or coach dog (sometimes called the plum-pudding dog) is a lightly built pointer, distinguished by its spotted coloration, consisting of evenly disposed circular black spots on a white ground. The original breed is said to have been used as a pointer in the country from which it takes its name, but has been much modified by the fancier’s art, and almost certainly the original strain has been crossed with bull-terriers. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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 pugdog is a dwarf race, probably of mastiff origin, and kept solely as a pet. The Chinese pug is slender legged, with long hair and a bushy tail.
Terriers are small dogs of agile and light build, short muzzles, and very highly arched skulls. The brains are large, and the intelligence and educability extraordinarily high. The number of breeds is very large, the two extreme types being the smooth fox-terrier with compact shape, relatively long legs, and the long-bodied, short-legged Skye terrier, with long hair and pendent ears. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It was in far later periods and in other countries that the appearance of the dog-star was regarded as the signal of insufferable heat or prevalent disease. In Ethiopia, not only was great veneration paid to the dog, but the inhabitants used to elect a dog as their king. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ As puppies, however, bulldogs are highly intelligent and unusually docile and affectionate, and if well trained retain throughout life an unusual sweetness of disposition, the universal friendliness of which makes them of little use as guardians. ”

“ All the well-known breeds of dogs are highly artificial and their maintenance requires the constant care of the breeder in mating, and in rejecting aberrant progeny. The frequency with which even the most highly cultivated strains produce degenerate offspring is notorious, and is probably the reason for the profound belief in telegonic action asserted by most breeders. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”