Chapter 3

Most of the breeds of dogs, especially those of modern creation, are the work of man, and have been obtained by intercrossing older breeds and discarding all the animals that departed from the type sought. But many of these breeds are also the result of accident, or rather of modifications of certain parts of the organism--of a sort of rachitic or teratological degeneration which has become hereditary and has been due to domestication; for it is proved that the dog is the most anciently domesticated animal, and that its submission to man dates back to more than five thousand years. Such is the origin of the breeds of terriers, bulldogs, and all of the small house dogs.

Man has often, designedly or undesignedly, aided in the production of breeds of this last category by submitting the dog to a regimen contrary to nature, or setting to work to reproduce an animal born monstrous, either for curiosity or for interest. As well known, the accidental characters and the spontaneous modifications which work no injury to the essential functions of life became easily hereditary, and the same is the case with certain artificial modifications pursued for a long series of generations.

It was the opinion of Buffon that the breeds of dogs, which were already numerous in his time, were all derived from a single type, which, according to him, was the shepherd's dog. Other scientists have insisted that the dog descended from the wolf, and others from the jackal. At the present time, it is rightly admitted that several species of wild dogs have concurred in the formation of the different breeds of dogs as we now have them.

In the lacustrine habitations of the stone age in Sweden, and in the _kjoekkenmoedding_ (kitchen remains) of Denmark, of the same epoch, we find the remains of a dog, which, according to Rutymeyer, belongs to a breed which is constant up to its least details, and which is of a light and elegant conformation, of medium size, with a spacious and rounded cranium and a short, blunt muzzle, and a medium sized jaw, the teeth of which form a regular series.

This dog, which has been named by geologists _Canis palustris_, fully resembles in size, slenderness of the limbs, and weakness of the muscular insertions, the spaniel, the brach hound, or the griffon.

This dog of the stone age is entirely distinct from the wolf and jackal, of which some regard the domestic dog as a descendant, and as it has appeared in Denmark as well as in Sweden, there is no doubt that this species, peculiar to Europe, was subjugated by man and used by him, in the first place, for hunting, and later on for guarding houses and cattle. Later still, in the age of metals, we observe the appearance, both in Denmark and Sweden, of larger and stronger breeds of dogs, having in their jaws the character of mastiffs, and probably introduced by the first emigrants from Asia.

There are, moreover, historic proofs that the dogs of the strongest breeds are indigenous to Asia, where we still find the dog of Thibet, the most colossal of all; in fact, in Pliny we read the following narrative: Alexander the Great received from a king of Asia a dog of huge size. He wished to pit it against bears and wild boars, but the dog remained undisturbed and did not even rise, and Alexander had it killed. On hearing of this, the royal donor sent a second dog like the first, along with word that these dogs did not fight so weak animals, but rather the lion and the elephant, and that he had only two of such individuals, and in case that Alexander had this one killed, too, he would no longer find his equal. Alexander matched this dog with a lion and then with an elephant, and he killed them both. Alexander was so afflicted at the premature death of the first dog, that he built a city and temples in honor of the animal.

Did the mountainous province of Epirus called Molossia, in ancient Greece, give its name to the _molossi_ that it produced, or did these large dogs give their name to the country? At all events, we know that it was from Epirus that the Romans obtained the molossi which fought wild animals in the circuses, and that from Rome they were introduced into the British islands and have became the present mastiffs.

Although our hunting and shepherd's dogs have a European and the mastiffs an Asiatic ancestry, the ancestry of the harriers is African, and especially Egyptian; in fact, in Upper Egypt we find a sort of large white jackal (_Simenia simensis_) with the form of a harrier, and which Paul Gervais regarded with some reason as the progenitor of the domestic harrier, and a comparison of their skulls lends support to this opinion.

A study of the most ancient monuments of the Pharaohs shows that the ancient Egyptians already had at least five breeds of dogs: two very slim watch dogs, much resembling the harrier, a genuine harrier, a species of brach hound and a sort of terrier with short and straight legs. All these dogs had erect ears, except the brach, in which these organs were pendent, and this proves that the animal had already undergone the effects of domestication to a greater degree than the others. The harrier of the time of the Pharaohs still exists in great numbers in Kordofan, according to Brehm.

Upon the whole, we here have, then, at least three stocks of very distinct dogs: 1, a hunting or shepherd's dog, of European origin; 2, a mastiff, typical of the large breed of dogs indigenous to Asia; and 3, a harrier, indigenous to Africa.

We shall not follow the effects of the combination of these three types through the ages, and the formation of the different breeds; for that we shall refer our readers to a complete work upon which we have been laboring for some years, and two parts of which have already appeared.[1]

[Footnote 1: Les Races des Chiens, in La Bibliotheque de l'Eleveur.]

We shall rapidly pass in review the different breeds of dogs that one may chance to meet with in our dog shows, beginning with the largest. It is again in mountainous countries that the largest dogs are raised, and the character common to all of these is a very thick coat. The largest of all, according to travelers, is the Thibetan dog. Buffon tells of having seen one which, when seated, was five feet in height. One brought back by the Prince of Wales from his voyage to the Indies was taller in stature, stronger and more stocky than a large mastiff, from which it differed, moreover, in its long and somewhat coarse hair, which was black on the back and russet beneath, the thighs and the tail being clothed with very long and silky hair.

In France, we have a beautiful mountain dog--the dog of the Pyrenees--which is from 32 to 34 inches in height at the shoulders, and has a very thick white coat, spotted above with pale yellow or grayish fox color. It is very powerful, and is capable of successfully defending property or flocks against bears and wolves.

The Alpine dog is the type of the mountain dog. It is of the same size as the dog of the Pyrenees, and differs therefrom especially in its coloring. It is white beneath, with a wide patch of orange red covering the back and rump. The head and ears are of the same color, with the addition of black on the edges; but the muzzle is white, and a stripe of the same color advances upon the forehead nearly up to the nape of the neck. The neck also is entirely white. There are two varieties of the Alpine or St. Bernard dog, one having long hair and the other shorter and very thick hair. We give in Fig. 1 a portrait of Cano, a large St. Bernard belonging to Mr. Gaston Leonnard.

Although this breed originated at the celebrated convent of St. Bernard, it no longer exists there in a state of purity, and in order to find fine types of it we have to go to special breeders of Switzerland and England. The famous Plinnlimon, which was bought for $5,000 by an American two or three years ago, and about which there was much talk in the papers, even the political ones, was born and reared in England. It appears that it is necessary, too, to reduce the number of life-saving acts that it is said are daily performed by the St. Bernard dogs. This is no longer but a legend. There was, it is true, a St. Bernard named Barry, now exhibited in a stuffed state in the Berne Museum, which accomplished wonders in the way of saving life, but this was an exception, and the reputation of this animal has extended to all others of its kind. These latter are simply watch dogs kept by the monks for their own safety, and which do not go at all by themselves alone to search for travelers that have lost their way in the snow.

The Newfoundland dog, which differs from the preceding in its wholly black or black and white coat, was, it appears, also of mountain origin. According to certain authors, it is indigenous to Norway, and was carried to Newfoundland by the Norwegian explorers who discovered the island. Adapted to their new existence, they have become excellent water dogs, good swimmers, and better life savers by far than the majority of their congeners.

Is it from descending to the plain that the mountain dogs have lost their long hair and have become short haired dogs like the English dog or mastiff and the German or large Danish dogs? It is very probable. At all events, it is by this character of having short hair that mastiffs are distinguished from the mountain dogs. Again, the large breed of dogs are distinguished from each other by the following characters: The mastiff is not very high at the shoulders (30 inches), but he is very heavy and thick set, with powerful limbs, large head, short and wide muzzle and of a yellowish or café-au-lait color accompanying a black face; that is to say, the ears, the circumference of the eyes and the muzzle are of a very dark color. The German or large Danish dogs constitute but one breed, but of three varieties, according to the coat: (1) those whose coat is of a uniform color, say a slaty gray or isobelline of varying depth, without any white spots; (2) those having a fawn colored coat striped transversely with black like the zebra, but much less distinctly; (3) those having a spotted coat, that is to say, a coat with a white ground strewed with irregular black spots of varying size. These, like those of the first variety are generally small-eyed. Whatever be the variety to which they belong, the German or large Danish dogs are slimmer than, and not so heavy as, the mastiffs. Some, even, are so light that it might be supposed that they had some heavier blood in their veins. They have also a longer muzzle, although square, and are quicker in gait and motions.

The largest dogs are to be met with in this breed, and the beautiful Danish dog belonging to Prof. Charcot (Fig. 2) is certainly the largest dog in France and perhaps in Europe. It measures 36 inches at the shoulders and has an osseous and muscular development perfectly in keeping with its large stature, and at the same time has admirable proportions and lightness, and its motions are comparable to those of the finest horse.

Among the English dogs or mastiffs, we very frequently meet with individuals in which the upper incisors and canines are placed back of the corresponding ones in the lower jaw, this being due to a slight shortening of the bones of the upper jaw, not visible externally. This is the first degree of an artist of teratological development, which, since the middle ages, has become very marked in certain subjects, and has given rise to a variety in which this defect has become hereditary. Such is the origin of the breed of bulldogs. The latter were originally as large as the mastiffs. Carried to Spain under Philip II., they have there preserved their primitive characters, but the bulldogs remaining in England have continued to degenerate, so that now the largest are scarcely half the size of the Spanish bulldog, and the small ones attain hardly the size of the pug, although they preserve considerable width of chest and muscular strength.

POINTERS.

Man hunted for ages with dogs that he united in a pack; but these packs were of a very heterogeneous composition, since they included strong dogs, light dogs very swift of foot, shepherds' dogs, and others noted for acuteness of scent, and even mongrels due to a crossing with the wolf. It is from the promiscuousness of all these breeds that has arisen our ordinary modern dog.

The pointer is of relatively recent creation, and is due to the falconers. In our western countries, falconry dates from the fourth and fifth centuries, as is proved by the capitularies of Dagobert. This art, therefore, was not brought to us from the East by the crusaders in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, as stated by Le Maout in his Natural History of Birds.

The falconer soon saw the necessity of having a dog of nice scent having for its role the finding or hunting up of game without pursuing it, in order to permit the falcons themselves to enter into the sport. This animal was called the bird dog, and was regarded as coming from various countries, especially from Spain, whence the name of spaniel that a breed of pointers has preserved. It is quite curious to find that for three or four centuries back there have been no spaniels in Spain. From Italy also and from southern climes comes what is called the _bracco_, whence doubtless is derived the French name _braque_ and English brach. Finally the _agasse_ of the Bretons was certainly also one of the progenitors of our present pointers. It was, says Oppian, a breed of small and very courageous dogs, with long hair, provided with strong claws and jaws, that followed hares on the sly under shelter of vine-stocks and reeds and sportively brought them back to their masters after they had captured them. We have certainly here the source of our barbets and griffons.

Finally the net hunters of the middle ages also contributed much to the creation of the pointer, for it is to them that we owe the setter. It is erroneously, in fact, that certain authors have attributed the creation of this dog to hunters with the arquebuse, since this weapon did not begin to be utilized in hunting until the sixteenth century. Gaston Phoebus, who died in 1391, shows, in his remarkable work, that the net hunters made use of Spanish setters and that it was they who created the true pointer--the animal that fascinates game by its gaze. By the same pull of their draw net they enveloped in its meshes both the setter and the prey that it held spellbound.

Upon the whole, we see that at the end of the middle ages there existed three types of pointers: spaniels, brachs and very hairy dogs, that Charles Estienne, in his Maison Rustique, of the sixteenth century, calls barbets. It is again with these three types that are connected all the present pointers, which we are going to pass rapidly in review.

_The Brach hounds_.--To-day we reserve the name of brachs for all pointers with short hair. The type of the old brach still exists in Italy, Spain, the south of France and in Germany. It is characterized by its large size, its robust form, its large head, its long, flat ears, its square muzzle separated from the forehead by a deep depression, its large nose, often double (that is to say, with nostrils separated by a deep vertical groove), its pendent lips, its thick neck, its long and strong paws provided with dew claws, both on the fore and the hind feet, and its short hair, which is usually white and marked with brown or orange-yellow spots. The old brach breed has been modified by the breeders of different countries, either by hygiene or by crossing with ordinary dogs, according to the manner of hunting, according to taste, and even according to fashion. Thus in England, where "time is money" reigns in every thing and where they like to hunt quickly and not leisurely, the brach has been rendered lighter and swifter of foot and has become the pointer. In France, while it has lost a little in size and weight, it has preserved its moderate gait and has continued to hunt near its master, "under the gun," as they say. The same is the case in Spain, Italy and Germany even. In France there are several varieties or sub-breeds of brach hounds. The old French brach, which is nothing more than the old type, preserved especially in the south, where it is called the Charles the Tenth brach, is about twenty-four inches in height, and has a white and a maroon coat, which is somewhat coarse. It often has a cleft nose and dew-claws on all the feet. The brach of the south scarcely differs from the preceding except in color. Its coat has a white ground covered with pale orange blotches and spots of the same color. The St. Germain brach is finer bred, and appears to be a pointer introduced into France in the time of Charles X. It has a very fine skin, very fine hair of a white and orange color. The Bourbon brach has the characters of the old French brach, with a white coat marked here and there with large brown blotches, and the white ground spotted with the same color; but what particularly characterizes this dog is that it is born with a stumpy tail, as if three-quarters of it had been chopped off. The Dupuy brach is slender and has a narrow muzzle, as if it had some harrier blood in its veins. It is white, with large dark maroon blotches. The Auvergne brach resembles the southern brach, but has a white and black coat spotted with black upon white. The pointer, or English brach (Fig. 3), descends from the old Spanish brach, but has been improved and rendered lighter and much swifter of foot by the introduction of the blood of the foxhound into its veins, according to the English cynegetic authors themselves. The old pointer was of a white and orange color, and was indistinguishable from our St. Germain. The pointer now fancied is white and maroon and has a stronger frame than the pointer of twenty years ago. The Italian brachs are heavy, with lighter varieties, usually white and orange color, more rarely _roan_, and provided with dew-claws, this being a sign of purity of breed according to Italian fanciers. The German brachs are of the type of the old brach, with a stiff white and maroon coat, the latter color being so extensively distributed in spots on the white as to make the coat very dark.

_Spaniels_.--The old type of spaniel has nearly disappeared, yet we still find a few families of it in France, especially in Picardy and perhaps in a few remote parts of Germany. The old spaniel was of the same build as the brach, and differed from it in that the head, while being short-haired, was provided with ears clothed with long, wavy hair. The same kind of hair also clothed the whole body up to the tail, where it constituted a beautiful tuft. The Picard spaniel is a little lighter than the old spaniel. It has large maroon blotches upon a white ground thickly spotted with maroon, with a touch of flame color on the cheeks, over the eyes, and on the legs. The Pont-Andemer spaniel is a Norman variety, with very curly hair, almost entirely maroon colored, the white parts thickly spotted with a little color as in the Picard variety, and a characteristic forelock on the top of the head.

In England, the spaniel has given rise to several varieties. In the first place there are several sub-breeds of setters, viz.: The English setter, still called laverack, which has large black or orange-colored blotches on the head, the rest of the body being entirely white, with numerous spots of the same color as the markings on the head (Fig. 4); the Irish setter, which is entirely of a bright yellowish mahogany color; and the Gordon setter, which is entirely black, with orange color on the cheeks, under the throat, within and at the extremity of the limbs (Fig. 5). Next come the field spaniels, a group of terrier spaniels, which includes the Clumber spaniel, which is white and orange color; the Sussex spaniel, which is white and maroon; the black spaniel, which is wholly black; and the cocker, which is the smallest of all, and is entirely black, and white and maroon, or white and orange-colored, or tricolored.

_Barbets and Griffons_.--To this latter category belong the dogs, _par excellence_, for hunting in swamps. The barbets are entirely covered with long curly hair, like the poodles, which are directly derived from them. They are white or gray, with large black or brown blotches. The griffons differ from the poodles in their coarse and stiff hair, which never curls. They have large brown blotches upon a white ground, which is much spotted or mixed, as in the color of the hair called roan. There is an excellent white and orange-colored variety. The griffons, neglected for a long time on account of the infatuation that was and is still had for English hunting dogs, are being received again with that favor which they have never ceased to be the object of in Germany and in Italy (where they bear the name of _spinone_). Breeders of merit, such as Mr. Korthals, in Germany, and Mr. E. Boulet, in France, are endeavoring to bring them into prominence (Fig. 6). Finally, we reckon also among hunting dogs some very happy crosses between the spaniels and the barbets, which in England are called retrievers or water spaniels.--_P. Megnin, in La Nature_.

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RESTOCKING THE SEINE WITH FISH.

A few days ago, at Bougival, a short distance below the dam of the Marly machine, there were put into water 40,000 fry of California trout and salmon, designed to restock the Seine, which, in this region, has been depopulated by the explosions of dynamite which last winter effected the breaking up of the ice jam that formed at this place.

The operation, which is quite simple in itself, attracted a large number of inquisitive people by reason of the exceptional publicity given to the conflict provoked by a government engineer, who, under the pretext that he had not been consulted, made objections to the submersion of the little fish. As well known, the affair was terminated by a sharp reprimand from Mr. Yves Guyot, addressed to his overzealous subordinate.

It would have been a great pity, moreover, if this interesting experiment had not taken place, and had not come to corroborate the favorable results already obtained.

In three years the California salmon reaches a weight of eleven pounds, and, from this time, is capable of reproduction. Its flesh is delicious, and comparable to that of the trout, the development of which is less rapid, but just as sure.

The fry put into the water on Sunday were but two months old. The trout were, on an average, one and a half inches in length, and the salmon two and three-quarter inches. They were transported in three iron plate vessels, weighing altogether, inclusive of the water, 770 lb., and provided with air tubes through which, during the voyage, the employes, by means of pumps, assured the respiration of the little fish.

Our engraving represents the submersion at the moment at which the cylinders (of which the temperature has just been taken and compared with that of the Seine, in order to prevent too abrupt a transition for the fry) are being carefully let down into the river.--_L'Illustration_.

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