Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/345

DOG 327 dogs, at the distance of some miles from any house or man." And on inquiry he found out the method by which this friendship between dog and sheep had been established. The dog when a puppy is removed from its mother, and is no longer allowed to associate with other dugs, or even with the children of the family. It is kept iu the sheep pen, and suckled by a ewe. Generally also it is castrated and thus has little or no community of feeling with its kind. Brought up among the sheep it shows no desire to leave the flock, but assumes the position of leader. " It is amusing," says the above writer, " to observe, when approaching a flock, how the dog immedi ately advances barking, and the sheep all close in his rear as if round the oldest ram." It comes home daily for food, on receipt of which it immediately returns to the flock ; and this it is often taught to bring home in the evening. The Newfoundland and Great St Bernard or Alpine Dogs occupy an uncertain position, forming, according to some authors, a group by themselves, and being classed by others among the wolf-like dogs, although in their large and pendulous ears they differ widely from the typical forms already noticed. The Newfoundland Dog is believed to have been brought to England from the island to which it owes its name, but probably owing to partial crossing, it differs somewhat from the original American breed, the latter being smaller in size, with the muzzle less blunted, and almost totally black in colour. In Newfoundland and Labrador these dogs lare used as beasts of burden, drawing considerable loads of wood and provisions on sledges. The feet are partially webbed, and consequently they are unrivalled as water-dogs, and although their weakness of scent and com parative slowness of foot renders them useless to the hunter, yet in a country of fens and morasses, the sportsman finds them of the greatest service in rescuing birds that have fallen into the water ; nor do they hesitate in their eager ness for retrieving to make their way through the roughest cover. The English variety of Newfoundland Dog is a noble creature, standing 30 inches high at the shoulders, Fio. 2. Newfoundland Dog. its hair waved or curly and of a black and white colour in nearly equal proportions, its tail massive and bushy and curled upwards at the extremity. Equally noble in dis position, it does not allow the annoyance of smaller dogs to disturb its serenity, while its patience with children is riot readily exhausted. In defence of its master s property it will fly with bull-dog ferocity at any intruder, while it will battle with the waters to save him from drowning. Its services in the saving of life are well known. When kept in confinement its temper is more variable, and in a fit of irritation these dogs have been known to attack those for whom they have previously shown the greatest regard ; but even in confinement such cases are altogether exceptional. This breed is supposed by some not to be indigenous to North America, but to have been introduced either on the first discovery of Newfoundland by the Norwegians about the year 1000, or on its re-discovery by Cabot in 1497. The Norwegians, according to Martin, have dogs closely resembling the Newfoundland breed, which are used in hunting bears and wolves, and which are armed with spiked collars in order to protect them from the wolves which seek to seize them by the throat. The Great St Bernard Dog of the present day is a powerful animal, as large as a mastiff, with close short hair and pendulous ears, and varying in colour, in one case being described as " sandy red or tawny " with black muzzle, in another as " more or less marked with grey, liver colour, and black clouds." Previous to 1820 there existed another breed of these dogs, closely allied in form and size to the Newfoundland, but in that year the greater portion of them died of an epidemic, which necessitated the introduction of the present variety. These dogs are kept by the monks of the Hospice of St Bernard, in their convent, situated on one of the most dangerous passes between Switzerland and Italy, near the top of the Great St Bernard, where they are trained to the work of rescuing travellers who, overtaken by the snow storm, may have lost their way, or sunk benumbed by the cold. On such occasions these sagacious and powerful dogs set out from the convent in pairs, one bearing a flask of spirits attached to his neck, the other with a cloak. Should they come upon the baffled yet struggling traveller, they conduct him to the convent ; but should he have succumbed and be covered by the snow, their keen scent detects his presence although buried several feet beneath the surface. By loud barking and a young dog of this breed kept many years ago in the suburbs of Edinburgh was able to make itself heard a mile away they apprise the monks of the need of succour, while with their feet they attempt to clear away the snow from the body. In this way these dogs are instrumental in saving many lives every year, although often at the sacrifice of their own ; one dog which thus met its death bore a medal stating that it had been the means of saving twenty-two lives. II. GREYHOUNDS. Representations on Egyptian monu ments prove the existence of the greyhound race of dogs tit least 3000 years ago, and the silky-haired breeds exist ing in Egypt, Arabia, and Persia at the present day are probably the slightly modified descendants of those ancient forms. The numerous varieties of this race may be con veniently grouped into the wire-haired and smooth-haired breeds, of the first of which the Irish Greyhound or Wolf- dog is an example. In former times this magnificent breed was employed in Ireland in hunting the wolf and the stag, but the extirpation of these beasts of chase led to the neglect and consequent degeneracy of the breed, and it has now become extinct in that country. It was probably in troduced from the sister isle into Scotland, where its modified descendant, the Scottish Deerhound, in hunting the stag still bears testimony to the great strength and agility of its progenitor. The Old English Greyhound was only allowed to be kept by the nobles and princes, and the killing of it was, under the old game laws, a felony punish able by death. It was employed in coursing the red deer and fallow deer, and Queen Elizabeth is said to have witnessed, on one occasion, the pulling down of 16 bucks by greyhounds. These must have been much more power ful animals than the modern English breed, which, how ever, is regarded as the finest of the smooth-haired grey hounds. In speed and wind it is unrivalled, all other points having been sacrificed to these by breeders. It has thus almost lost the power of scent, and is the only dog

that hunts by sight alone, hence probably the name gaze-