Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/410

* DOG. 354 DOG. known to be erroneou;- ; such liybrids are iincoiii- nioii, but do exi^t, and are no loss fertile tlian other ciiiiiiie cros>es. such, for iiislauee, as those between domestic dogs ami wolves or jackals, which constantly happen on the frontier of civi- lization. t>oth by awideut and by intention on the part of the owners. But it must be remem- bered that wolves and jackals are of various species and exist in many parts of the world, and that there are various other members of the dog family, such as the "wild dogs' of the Orient, described earlier in this article, the foxes, and the fo.-dogs and wolves of South America. Jlore- over, suHicient time has elapsed in all probability since the domestic races liegan for species of a snutller sort to have become extinct, perhaps largely through man's agency, partly by killing them," and partly by absorbing them into his domestic family. The peculiarities of cerUiin races, such as the Japanese pugs and the hairless dogs of tropical America, are so great as to he accounted for with difficulty, except upon the supposition that they are the descendants of extinct species. All canine animals exhibit, more or less plainly, the qualities which have contributed to make the character and value of the domestic dog what they are. They are courageous, quick- witted, and accustomed to possessing and de- fending home and property (their captures), and to the exercise of both "nose and eyes, whose faculties are highly developed. More important, however, as rendering them susceptible to taming and the oiler of human friendship, is their prac- tice of hunting in companies and aiding one another, which has developed in them a social disposition much in excess of that in any other class of carnivores, and given them a sense of mutual dependence easily transferred to human companions and increased by continual human association. Hence the fact that in every part of the world, and from time immemorial, men have been found to own dogs, and the history of the dispersion of his dogs is bound up with the problem of the dispersion of man himself. The practice appears as far back as humanity can Iw traced. We may not be sure that Paleolithic man kept dogs as camp-mates, but 'Neolithic' man, he of the stone village on the hill and of the pile-built dwelling on the lake, certainly posses.sed and used them as an aid in keeping his Hocks and herds. The oldest monumental remains of the valleys of the Indus, the Euphra- tes, and the Nile, show that dogs were common among these early peoples and in great diversity. Certain types well known to-day may be recog- nized, and will be referred to more particularly in the s|>eoial articles on those breeds. Consult Bcrje.iu. The arieties of Dogs (London. 1805), a treatise upon dogs as they are found dejiicted in old sculptures, pictures, engravings, and books to the end of the seventeenth century. It is certain that the first ones tamed were of local species, some of which in nil yirobability have since become extinct. As tribes enlarged and spreail out. their dogs would go with them. Here and there they wotild enc(iunt<T and coalesce with other peoples and an intermingling of dogs would follow. This, going on indefinitely and complicated by constant intermixture with new blood from the forest — for in no group of ani- mals is interfertility more genera! — would speedily bring about a great variety of forms. In addition to this, however, there must have gone on from the very first, besides the varying iuUucnces of new climate, food, and general en- vironment, a certain amount of selective breed- ing. it has been held by Professor Shaler and others that the first motive leading to domestication 01 the dog was to provide a resource against the recurring famines that atllict aboriginal life, while others suppose the animal's aid in hunting first made it valuable. Undoubtediv, then as row, the dog was eaten on o<-casion. but it would certainly make itself so useful as a watcb-dogand a hunter as quickly to win regard: and there is no doubt that the personality of the animal would appeal to the affection of the ])rimcval savages as it does to-day. No other human beings are regarded as so rude and autochthonous as the northern Australians, yet while they eat both the wild and tame dingos, and use the latter in hunting, they regard many of them as pets, lavish alTection upon them, and even nurse the puppies at the women's breasts. In recognition of these qualities, the best or most interesting puppies and older dogs would naturally be saved when anv' were to be killed for food or other purpose. In such isolated circumstances as those of the Australians, where there is free and con- stant intercourse between the wild stock and the tame, this would have little effect: but in general, where the mixture of several wild breeds had already produced diverse hybrids, the uncon- scious selection thus brought al)Out would sounbe effective, and would be followed, as civilization liegan, with a more intelligint and definite kind of choice, which nuist have originated selective bre«>ding long before any history of it begins. It must have l>ecn intelligently and persistently practiced, in fact, long before the earliest civil- ized records, for monuments inscribed four or five thousan<l years ago lx;ar pictures of widely diversified and perfectly breil races of dogs, such as greyhounds. • Varikties of ^)o^rl^STIC Docs. No one probably has ever attempted to make a complete catalogue ^%V W '"n" OBOWTH OF A DOCl'S TEETH. rtevelopmcnt ol dentition hi tlio lonpr Jaw nt varioos 8Ucc«Mive ORes: 1. two dnys: 2. four minitliB; 3, six montlis: i, nine months: 6, eleven months; 6, Jour .vears. of the varieties of domestic dogs known through- out the world, but Fitzinger estimated the num- ber in 1«7(> at about 1S.5. All these fall into cer- tain '/roups, or types, as will presently tie noted: and the study of their points of likeness and un- likeness has been made by several recent investi-
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