614 W. T. JAMES 



STUDY OF DOGS SHOWING EXAGGERATED DEVIATIONS IN 

 PHYSICAL FORM FROM THE MORE NORMAL TYPES 



Under experimental conditions it was found that some 

 animals could not be included within the range of normal 

 behavior. These animals also have a mixed nature, in that 

 they may conform to an inhibited type in one situation and 

 to an excitable type in another. Most of these dog's are 

 either hybrids obtained by crossing two widely different 

 types, or pure breeds which have physical abnormalities, 

 and they should not be overlooked in a study on constitution. 

 The English bulldog in particular has this mixed and ab- 

 normal nature. Although this is considered a pure breed, 

 there is great variation in physical form among the individual 

 members. 



English bulldog. The bassethound and German shepherd 

 are considered normal types. There is no deviation in either 

 physical form or behavior which would place them out of 

 the range of the trainable animals. The peculiarities of each 

 fit it for a particular job which is performed in a distinctive 

 manner, but neither can be said to make better adjustments 

 than the other; it can only be said that the form of the 

 adjustment differs. The English bulldog, on the other hand, 

 falls into a separate class. The extremities of the bulldog 

 are stocky and straight, and the long bones of the legs show 

 no evidence of chondrodystrophy. The bodily shape of the 

 English bulldog is like the hound, with the full bodied chest 

 and abdomen. There are, however, definite regional deformi- 

 ties on both ends of the axial skeleton. There is chondro- 

 dystrophy of the basal parts of the skull, which gives the 

 dog the shortened snout, and also in the vertebrae of the 

 tail, resulting in the twisted or " screw" tail. These regional 

 deformities place the dog out of the range of the normal 

 type in physical form. 



Behavior of the English bulldog. The English bulldog also 

 deviates from the normal type in general behavior. The 

 hunting reaction in these dogs has been completely lost. 



