Mammal Study 



263 



The dog's weapons for battle, like those of the wolf, are his tushes: 

 with these, he holds and tears his prey; with them, he seizes the wood- 

 chuck or other small animal through the back and shakes its life out. In 

 fighting a larger animal, the dog leaps against it and often incidentally 

 tears its flesh with his strong claws; but he does not strike a blow with his 

 foot like the cat, nor can he hold his quarry with it. 



Dog's teeth are especially fitted for their work. 

 The incisors are small and sharp; the canine teeth 

 or tushes are very long, but there are bare spaces on 

 the jaws so that they are able to cross past each 

 other; the molar teeth are not fitted for grinding, 

 like the teeth of a cow, but are especially fitted for 

 cutting, as may be noted if we watch the way a dog 

 gnaws bones, first gnawing with the back teeth on 

 one side and then on the other. In fact, a dog 

 does not seem to need to chew anything, but simply 

 needs to cut his meat in small enough pieces so that 

 he can gulp them down without chewing. His 

 powers of digesting unchewed food are something 

 that the hustling American may well envy. 



Of all domestic animals, the dog is most humanly understandable in 

 expressing emotions. If delighted, he leaps about giving ecstatic 

 little barks and squeals, his tail in the air and his eyes full of happy an- 



Bidldog. 



a St. Bernard of long pedigree. 



