302 THE BOARHOUND. 
so quick and agile, that, if the Dog were to retain his hold, the otter would twist round 
and inflict a severe bite, so the Dog bites as fast and as often as he can, in order to give 
his antagonist the fewest possible chances of retaliation. 
When a number of these Dogs are placed in the same kennel they are sadly apt to 
fight, and to inflict fatal injuries on each other from the sheer love of combat. If two of 
the Dogs begin to quarrel and to fight, the others are sure to join them ; so that, from the 
bad temper of a single Dog, half the pack may lose their lives. 
As these Dogs are obliged to endure the most turbulent weather and the coldest 
streams, they are furnished with a very strong, rough, and wiry coat, which is capable of 
resisting the effects of cold and storm, and is also of much service in blunting the 
severity of the otter’s bite. The face and muzzle are guarded with a profusion of longish 
and very rough “ whisker” hairs. 
Whether this animal is the production of a cross breed between two families of Dogs, 
or whether it forms a distinct family in itself, is a mooted point. According to the best 
authorities, the latter opinion seems to be the best founded. It is thought by those who 
consider the Dog to be of mixed breed, that it was originally the offspring of the deer- 
hound and terrier; but as it retains the full melodious note of the hound, which is 
always injured or destroyed by an admixture with the sharp-voiced terrier, it appears to 
owe more of its parentage to that animal. Be this as it may, it is now treated as a 
separate breed, and may claim the honours of a pure lineage. In all probability it is a 
variety of the old southern hound, which was selected carefully for the work which it is 
intended to perform, and which in course of time has so settled down to its vocation as 
to have undergone that curious variation in form and aspect that is always found in 
animals or men which have long been employed in the same kind of work. 
Any one of moderate experience among Dogs and their habits can, on seeing the animal, 
determine its avocation, just as any one who is conversant with men and their manners 
“an, on seeing a man, at once announce his calling. There is something in the little 
peculiarities of the formation which tells its tale to the observing eye. There is a kind 
of moral and intellectual, as well as physical, atmosphere, that seems to surround every 
creature, and to tell of its essential nature, its education, and its habits. Animals appear 
to be peculiarly sensitive to this surrounding emanation, and to be attracted or repelled hy 
an influence as powerful, though as invisible, as that which attracts or repels the different 
poles of a magnet. We feel it ourselves in the instinctive cordiality or repugnance which 
we perceive when brought in contact with a fresh acquaintance, and which very seldom 
misleads those who are content to follow their instincts. The nature of each being seems 
to pervade its every particle as it were—to overflow and shed its influence, consciously or 
otherwise, on every object with which it enters into communion. There are some men 
whose very presence warms and enlivens all whom they approach, and that not from any 
suavity of manner, for such men are often most abrupt and truth-telling in their 
demeanour; and there are others who, however urbane may be their deportment, seem to 
cast from them a cold and freezing atmosphere that congeals all those around them, like 
the icebergs of the northern seas. 
Although, on examining the form of the Otterhound, we should not be able to point 
out the description of game which it is accustomed to pursue, we should at once pronounce 
it to be a strong and hardy animal, a good swimmer, possessed of a delicate nose, and 
of stout courage. In each of these accomplishments the Otterhound excels, and needs 
them all when it ventures to cope with the fierce prey which it is taught to pursue. 
The Otterhound is a tolerably large Dog, measuring nearly two feet in height at the 
shoulder. This is the height of the male, that of the female is an inch or two less. 
THE FINE animal which is represented in the accompanying engraving can hardly be 
considered as belonging to a separate breed, but rather as a mixture between seve ral 
families of domesticated Dogs. 
According to competent judges, the Boarnounn is derived from a mingling of the 
mastiff with the greyhound, crossed afterwards with the terrier. The reader will see why 
these three animals are employed for the purpose of obtaining a Dog which is capable of 
