188 ARSLAN, THE TURKISH WOLF-DOG. 



unsafe in the extreme. On one occasion he 

 attacked a fine Newfoundland dog in the road, 

 nearly opposite to our house, and would speedily 

 have killed him if I had not been present, neither 

 the owner of the dog nor the spectators, who 

 rapidly collected to see the row, daring to interfere. 

 I may here mention a safe and humane way of 

 inducing a dog to relinquish his gripe of anything 

 he has seized : Press the nostrils of the dog with 

 the left hand, and, placing the forefinger and 

 thumb of the right behind the upper canine teeth, 

 raise the upper jaw, and the dog will be imme- 

 diately compelled to let go from his inability to 

 breathe. I find that Arslan's bite differs from that 

 of other dogs in the following way : When he has 

 seized another animal, instead of maintaining his 

 hold, he will tear his teeth violently out of the 

 flesh and muscles without unclosing them, thereby 

 producing a most severe wound. This is also the 

 case with the wolf. He is a capital house dog, 

 and though he will permit most people to pass him 

 in the day-time without molestation, he has a 

 rooted aversion to beggars, and tramps, of every 

 description ; and art night it would be dangerous in 

 the extreme for any stranger to venture on the 

 premises. 



I remember on one occasion he floored an organ - 

 ^grinder who presumed to shake a stick at him 



