DOGS. (CHINESE EDIBLE DOG, PUG.) 



2C3 



is dog-running, and it gave rise to a new strain 

 of dogs known as whippets, which were pro- 

 duced by inbreeding greyhounds to reduce the 

 size, and then crossing with the bull - terrier 

 to give strength, courage, and endurance. A 

 whippet, when seen alone, is almost a 

 counterpart of a finely-bred greyhound, 

 hut it is generally somewhat smaller. 

 If a whippet is seen near an Italian 

 greyhound, there is at once noticed ^ 

 considerable thickening of all the finer 

 beauties of the greyhound, a result of 

 the bull-terrier cross. 



Dog-racing has for several years been 

 an institution in parts of this country, 

 more particularly in and about Phila- 

 delphia, where there is a considerable 

 English-born population, and at many 

 of the athletic and foot-racing meetings 

 there is what is called a dog handicap. 

 The distance run is generally 200 yards, 

 and a fast-running dog can cover this 

 distance in about one half the time that 

 a two-legged sprinter could do it. The 

 dogs are run in heats of five, and are 

 handicapped, or allowed a start, accord- 

 ing to age and size. A dog has in this | \ 

 country always two yards and a half 

 start for each pound that he weighs 

 less than his opponent; in England he ' 

 would only be allowed two yards start 

 for each pound. The dogs drawn for a 

 heat are held on their marks by their 

 owners or handlers, while a man is stationed 

 twenty yards behind the finishing-tape to wave 

 a white cloth. At the firing of the pistol, each 

 is slipped, and their early instincts having been 

 well developed, they run straight and only need 

 to be urged for an extra burst of speed by the 

 clapping of hands or shouts of their handlers, 

 who in slipping them are very careful not to 

 let a dog lose his start by over-haste. A dog 

 catches his start nearly as quickly as a human 

 sprinter, and quickly gets on full speed. The 

 best handicaps of dogs at Philadelphia have 

 brought about seventy-five dogs to the post, 

 but in all-England handicaps at Manchester or 

 other large towns it is not unusual for 500 dogs 

 to compete, and the racing takes all day. A 

 dog is most carefully trained for his running, 

 his diet consisting of beef, mutton, toast, and 

 hard-boiled eggs, his drink of tea and ale. 



Chinese Edible Dog. At the Crystal Palace 

 Dog- Show, in London, several specimens of a 

 (to us) entirely new breed of dogs were exhib- 

 ited. It has much the appearance of a Spitz 

 dog, but is far more clumsily built and larger 

 and very fleshy. This is the Chinese edible 

 dog. They are bred in China for the sake of 

 their flesh, and have been developed in that 

 direction in that country for centuries, in much 

 the same manner as the Asiatic breeds of fowls, 

 for quantity rather than quality. These dogs 

 are fed entirely on vegetable food, and their 

 flesh is said to taste like veal. 



Pug. The pug should have a round, monkey- 



like skull, which should be of considerable 

 girth, but in proportion not so great as that of 

 the bull-dog. The face is short, but again not 

 " bully " or retreating, the end being cut off 

 square ; and the teeth must be level ; if they 



A CHINESE EDIBLE DOG. 



are undershot, a cross of the bull is almost 

 always to be relied on. The cheek is very full 

 and muscular. The other points may be sum- 

 marized thus : 



The ears are small, vine-shaped, and thin, and 

 should lie moderately flat on the face. They are black, 

 with a slight intermixture of fawn hairs. The eyes 

 are dark brown and full, with a soft expression. 

 There should be no tendency to weep, as in tl e toy 

 spaniel. A black mole is always demanded on each 

 cheek, with two or three hairs springing from it ; the 

 regulation number of these is three, but, of course, it 

 is easy to reduce them* to that number. The mask, 

 vent, and wrinkles, must be considered together, as 

 they all depend mainly on color. The wrinkles, it is 

 true, are partly in the skin ; but over and above these 

 there should be lines of black, corresponding with 

 them, on the face and forehead.^ The mask should 

 extend over the whole face as a jet black, reaching a 

 little above the eyes, and the vent should be of the 

 same color. In the Willoughby strain the black gen- 

 erally extends higher on the skull, and has not the 

 same definite edge as in the Morrison pug, in which 

 this point is well shown and greatly insisted upon by 

 its admirers. A trace or black line is exhibted along 

 the top of the back by all perfect pugs ; and the clear- 

 er this is the better as with the mask, so with this 

 the definition is clearer in the Morrison than in the 

 Willoughby pug. When it extends widely over the 

 back it is called a "saddle-mark," and this is often 

 displayed in the Willoughby, though seldom met with 

 in the Morrison strain." The color of the Morrison 

 pug is a rich yellow fawn, while that of the Wil- 

 loughby is a cold stone. The salmon fawn is never 

 met with in good specimens of either, and is objected 

 to. In the Willoughby the fawn-colored hairs are apt 

 to be tipped with black, but in its rival the fawn-col- 

 or is pure and unmixed with any darker shade. Of 

 course in interbred specimens the color is often inter- 



