The Bulldog. 227 



courage and indifference to pain which enabled the bulldog to limp with 

 dislocated shoulders or dismembered limbs (like Witherington in " Chevy 

 Chase") to pin the bull at the command of his wealthy master, also 

 enable the dog, now its former cruel occupation is abandoned, to suffer 

 patiently trials which no other breed could so quietly endure, rendering 

 him the staunchest and most reliable companion and the most capable of 

 being taught 



Even as one would say precisely ; thus I would teach a dog. 



"Manners makyth man," quoth William of Wykeham, and surely it 

 may be said that the manners also make the dog ; if a dog is capable of 

 being trained to the perfection of canine intelligence and fidelity, he 

 ought not to be undeservedly condemned. There are many people who can 

 testify and prove that the bulldog can be so trained "precisely." Several 

 owners of bulldogs have assured me that in their opinion it is the only 

 kind of dog that can with perfect safety be trusted alone to the mercy of 

 children, than which there can hardly be a greater trial of patience and 

 good temper. Having from my earliest recollection been accustomed to 

 dogs, and having possessed specimens of almost every breed of dog, I 

 consider myself, from experience, competent to contradict the statements 

 made to the disparagement of this breed, whose cause I now advocate. 

 In proof I can show one which for nine years has been the constant com- 

 panion and playfellow of my only child. It succeeded in my household 

 a fine Mount St. Bernard, and has proved itself in every way fully, if not 

 more than, equal to any of its predecessors in endurance, fidelity, and 

 sagacity. When first brought home the dog was chained to a kennel in 

 the garden, whence my little child, then not three years old, brought it 

 indoors to play with. It has since remained always loose in the house, 

 and has, with others of the same breed, daily sustained trials which 

 none but a bulldog could endure without " showing its teeth." Food or 

 bones can be taken away from them without any exhibition of illtemper, 

 whilst they are as good watch dogs as possible, and under the most 

 complete control. I could adduce plenty of little anecdotes in proof of 

 the bulldog's intelligence; but as every dog owner can do the same of 

 his own dog, and not having space for such, I will only repeat that there 

 are many people who can corroborate my assertion that the bulldog 

 is inferior to no other dog, and that ferocity is not natural to this 



