The "Curtail Dog." 29 



when the villain was compelled to amputate the toes of his 

 house or shepherd's dog in order that it could not destroy 

 the game of his lord and master, to whom he was little 

 better than a serf. I think there is no doubt that the 

 custom of docking the dog was a modification of this most 

 barbarous and painful custom both performed with similar 

 ends in view. 



Indeed, that this was so must be taken for granted, and 

 the expression a " curtail " dog was by no means uncommon 

 three hundred years ago, or even more recently. The word 

 in this sense is still to be found in some of the older and 

 more complete dictionaries. Todd, in his excellent edition 

 of Johnson, says the word "curtail/' as applied to the dog, 

 means " a dog lawed or mutilated according to the Forest 

 Laws, whose tail is cut off, and is therefore hindered in 

 coursing/' and Avon's immortal bard in his " Comedy of 

 Errors " makes Dromio of Syracuse say, " I, amazed, ran 

 from her as a witch ; and I think if my breast had not been 

 made of faith and my heart of steel, she had transformed 

 me to a curtail dog, and made me turn i' the wheel." A 

 similar word is put into the mouth of Pistol, in Act II., 

 Scene I., of the " Merry Wives of Windsor," when he says, 

 " Hope is a curtail dog in some affairs." 



Thus have we the origin of the word "cur" as yet applied 

 to the shepherd's dog in many parts of the country ; still 

 owing to its unpleasant associations and dual meaning, 

 the word will no doubt become obsolete in the course of a 

 few generations. 



The custom of docking dogs had, however, prevailed so 

 long that I am firmly of opinion that from it arose the strain 

 of tailless sheepdogs, which are still to be met with and 

 are by no means uncommon. Some varieties are less 



