DO 



The Turnspit. It is somewhat difficult to define to 

 what other race of dogs these are most nearly allied. 

 They are, perhaps, the least graceful of the whole 

 tribe. Their bodies are long, their legs remarkably 

 short, and they are prone to become exceedingly 

 fat, as they are very lazy. They have, however, some 

 good qvialities. The following are a few of their 

 leading characters : the head is rather large in pro-' 

 portion to the size of his body : for the most part it 

 has a peculiarity in the colour of the eyes, one of 

 which has the iris of one eye white and the other 

 black. The Turnspit is to be met with of all hues, but 

 the most usual one is a kind of bluish-grey, spotted 

 with black, sometimes he is found of a slate colour. 

 The shape of the head is something between that of 

 the hound and pointer, with long ears. One variety 

 of the Turnspit has straight legs. He is a bold, 

 spirited, and vigilant little dog ; its services in Great 

 Britain at one time were very much valued, but by 

 the invention of machinery his work has been super- 

 seded : he is, in consequence, becoming extremely 

 scarce, and in all probability will very soon become 

 extinct, although in Germany and France he is still 

 used in the kitchen. Turnspits that take their hours 

 for labour in regular rotation, know very well how to 

 distinguish the roasting days from the rest ; and it is 

 with some difficulty that they can be made to work 

 on the latter, as if they had a notion that it was then 

 a duty that they were not in duty bound to do, 

 Several instances are recorded of dogs distinguishing 

 the days of the week ; for in the neighbourhood of 

 some towns there are dogs that regularly repair 

 thither for market days, because they know that they 

 can procure some booty then. 



The varieties of mongrel breeds in this division of 

 dogs are, however, endless, so that it would be impos- 

 sible to give any account of them, though they are all 

 less or more attached to mankind, and capable of 

 evincing affection in some way or other. But in 

 towns, where the breeds of dogs are miscellaneous, 

 these are apt to be mongrel curs, of very vicious cha- 

 racter, which do not either benefit their keepers, or 

 tend to place the race in a favourable point of view. 



III. SHORT-MUZZLED DOGS. The dogs of this 

 division are different in their characters from those of 

 either of the former ; and the differences are so 

 striking, that it is by no means easy to suppose that 

 they are of the same original race either with the dogs 

 that have the elongated muzzle, or with those which 

 have it of medium length. It is somewhat remark- 

 able, that among dogs which are in what may be 

 called a state of nature, there is no approximation to 

 the short muzzle ; but the origin of this race is so 

 obscure that nothing can be said respecting it 

 with any certainty. They differ from each other 

 according to the breeds and kinds as they are de- 

 scribed ; but there are certain characters which 

 belong in common to the whole of them. They 

 have not the swift motion of the long-nosed dogs, 

 neither have they the affectionate manners and 

 playful dispositions of most of those of the second 

 division ; and if the epithet "dog" is to be considered 

 as a synonyme for surliness, this is the division of the 

 canine race which are dogs by way of eminence ; and 

 thev are the onlv ones to which the French, who are 

 not" unhappy in their nomenclature, give the name of 

 (lollies. These dogs are often faithful, vigorous pro- 

 trctors of the property of their masters ; but they show 

 no kindliness or affection. The larger ones are very 



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formidable, and even dangerous animals ; and the small 

 ones, which are sometimes kept as pets, have little 

 feeling of gratitude, and are always snappish to every 

 body except those by whom they are immediately- 

 fed ; and even to them the attachment does not 

 appear to extend much beyond the selfish considera- 

 tion of being fed. 



The dogs of this division are of no use whatever 

 in the chace, or in any way in shooting or hunting ; 

 they are not swift, their noses are very inferior, and 

 their only good qualities are the strength, the severity 

 of their bite, and the firmness with which they retain 

 their hold. As used against domestic animals, in 

 keeping them to their proper places, and turning them 

 in any direction which may be wished, they are not 

 efficient, neither are they safe. They do not drive 

 the animal, as is the case with sheep-dogs and curs, 

 but always attack it in front, attempting to seize its 

 nose or tear its throat. They are, in fact, slaughter- 

 ing or tearing dogs ; and they can be used only in those 

 characters, and not in that of friends, companions, or 

 assistants in any one labour. They are good only 

 for an attack ; and, therefore, some of them have 

 been employed in the most cruel and savage of those 

 occupations of the profligate which are very absurdly 

 named sports. 



It is a curious fact that dogs of this description 

 should be known only in a state of domestication. 

 Some of the wild dogs are savage enough in their 

 manners ; but there is none of them so savage, and we 

 may add, none of them so destitute of what m'ght be 

 called intellect in animals, as these short-nosed dogs. 

 It therefore becomes a curious question how these 

 races originated, and by what particular kind of treat- 

 ment on the part of man, all the nobler qualities of 

 the dog were merged in the single one of trustworthy 

 ferociousness. Nor is it less a matter of curiosity, if 

 we could unravel it, to ascertain why, along with this 

 character, dogs of this division should have greater 

 strength and more determined powers of endurance, 

 than any of their more attractive brethren. This ques- 

 tion we have unfortunately no means of solving ; be- 

 cause, thousrh we know the origin of particular breeds 

 we do not know the source whence they were derived, 

 or the .means by which they have been made to differ 

 so much from the rest. It is also singular that, along 

 with this departure from the swift motions of dogs of 

 the first class, and the endearing dispositions of dags of 

 the second, there should be in this third one an alter- 

 ation in the form of that most characteristic organ of 

 a dog, the mouth. But such is the fact. These dogs 

 do not bite with the same sharp snap as the others ; 

 but in them all there is a disposition to hold on and to 

 shake in pieces whatever they lay hold of. Their 

 object, in fact, appears always to be the mangling 

 and destruction of that on which their anger is 

 directed, and though, in the performance of this, many 

 of them are faithful, it is a faithfulness of ferocity. It 

 is for this reason that they are chiefly employed as 

 watch-dogs ; and it is their bad qualities, not their 

 good ones, which are turned to account by their 

 masters. They are, in short, dogs which are wanted 

 only in vicious and depraved states of society ; and 

 it does not reflect much credit upon civilised man 

 that there should be no such dogs found among 

 savage nations. If we could ascertain by what 

 means the different breeds which form this section 

 have been derived from the dogs which we know in 

 wild nature, or whether they have been derived at all, 



