SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS 



the most part, has dissolved into a silver iridescence." This 

 dog is clearly a sturdy chow of a type commonly found in 

 Yunnan Province. It has prick ears, bushy and well-curled 

 erect tail, straight hind legs and non-pendulous lips, but large 

 eyes and broad head. These tomb-dog figures have evidently 

 been made in large numbers, usually on the cheap scale 

 current in modern Chinese funeral offerings and grave fur- 

 nishings. Strongly characteristic of these Han guardian- 

 dogs are the massive collar and body-straps which, by their 

 stoutness, indicate that the guard-dog of the period was 

 extremely powerful. In their form, neck and chest-band 

 connected by a strap in front and bound into an iron ring 

 over the back, they clearly originate the efficient harness with 

 which the Chinese have been accustomed to hold their more 

 powerful dogs in leash through historical times. The iron 

 buckles at the side of the harness are strongly made and very 

 characteristic. The tail in some of the clay specimens is 

 bushy and well curled over the back.* In others, however, 

 though curled, it is short and with no brush. Stiffness of the 

 hind legs so characteristic of the chow breed is clearly shown 

 in these models. f 



It may be that these pottery tomb-dogs are the repre- 

 sentatives of dogs which were in the possession of the deceased, 

 and that at an earlier period the dogs themselves were 



* The Assyrian dogs of Asshur-bani-pal wore plaited neck-collars. Judging from 

 the reliefs and clay figures reproduced in Handcock's work, the curl of the tail of 

 these dogs is open, and does not closely resemble that of the Tibetan mastiff breed. 

 The ears are not pricked, but rather pendulous. The hind legs are not straight, and 

 are bent in running. The suggestion by Layard that the Assyrian breed is still 

 extant in Tibet (though not in Mesopotamia) does not seem justified. 



f " The only peculiarity that I have noticed about them (the Tibetan mastiffs) 

 is that the tail is nearly always curled upward on the back, where the hair is displaced 

 by the constant rubbing of the tail." A. Cunningham, " Ladak, Physical, Statistical, 

 and Historical," London, 1854, p. 218. Cf. White on the chow dog : " When they 

 are in motion their tails are curved high over their backs like those of some hounds, 

 and have a bare place on the outside from the tip midway, that does not seem like a 

 matter of accident, but somewhat singular." 



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