THE CHINESE LION DOG 



It is interesting to note that the West too had its " lion- 

 dog." This breed of small pet dogs was mentioned by 

 Buffon, and Linnaeus, writing about 1792, enumerates in his 

 list of breeds of dogs the Canis Leoninus or " Lion Dog," said 

 to have a long ruffle on the forepart of his body like a [male] 

 lion, the hinder part growing short hair only. The breed 

 existed in England as early as 1615,* but certain characteristics 

 were artificially imparted to it, for we read in the Proceedings 

 of the Zoological Society, " Some of the figured and named 

 varieties, as the Lion-Dog (" Chien-lion," Buffon) ; " Canis 

 familiaris leoninus," Gmelin), are described from dogs that 

 had been artificially prepared, "f 



The Tibetan lion-dogs as existing at present in Peking 

 are in some specimens as diminutive as the common 

 ' Pekingese," but are normally somewhat larger. Chinese 

 breeders distinguish two varieties, the ordinary or " Nao-t'ou " 

 (shock-headed), whose face is remarkable for the sticking out 

 of its long coat from the lips and the bridge of the nose, 

 giving an appearance similar to that of the griffon Bruxellois, 

 and the " Tou-t'ou," very rare, whose forehead only is shaggy, 

 the lower part of face being short-haired. The character 

 " Nao " is translated " a large monkey, very nimble in climb- 

 ing." J Laufer quotes from the description of the metropo- 

 litan prefecture of Shunt'ien, " A small and alert class are the 



* " The House of Lyme," by the Lady Newton. There is, however, no known 

 relation between the two breeds. 



f Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., Proc. Zool. Soc., 1868. 



j The term applied to a dog is considered by the Chinese to be inapplicable to 

 either a very small or a very large dog. The character consists of radicals, one of 

 which means " dog " and the other " soft " or " fluffy," with obvious reference to 

 the coat. Two characters occur in the " Chou Keng Lu " (Yuan Dynasty), and 

 also in the " Pen Tsao Rang No " (Ming Dynasty). " The lion is tawny (lit. 

 yellow-coloured), like the gold-coloured " nao dog.' ' The same authority says 

 (vol. li, part ii, p. 23), " there is an animal called the 'nao' ; one half of the 

 character means ' dog ' and the other half ' soft-coated.' . . . Long-coated dogs are 

 called 'nao dogs.' " 



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