54 DOG KIND. 



savage state, and seems to have no higher ambition than 

 that of pleasing and being serviceable. He is not only 

 faithful and attached to his master beyond example in 

 other animals, but is even his friend, and enters into all 

 his predilections and animosities. He is the companion 

 of his vacant hour, the promoter of his pastime, the de- 

 fender of his property, and his unalterable adherent, 

 both in prosperous and adverse fortune. 



The original wild dog is now utterly unknown in the 

 Old Continent : but in America there are numbers which, 

 though first introduced by Europeans, have now become 

 savage ; and these show what the creature would be, were 

 it not reclaimed by man. They hunt in packs, attack 

 every animal they are likely to master ; and thus give a 

 loose to their natural appetite of rapine and cruelty. 

 They are easily tamed, however, and by kindness soon 

 become sensible of attachment and submission : a proof 

 that the dog was originally designed to be a friend, not 

 an enemy, to man ; to assist, not to injure or contend. 



This susceptibility of education and improvement is 

 evinced not only in his disposition, but in his form. 

 Hence the varieties of the dog are become too numerous 

 to particularize, and they are every day increasing. Food, 

 climate, and the habits of domestication, all make sensible 

 impressions on him. Nothing seems to remain immutable 

 with him, except his internal conformation, and his at- 

 tachment to the human race. All the breeds propagate 

 together, by which union a kind, different from either the 

 sire or the dam, is frequently produced. It is generally 

 observed, however, that the males bear the strongest 

 resemblance to the dog, and the females to the bitch. 



From these causes, the most accurate naturalists have 

 found it impossible to discriminate all the canine varieties ; 

 but they have generally agreed in considering the shep- 

 herd's dog as the parent stock from which the rest are 

 derived ; as all these have a tendency to assume the form 

 of that animal, and he is found more widely disseminated 

 than any other kind. 



