FOREIGN NON-SPORTING AND UTILITY BREEDS. 515 



reason or provocation the old hatred of strangers 

 will assert itself, more especially if he happens 

 to be suddenly aroused or startled. 



" Bhotean's journey through India was an 

 e.xpensive one, as he had to have a carriage to 

 himself. He effectually cleared the platform at 

 all stations where we stopped, and where he 

 was given exercise. Anyone who knows what 

 an Indian platform is like on arrival of the 

 mail train will appreciate 

 the good work he did 

 amongst an excitable and 

 voluble crowd of natives. 

 As regards the acclimat- 

 isation of these dogs, it 

 is a slow process. The 

 enormous coat they come 

 down from Thibet in 

 gradually dies off, and a 

 dog, arriving in England 

 at the beginning of a 

 year, does not grow his 

 new coat until the follow- 

 ing year, during the sum- 

 mer and autumn. He 

 therefore takes eighteen 

 months thoroughly to ac- 

 climatise. 



" They want a great 

 deal of exercise, and from 

 my own experience of 

 them in India and in this 

 country, they will never 

 live under the conditions 

 to which they are com- 

 pelled to adhere at the 

 Zoological Gardens. 



" They are most com- 

 panionable, and devoted 

 to their own m.aster, but 

 are quick to resent pun- 

 ishment, and brood over it for some time. 

 A good scolding occasionally, with finn but 

 kind treatment, will make them your devoted 

 slaves, although nothing you can do will 

 eradicate what is really the dog's nature, viz. 

 to consider strangers as your and his own 

 personal enemies. He takes no notice of dogs, 

 unless they notice him first. Women and 

 children he pays no attention to. Any little 

 child would be perfectly safe with him." 



The Pyrenean Dog. — In all lands where 

 special dogs have formerly been kept and 

 used for specific purposes, they have been 



allowed to lapse into neglect when those 

 purposes have ceased to exist. When the 

 wolf died out of Ireland, the dog that had 

 hunted it became scarce, and would probably 

 have become altogether extinct, but for the 

 energy of one man who secured its preserva- 

 tion. The continuance of a working breed 

 depends very largely upon the continuance 



M. DRETZENS PYRE 

 BY PATOU PASTOU 



NEAN DOG CH. PORTHOS 



RE 



of the occupation for wliich it has been 

 adapted, and one can easily imagine what 

 would become of our perfect Foxhounds 

 if disease or some other disaster were to 

 put an end to the breeding capacities of 

 the fox. Our famous packs would all be 

 drafted, and Marksman and Ranger \sould 

 quickly degenerate into lazy loungers at 

 the fireside. 



Fortunately for the continuance of dis- 

 tinctive national types, there are enthusiastic 

 lovers of the dog who are watchful that no 

 breed that is worth preserving shall be 



