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THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



suffered to die out, and if your Irish Wolf- 

 hound should threaten to become extinct, 

 or an avalanche menace your St. Bernard, 

 there is always some Captain Graham or 

 some Gumming Macdona ready at hand to 

 snatch the breed from the fate of the dodo. 



Wliat Captain Graham did for the noble 

 Irish Wolfhound has been done with even 

 more timely promptitude by Monsieur 

 Dretzen for the magnificent Chicn dcs 

 Pyrenees. 



The importance of this dog will have 

 been gathered from occasional references to 

 him in the foregoing chapters. We have seen 

 that he bore a considerable part in the origin 

 of the dog of St. Bernard ; he was probably 

 used as an outcross to produce the wliite 

 and black Newfoundland, and it is certain 

 that Sir Walter Scott's famous Deerhound 

 Maida had a Pyrenean sire. Whenever 

 our larger breeds have required an infusion 

 of strengthening blood there seems to have 

 been recourse to the virile Pyrenean strain. 



Yet notwithstanding the acknowledged 

 excellence of this race of dogs, it has been 

 allowed to become so rare that recently 

 the Royal Zoological Society tried in vain 

 to discover a single genuine specimen that 

 could be bought for money, and it may be 

 said that at the present time there are not 

 in all Europe more than a dozen really 

 typical examples of the breed. 



Unquestionably it is a dog of very ancient 

 origin. For centuries it has been practically 

 confined to the Pyrenean mountains, and 

 more particularly to the southern slopes of 

 the chain, where it was kept by the Spanish 

 shepherds to protect their flocks from the 

 ravages of bear and wolf. They appear 

 always to have been white in colour, and 

 formerly the coat was short. It was not 

 until numbers of them were removed to 

 the French or northern side of the mountains, 

 where the climate is colder, that the coat 

 grew to the length which now contributes 

 so materially to the dog's beauty. 



Technically it is not a sheepdog, but a 

 Mastiff, and but for the difference in colour 

 it bears considerable resemblance to the 

 Mastiff of Thibet. Somewhat higher on 

 the leg, and perhaps less muscular, it has 



the same massive body, the same character 

 and texture of coat, and the same form of 

 head. The shape of the skull is precisely 

 similar, so is the carriage of the ear, the 

 set of the eye, and the form of the muzzle. 

 In the Pyrenean dog the flews are less heavy, 

 the eye shows less haw, and the expression 

 of countenance is more kindly. Probably 

 they are as a rule more docile, but the writer 

 has seen specimens quite as savage as the 

 Thibetan dog is reputed to be. The super- 

 ficial resemblance may be due to the fact 

 that they are both what the French classify 

 as Chiens dc Montague. 



Like the Thibet Mastiff, the Pyrenean dog 

 was used for protecting rather than for 

 driving or leading sheep. In the beginning 

 of summer the Pyrenean shepherds moved 

 their flocks from the lowland pastures to the 

 mountains, where they remained for a 

 period of four or five months, often at an 

 altitude of five thousand feet above the 

 sea level. The dogs accompanied them, 

 and in a country infested by bears and wolves 

 there could be no better or more faithful 

 and courageous guardian. Gifted with an 

 exceedingly keen sense of hearing and an 

 excellent nose, the Pyrenean dog was 

 accustomed to mount sentry at night over 

 the sleeping flocks ; and if a marauding 

 Bruin should approach, or a stealthy pack 

 of wolves draw nigh, he knew it from afar, 

 and was ever alert to warn his master, or 

 himself to hasten to the attack, and the 

 wolf or bear who should face him would 

 have to deal with an exceedingly formidable 

 foe, whose quickness of decision and adroit- 

 ness in combat might be compared with the 

 trained skill of the fighting dog of the arena. 



So trusty was this canine guardian of the 

 fold, that the shepherd could with confidence 

 leave him at intervals for two or three days 

 at a time, knowing that during his absence 

 the dog would tend the sheep unaided, 

 never deserting his post of duty. His 

 watchfulness was incessant. At nightfall 

 he was accustomed to take up a position 

 commanding his woolly charge, and there 

 remain sleepless and vigilant until dawn ; 

 or if there were two of them, one would 

 make a periodical tour of the mountain to 



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