520 



THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



same in type as those of Belgium, but are 

 perhaps less carefully bred. Those of Ger- 

 many may also be divided into three types 



BELGIAN WIRE-HAIRED SHEEPDOG. 



of rough-haired, smooth-haired, and wire- 

 haired dogs, and there is one variety not 

 very different from the Highland bearded 

 Collie, with drop ears. Many of the German 

 sheepdogs approximate to the Spitz type, 

 and this type is even more marked when 

 one goes further north, to Denmark, Norway, 

 and Sweden, where there is difficulty in 

 distinguishing the sheepdog from the Elk- 

 hound or the Samoyede. The best of the 

 German pastoral dogs, however, are those 

 w-hich still show traces of the wolf blood, 

 which was particularly apparent some 

 twenty-five years ago. They are now bred 

 with extreme care not only 

 for work among the sheep, 

 but also for competition in 

 shows, and in this latter 

 respect they have reached 

 a very high order of per- 

 fection. Much of the im- 

 provement in the breed 

 has been due to the efforts 

 of Herr Rittmeister von 

 Stephanitz, of Oberbayern, 

 who has devoted years to 

 the work of eliminating the 

 wolf character and impart- 

 ing a fixity of type tij a 

 breed which for beauty of 



shape and purity of strain is second only 

 to the British Collie. 



In France two types of shepherd dogs are 

 recognised, and these are classified respec- 

 tively as the Chi en dc Bcrgcr dc Bcauce, and 

 (liic'.i dc Bcrgcv dc la Eric. The cattie dogs 

 seem merely to be dcclass'- sheepdogs. 

 The Chien de Beauce is a large well-built 

 short-coated dog. Often he is black, or 

 black with tan markings, occasionally grizzle 

 and grey, with black patches. The ears are 

 sometimes cut, but when uncut they are 

 semi-erect. The tail is never docked. The 

 Chien de Brie has a shorter head than the 

 Beauce variety, the muzzle is less pointed, and 

 the ears are short and erect, never pendulous. 

 He wears a shaggy woolly coat, which is 

 cither black or slate coloured, grizzle or 

 ruddy brown with darker brown shading. 

 The hair is lank rather than fluffy, and it 

 lends itself to grooming. The general shape 

 of the dog is not unlike the Old English 

 Sheepdog, but the tail grows naturally long, 

 and is kept so. A good example of the 

 breed is Madame Victor-Thomas's Ch. Polka 

 de Mont'oye. 



Other French varieties of shepherd dogs 

 are those of Languedoc, La Camargue, La 

 Crau, Picardie, the Ardennes, and the 

 Garigues, but they are not recognised as 

 distinct breeds. 



The Rottweil Dog. — The early pictures 

 of wild-boar hunting in Germany show 

 that the ancient Boarhounds from which 

 the mod'irn race was evoh'ed were much 



TYPICAL GERMAN SHEEPDOGS. 



