FOREIGN NON-SPORTING AND UTILITY BREEDS. 523 



At Arlon-Vitron, on the borders of Luxem- 

 bourg, and probably at many other places in 

 Europe, dogs are attached to the postal 

 service to carry the mails to the outlying 

 districts, and even to deliver separate letters 

 at \'arious destinations. This is work to 

 which most breeds may be easily trained, 

 as many of us know who are accustomed 

 to send messages tied to the collars of 

 our canine friends. It is merely a matter 

 of putting the dog's 

 homing instincts to 

 practical use. 



The Dogs of War. 

 — It is certain that the 

 great Molossian dogs 

 of the ancient Greeks 

 and Romans were oc- 

 casionally taken into 

 battle, provided with 

 spiked collars as weap- 

 ons of offence in addi- 

 tion to the weapons 

 which nature had given 

 them. Plutarch has 

 made frequent refer- 

 ence to these formid- 

 able dogs of war. In 

 the middle ages, too, 

 dogs often entered into 

 the strife of the battle- 

 field dressed, like the chargers, in full suits 

 of protective armour surmounted with a 

 head piece and crest. Suits of such armour 

 for war dogs may be found in many Con- 

 tinental museums, and a particularly fine 

 example is preserved in Madrid. There is 

 a less perfect suit in the armoury of the 

 Tower of London. Protective armour was 

 also used in early times for the especial 

 hounds of the chase which were slipped 

 upon such dangerous quarry as the wild 

 boar, the dogs being furnished with richly 

 damasked corselets and back plates, " to 

 defend them from the violence of the 

 swine's tusks," as we are reminded by 

 Cavendish, who saw them armed in this 

 manner at Compiegne ; and a hound thus 

 apparelled is represented in the mid-dis- 

 tance of the fifteenth century tapestry pho- 

 tographed on page 141 of this present work. 



It is doubtful whether the dogs who 

 fought in such a battle as that of Marathon 

 were set against the enemy's soldiers or 

 against the chariot horses ; which seems 

 more probable. But nowadays when we 

 " let slip the dogs of war," it is for a more 

 humane purpose than either of these. 



At the present time there are few of the 

 great armies of the world in which dogs are 

 not trained for the particular work of carrying 



GUARDING THE BAGGAGE: 

 AMBULANCE DOGS. 



ONE OF MAJOR RICHARDSON'S 



messages or cartridges into the fighting lines, 

 and for the yet more important work of 

 taking succour to the wounded. 



The idea of utilising the dog upon the 

 modern battlefield originated with Herr J. 

 Bungartz, the celebrated German animal 

 painter. It was in 1885 that he began to 

 devote his energies to selecting and training 

 the most suitable dogs, and it is interesting 

 to note that of all breeds the Scottish Collie 

 was found to be by far the most adaptable 

 and clever, although in finding the wounded 

 the German Pointer has proved almost 

 equally successful. The French Army favour 

 a cross with the Pyrenean dog for ammuni- 

 tion serving on account of his strength, 

 which enables him to carry as many as five 

 hundred cartridges. The Barbet seems also 

 to be a useful breed in this capacity. In 

 Russia, Austria, and Italy, St. Bernards^ 



