534 



THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



muscular breed may be employed. Strength 

 and adaptability are naturally of greater 

 consideration than purity of pedigree. But 

 there seems to be a disposition to breed 

 certain recognised strains, and the peri- 

 odical shows of working dogs held in 

 Belgmm are doing excellent work in this 

 direction. 



Interesting statistics were published some 

 months ago in The Kennel Gazette, pointing to 

 the immense number of dogs engaged in 

 draught work in Belgium. It was stated 

 that at the smallest estimate some 150.000 

 dogs were so employed throughout the 

 Kingdom, and that each dog worked 300 

 days in the year ; the value of each dog's 

 earnings was estimated at not less than a 

 franc a day, totalling 45,000,000 francs per 

 annum. This is equivalent to an earning 

 capacity of £1,800,000. But large as these 

 earnings appear, they do not represent the 

 actual number of dogs now used in Belgium 

 for traction. The return quoted was made 

 in 1901, and allowing for the rate of increase 

 indicated in the previous eight years, and 

 assuming that the increase since 1901 has 

 been proportionate, there ought now to be 

 300,000 working dogs, earning in the year 

 £3,600,000 sterling. 



In the agricultural districts of Belgium, 

 Holland, Germany, and France, dogs are 

 commonly used for light draught work. 

 The WTiter has even seen them engaged in 

 drawing the plough. In Paris and Berlin 

 they are less frequently employed, but occa- 

 sionally in the early morning they may be 

 noticed attached to small delivery carts 

 straining willingly and powerfully at their 

 auxiliary traces, their masters taking an 

 easier position between the shafts. 



Draught Dogs in England. — Many per- 

 sons not yet very old, can remember 

 a time when dogs were commonly used 

 for draught work in England. They were 

 most often to be seen hauling or helping 

 to haul bakers', butchers', or milkmaids' 

 carts, or tinkers' barrows, and the phrase 

 "tinkers' cur" has a direct historical appli- 

 cation. Two or more muscular mongrels 

 might be employed to drag a light vehicle, 

 and it was a frequent sight in the parks and 



country roads to see a brace of dogs of the 

 better sort harnessed to children's carriages. 

 Costers would often take out their sweet- 

 hearts on a Sunday afternoon in a chaise 

 drawn by dogs. At one time dogs did 

 almost all the traction kibour that is now 

 done by the donkey, and there is no room 

 for doubt that they were so shamefully 

 treated and overworked that it was necessary 

 for the law to prohibit their employment. 



In the light of our modern knowledge we 

 recognise that a wiser plan of averting ill- 



Thefe children appear to 

 ride very quietly. Dogs are 

 capable of drawing a great 

 weight, and two of them may 

 travel feveral miles in a day 

 with a child or two in a chaife. 

 In Newfoundland dogs are ufcd 

 for drawing wood from the fo- 

 refls to the houfes. 



FROM "TRIFLES FOR CHILDREN" (LONDON. 1801). 



usage would have been the one now adopted 

 in Belgium of offering prizes for the best 

 kept hauling dogs, rather than altogether 

 to prohibit their use as draught animals. 

 Many of our larger breeds such as the Mastiff, 

 the St. Bernard, the Newfoundland, and the 

 Great Dane, would benefit incalculably in 

 an increase of sinew and stamina if within 

 limits they were allowed to do strenuous 

 work. One can well imagine how majestic 

 a team of Irish Wolfhounds would look in 

 a suitably appointed equipage. 



