HAIRLESS DOGS. 



539 



led into the ring by a Chinese nurse in native 

 costume. In appearance, Ta Jen was not 

 unlike a tiny Miniature Bulldog, with a 

 quaint fierce face and large eyes set far 

 apart, and with ears " like the sails of a 

 war junk." His tail was short but not 

 docked. His weight might be 5 lb. or 6 lb., 

 and in colour he was black and tan. A dog 

 of the same variety, but fawn and white, 

 is owned by Lord Howe. Both were im- 

 ported by Mrs. Carnegie from Pekin, where 

 they were said to have been purloined from 

 the Imperial Palace. 



The Havana and Manilla Spaniels. — 

 These two little toy Spaniels are no doubt 

 varieties of the ancient Maltese dog, from 

 which they differ only in minor points, 

 although owners both in Cuba and the 

 Philippines claim them as native breeds. 

 The Manilla is somewhat larger than the 

 Maltese and may attain to a weight of 16 lb. 

 Usually it is white, and the coat instead 

 of falling straight lies in wavy strands. The 

 eyes are large, black, and lustrous, and the 

 nose, also, is jet black. Miss Pidgeley en- 

 deavoured to form a kennel of the variety, 

 and her Tina was a very good specimen 

 who lived to be over eighteen years old, 

 with her senses unimpaired. Tina was the 

 dam of Archer, also a typical one. The 

 Manilla Spaniel is an uncommonly intelligent 

 little dog, and is as quick as a Poodle at 

 learning tricks. 



The Havanese dog has a softer coat, and 

 in colour it may as often be brown as white. 

 A very good bitch was shown by Mme. 

 Malenfer at the Tuileries Gardens in 1907, 

 Poulka de Dieghem by name, bred by M. 

 Max de Conninck, who has kept many of the 

 breed in France. Poulka is a chestnut brown, 

 or cafe au lait colour, with an excellent con- 

 sistency of coat, and a good head with large, 

 expressive eyes. In general appearance she 

 reminds one of the Lhasa Terrier. Another 

 good specimen was M. Desmaison's Titine, 

 but Poulka was the more typical, and gained 

 the first prize under Mr. F. Gresham. The 

 Havanese makes an admirable pet, and like 

 its Cuban relative it is remarkably wise. 



The Mongolian Dog. — Another inter- 

 esting and unfamiliar variety of what the 



French call the chiens de luxe, is the Mon- 

 golian dog. It resembles the Poodle in 

 general shape, but is remarkable for its 

 very thick and closely packed coat of white 

 hair, which is as dense and deep as that 



HAVANESE DOG POULKA DE DIEGHEM, 



PROPERTY OF MADAME MALENFER, PARIS. 



of a Leicestershire sheep. The head is long, 

 with drop ears, and a square muzzle. It 

 is somewhat high on the leg, and round 

 bodied. Three French bred specimens were 

 lately exhibited in Paris. 



Hairless Dogs. — Here may be mentioned 

 the curious hairless and semi-hairless dogs 

 which occur in Central and South America, 

 the West Indies, China, Manilla, and certain 

 parts of Africa. 



There seem to be two types : one built 

 on the lines of the Manchester Terrier, and 

 sometimes attaining the racy fineness of the 

 Whippet ; and the other a short legged, 

 cloddy animal, less elegant and prone to 

 run to ungainly obesity. The size varies. 

 Some are small dogs of four or five pounds 

 in weight ; others may average from ten to 

 fifteen pounds, while some are as heavy as 

 twenty-five pounds. These last are decidedly 

 unpleasant in appearance ; their bareness 

 giving the impression of disease. It is 

 quite possible that the hairless dog is in 

 actuality a degenerate animal, although this 

 might seem to be disproved by the cir- 

 cumstance that most specimens are very 



