12 



OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



for which they are 

 chosen. For dogs 

 of mere fancy, — 

 for pets, — the 

 color and especially 

 the markings about 

 the ears, the head, 

 and the back 

 should be as decn- 

 rative as possible, 

 while hunting dogs 

 should be of a color 

 easily distinguish- 

 able at a great dis- 

 tance in the hunting 

 field. Hounds, on 

 the contrary, ought 

 not to show against 

 the bushes or fields 

 when at work. A 

 beagle, w h i c h 

 creeps among the 

 fox burrows, woukl 

 be useless if he were white and could thus show 

 the fox where his enemy lay. 



We frequently find local disappearances of 

 the color of the hair, very noticeable in spotted 

 German watchdogs and in Dalmatian or tiger 

 dogs. A very remarkable phenomenon is the 

 striking tendency in dogs — as in other animals 



Undkr Arrest 



— to a complete obliteration of color (albino- 

 ism) ; this is accompanied by the appearance of 

 red eyes and a very injurious blunting of certain 

 organs, or else by a delay in their development. 

 The conformation of the dog presents as 

 great a variety as his coat and his color. Here 



Frolicking 



Ri:sT .\Nii I'l.w 



again we must never lose sight of the purposes 

 for which the different species are employed. 

 It is important, therefore, to have seen dogs 

 at their work and in their element. Then, 

 and then only, does the e.xternal beauty of 

 eath breed show itself fully. 



IV. Gen'er.xl Ch.ar.\cteristics ; Special 



H.XBITS 



It is quite possible that dogs now and then 

 •malign one another v.-hen alone by themselves, 

 but as long as their language is incompre- 

 hensible to us we have only good things to 

 say of their chief characteristics. 



Their fidelity is proverbial. Hundreds of 

 instances could be given in which dogs will 

 not quit the dead bodies of their masters, but 

 seek — positively jcc/- — death upon their 

 graves. As for their vigilance we could cite 

 not hundreds, but thousands of cases in which 



