THE DOG 



39 



is, in short, a parody on tlie true hound. 

 By the Hght that shines between his slender 

 bones we can see the small modicum of 

 blue blood that makes him the scion, the 

 exhausted scion, of a" very ancient race. 



VI. The Breeding of Dogs 



We have already seen that from the earli- 

 est times mankind has had a liking for dogs, 

 and greatly to the advantage of those ani- 

 mals. It is probable that they are not aware 

 of it themselves, but, thanks to the care 

 Efiven to the various breeds, their exterior 

 has been embellished and their good qualities 

 and usefulness increased. Their fate also has 

 been made easier, and dogs ex-erywhere now 

 take the first place among domestic animals. 

 This is true throughout Europe and our own 

 country, and although in certain countries 

 we must make exception in the case of dogs 

 harnessed for draft purposes, whose fate is far 

 from happy, the lives of these domestic ani- 

 mals in our country are not painful. 



At first the object of mankind was to get 

 the m(jst use out of 

 dogs, whether for 

 hunting or sporting, 

 but of late fanciers 

 have applied them- 

 selves, with great 

 success, to increasing 

 the beauty of certain 

 species by selection, 



St. Hubert Dogs 

 Photo J. T. Newman, Berkhampstead 



A SnoRT-H.AUtED Greyhound 



guarding as much as possible against hurtful 

 influences. It was to this object that the breed- 

 ing of races owed its rise. Owners of excel- 

 lent dogs took pains to preserve or improve the 

 race by constant and methodical breeding, and 

 thus maintained its reputation. It is notice- 

 able that breeding, which is accjuiring more and 

 more of an international interest, should have 

 been, and still remains, in the hands of fanciers 

 who have held firmly to the tiller. Now and 

 then there come to the surface schemes for the 

 " breeding of dogs of all species," which have 

 been, and still are, mere efforts to get a liveli- 

 hood, by which the good public are less and 

 less taken in. These " breeding establish- 

 ments " — in other words, dog shops — were 

 jiromptly shamed when they put their melan- 

 choly products on the market ; and the public, 

 growing wise at its own expense, soon learned 

 the advantage of buying their dogs from reli- 

 able breeders. Among the output of the vari- 

 ous corporations of fanciers some mongrel blood 

 may still, no doubt, be found ; but associations 

 and clubs guarantee the honesty of their trans- 

 actions and proceed against their own mem- 

 bers for any improper act. 



A good breed of dogs, raised with care and 

 at great cost, — dogs that are really useful and 



