INTRODUCTION. 29 



them the possession of the soil. This dog has been 

 long known by the name of the Large Dane'^ It is 

 more than probable that the selection of the shepherd's 

 dog fcan. doinestiais, LiN.) was cotemporary with the 

 cultivation of the Dane. The pasture dog, as he 

 extended himself, presented also several varieties or 

 distinct breeds'^ Buffon has erroneously (as I have 

 already attempted to prove) supposed this the parent 

 of most of our dogs; but we have analogy, probability, 

 and historical facts, to prove that most of our large 

 breeds proceed immediately from the Dane. The 



's The Dane is considered as the largest dog known. Marco 

 Paolo mentions some he saw as large as asses. They appear to 

 have been originally of a light fawn colour ; but they are now seen 

 brindled, and sometimes spotted, striped, or pied, with a dingy 

 brown on the original ground. The dogs of Epirus, so famed for 

 their strength and courage, were of this kind.— Aristotle, lib. iii, 

 c. 21. Pliny also notices them in terms of admiration, lib. viii,c.40. 



^^ The shepherd's or drover's dog (le chien de Berger, BUFF.) is pro- 

 bably the most generally diffused dog known ; and it is but reason- 

 able to suppose he must therefore own different origins. In Africa 

 and America, the varieties of pasture dog are so numerous as to in- 

 clude every size, form, and colour. In Asia and Europe the vari- 

 ations in size and form are also great; but the coat or hair, particu- 

 larly in Europe, is almost always long and shaggy. In high northern 

 latitudes he is found very tall, robust, and well defended by a coarse 

 thick coat of rough hair. In southern Britain, where the breed is 

 particularly attended to, the shepherd's dog is rather large, and 

 mostly of a black and white colour, with hair either coarse and crisp, 

 or more long and shaggy. These dogs have invariably short tails, 

 from being tailed soon after they are pupped : such is the force of 

 habit, and so long has this been practised, that some breeds are now 

 actually pupped without tails. The pasture dog of Scotland is a 

 distinct breed from that of England : it is small, but extremely 

 active and sagacious. Indeed, so great is the intelligence displayed 

 by the whole tribe of sheep dogs, when attending flocks and herds, 

 that we cannot observe them without surprise and admiration. 



