CLASSIFICATION OF DOGS. 33 



pig-jawed) ; his neck of due size ; his chest either barrel- 

 shaped or deep and keeled according as he is intended for 

 slow or fast work ; his shoulders clean at the joints, and 

 long and sloping if of a fast breed ; his back level, short, 

 and strong ; his loin of due length and girth, strong, and 

 not flat; the quarters in the running dog especially 

 strong; stifles well bent; the thighs, upper and lower, 

 muscular ; the hocks strong and well bent ; bones of both 

 front and hind legs large ; pasterns strong ; feet thick, 

 hard, and well-knuckled ; the tail of due length, and so 

 proportioned, etc., as not to be coarse. To put the case 

 otherwise, the typical dog must not be snipy in muzzle, 

 throaty, straight in shoulder-blades or loaded in shoulders, 

 slack-backed or sway-backed, weak or flat-loined, feeble in 

 quarters, out at elbow or tied in the elbows, stand over at 

 the knees, weak in pasterns, straight in stifle or hock, cow- 

 hocked (turning the hocks in and very close together), 

 ring-tailed (curl in tail), splay-footed (foot flat and toes 

 separating), etc. 



We have not alluded to coat. This should be in keep- 

 ing with the work to which the breed is put. Except in 

 toy dogs, more importance is attached to the color of nose, 

 eyes, etc., than to that of coat, as a rule, and properly so 

 because it is found that animals of the best strains have 

 these well characterized. A very light-colored eye in any 

 breed of dogs is to be avoided, as it is often associated 

 with some pronounced psychic imperfection. Quality of 

 coat — as hardness, softness, etc. — is also very suggestive to 

 the experienced as to breeding, disposition, etc. 



