256 Modern Dogs. 



bulldog and the little Dane, calling such races simply 

 mongrels, as coming from the mixture of two pure 

 races. . \ . In the whole catalogue of the canine 

 species there is not one of less utility, or possessing 

 less the powers of attraction than the pug dog. 

 Applicable to no sport, appropriated to no useful 

 purpose, susceptible to no predominant passion, and 

 in no way remarkable for any extra eminence, he is 

 continued from era to era for what alone he might 

 have been originally intended the patient follower 

 of a ruminating philosopher, or the adulating and 

 consolatory companion of an old maid." 



The above is rather rough on the poor little pug, 

 but such an unfair and ungallant description could 

 only have emanated from the brain of a rough 

 sportsman of the old school, whose chief delights 

 would lay in badger drawing, bull baiting, and cock 

 fighting. The pug dog has its uses in society, and 

 possesses credentials as a lady's dog that cannot 

 be excelled, of which, however, more later on. 



With such a comparatively modern dog as the 

 pug there should be more about him to be learned, 

 but history is silent on the subject. Some say that 

 he is descended from the bulldog ; others that the 

 bulldog has been improved by an infusion of pug 

 dog blood into him. I have never met anyone who 

 has made the cross either one way or the other, but 



