160 DUTIES AND MANNER OF THE MASTIFF. 



humanity, and far from being stimulated, like the Bull Dog, by a savage thirst of 

 blood, having torn down a man, the object of his pursuit, he would stand over, and 

 keep his prisoner in safe custody, without offering farther injury. It is even 

 reported of a Mastiff, that having caught a strange person upon his premises at 

 midnight, he attended the suspected thief backward and forward, casting at every 

 turn a jealous look, and uttering a threatening growl, until at last he saw the 

 stranger clear of his domain, permitting him to depart without inflicting upon him 

 the smallest injury. We can even credit this, from something nearly similar which 

 we have witnessed -, at the same time, we must acknowledge, that we should not be 

 very ready, personally to volunteer such an experiment with the Yard Dogs of the 

 present day. The courage of the old Mastiff was fully equal to that of the modern 

 Bull Dog he would never give up a contest, whilst life or powers of exertion 

 remained; he had at the same time, nothing quarrelsome in his disposition, nor 

 was he tyrannical or unfriendly to inferior dogs. There was this remarkable 

 and specific difference in their mode of attack, between the Mastiff and the Bull 

 Dog ; the former perhaps always barks before he bites, the latter bites without 

 giving tongue at all. 



The usual training of the Mastiff, was to keep him chained in his kennel through- 

 out the day, and to loose him at night, at the locking up the gates of those premises 

 which it was his duty to guard. The intent of this, he instinctively comprehended, 

 in a very short time, as those dogs which are naturally keepers, will almost imme- 

 diately learn to guard any thing, a labourer's coat for instance, committed to their 

 charge. Becoming accustomed to the extent of the yards, or places within his 

 watch, and having satisfied his desire for sleep during the day, he w r ould continue 

 pacing backward and forward, marching and countermarching, with all the regu- 

 larity of a sentinel throughout the night ; at intervals examining every corner, 

 and occasionally challenging with a warning bark, but on any real cause of alarm, 

 his barking was loud, sharp, and quickly repeated, a distinction of which 

 those within doors were well aware, and by which they were effectually alarmed. 

 When morning comes, this faithful guardian hastens to greet the man whose duty 

 it is to relieve him from his charge, with wagging of his tail, gentle action, and a 

 few low sonorous barks demonstrative of his satisfaction, and with a kind lick of the 

 hands, if the man be a favourite ; but with none of the fawning of the Spaniel, 

 which is incongruous with his nature, and beneath his natural dignity of character. 

 He now willingly retires to his kennel, submits to his chain without a murmur, 

 and without any apparent desire to wander abroad. Such are the familiar day and 

 night of the MASTIFF-KEEPER. 



We have already adverted to the ill consequences which occasionally occur to dogs 

 subjected to this constant confinement, and of which madness has sometimes been 

 the result. Periodical purges, and exercise with an attendant whom they will 

 follow, and sometimes the admission of bitches to them in the Spring, have been 



