INHERITED INSTINCT OF TEE DOG. 107 



thoroughly domesticated, and so systematically trained and educated, so none has developed in 

 the same degree those higher endowments which are often considered as the exclusive attributes of 

 humanity, such as reasoning power, a sense of right and wrong, of property, and of number. 



For the study of instinct, it is impossible to find an animal in any v/ay approaching to him for 

 interest, for not only does he exhibit, to a wonderful degree, the instincts common to all the higher 

 animals, but almost every kind of Dog possesses some special instinct, imparted from a remote ancestor, 

 and absent, or nearly so, in other varieties. We may instance the mode of " pointing " game peculiar 

 to the Pointer, the marvellous power of following scent of the Bloodhound or Foxhound, and the acute 

 generalship of the Shepherd's Dog, who, with comparatively little teaching, guards, drives, and keeps 

 together a whole flock of foolish animals, which, to the Dog mind, must seem intended by Providence 

 to be worried and eaten. These special instincts we shall consider when we come to speak of tho 

 various breeds ; but we must now say a few words on those instincts which are common to the whole 

 species. 



Unliire the Lion and Tiger, the male Dog takes no interest whatever in his offspring, who are 

 taken care of during the weeks of their helplessness entirely by the mother. She, however, quite 

 makes up for paternal neglect by the assiduity with which she tends and cares for her feeble offspring. 

 It is one of the most touching, and, at the same time, almost amusing sights, to see a bitch with her 

 first litter ; how jealously she watches the blind, fat, slug-like little creatures. At fii*st she will growl 

 and snap even at her beloved master, if he approaches too near her treasures. When they have grown 

 a little, how fussy she becomes when they are noticed ; she will even drag them by the leg, one by 

 one, upstairs, to exhibit their perfections ! For several weeks this care continues, but by the time the 

 pups have grown half as big as their mother, and can see and run about, her solicitude diminishes. She 

 begins to quarrel with them over bones and other titbits, and, before long, takes no more notice of 

 them than if they were the commonest stray Dogs in the street. It is this evaporation of mother- 

 love which so distinguishes a Dog-parent from, at any rate, a great number of human parents. 



Like most animals, the female Dog, if deprived of the natural objects of her affection, will lavish 

 her care on almost any young and helpless thing with which she may be bi-ought in contact. 



Dr. feclater,* whilst visiting the Zoological Gardens at Antwerp, in 1875, noticed a curious instance 

 of the blindness of maternal love in a Dog. Among other objects of attraction were " three young 

 Tiger-cubs, born in the Gardens on the 14th of October, 1873," that had been "most successfully 

 foster-mothered by a large bitch." 



We have stated that the male Dog is perfectly oblivious of his paternal duties ; we have, however, 

 met with one instance of a Dog, who, whatever may have been his qualities as a parent, discharged 

 with great fidelity the part of guardian, and that, too, not to one of his own species, but to one of an 

 alien and hostile race. This curious instance of canine affection was exhibited by a small male pet 

 Spaniel, belonging to some friends of ours, who brought up a kitten. The food, certainly, was supplied 

 by the family, but the brooding and tendance were clone most faithfully. On warm days, the Dog 

 would carry the kitten and lay it in the sun, choosing some snug place out of the wind, in the garden. 

 The kitten, a female, lived to become a very beautiful Cat ; but her unsuspecting innocence led to her 

 death. Not fearing any of the Dog-kind, she made no attempts to escape from them, and was worried 

 to death by a strange stray Dog. 



One of the most striking circumstances with regard both to the general and the special instincts of 

 the Dog, namely, those instincts common to the whole species, and those possessed by particular breeds, 

 is the way in which they are transmitted from parent to child. The Pointer points the first time he is 

 taken out ; the Shepherd's Dog learns his duties with astonishingly little teaching. Not only are in- 

 stincts transmitted in pure breeds, but in cross-breeds the special characteristics of both parents come out 

 with the most marvellous accuracy. . . It is known that a cross with a Bull-dog has aflecte 

 for many generations the courage and obstinacy of Greyhounds ; and a cross with a Greyhound has given 

 a whole family of Shepherd-dogs a tendency to hunt Hares. Le Roy describes a Dog, whose grea 

 grandfather was a Wolf, and this Dog showed a trace of its wild parentage only in one way by not 

 coming in a straight line to his master when called." The tendency to attack Poultry, E eep, &C., 



* "Proceedings of the Zoological Society," 1875. 



