NATURAL HISTORY OF THE DOG. 01 



he has a regard. There is one man in the force for whom 

 he has this antipathy ; and a day or two ago, seeing him in 

 ' the train,' he left the carriage, and waited for the next, pre- 

 ferring A delay of half an hour, to such company ; and 

 when the bell rang, with the eagerness with which protracted 

 .joy is sought, he ran to his accustomed seat in ' the third 

 class.' His partiality for the police is extraordinary ; where- 

 ever he sees a man in the garb of a constable, he expresses 

 his pleasure by walking near him, rubbing against and 

 dancing about him ; nor does he forget him in death, for he 

 was at his post in the funeral of Daly, the policeman who 

 was killed in Kingstown. He is able to recognise a few in 

 plain clothes, but they must have been old friends of his. 

 Wherever he goes, he gets a crust, a piece of meat, a pat on 

 the head, or a rub down upon his glossy back, from the hand 

 of a policeman ; and he is as well known among the body as 

 any man in it. We have heard of the dog of Montargis, 

 the soldier's dog, the blind beggar's dog, and the dog of the 

 monks of St. Bernard, and been delighted by stories of their 

 fidelity and sagacity, but none are more interesting than 

 ' Peeler, the dog of the Police,' * whose heart, enlarged with 

 gratitude to one, grows bountiful to all.' ' 



THE ITALIAN OR PYRENEAN WOLF-DOG, 



Called, also, the Calabrian, and shepherd's dog of the 

 Abruzzo. These dogs stand about twenty-nine or thirty 

 inches in height at the shoulder, are usually of a white 

 color, with one or two patches of a buff or tan color on the 

 head or sides ; the ears are not hairy, and are half erect ; 

 when pendent, you may suspect a cross of Newfoundland ; 

 the tail is very bushy, and is carried, in a curl, close over 

 the back ; the nose is pointed, and the general aspect of the 

 head wolfish. They are the sheep-dogs of the Italian and 

 Spanish shepherds, but they are rather guardians than herd- 

 dogs. The chief occasion of their usefulness is in summer, 

 when the wolves are abundant on the hills, but are of less 

 value in winter, when the shepherds with their flocks de- 

 scend into the plains. 



Doctor Barker, of Cumberland-street, Dublin, had lately 

 a very fine specimen of the Pyrenean wolf-dog, since, how- 

 ever, unfortunately, deceased. This dog has been very 

 strangely confounded, by Mr. Youatt, with the old Irish 

 wo^f-dog. At page 66, under the head of the " Italian 01 



