vi PREFACE. 



their practical help : to Mr. E. W. Jaquet, the energetic Secretary of the Kennel 

 Club, for valuable advice most courteously given, and not less to Mr. F. Gresham, 

 Mr. W. J. Stubbs, Mr. G. S. Lowe, Mr. Francis Redmond, the Rev. Hans 

 Hamilton, Mr. George Raper, Mr. Handley Spicer, and Count Henrr de Bylandt, 

 for suggestions which I have adopted. My particular thanks are due to the 

 experts on the different breeds for the conscientious thoroughness with which 

 they have dealt with the subjects assigned to them. Their names are appended 

 to the chapters they have written. In many instances I am afraid that I 

 have taken what they may consider undue editorial liberties with their material ; 

 but where I have altered, excised, or amplified, it has mainly been with the 

 purpose of bringing the various chapters into literary harmony and proportion, 

 and I have been careful not to distort facts or misrepresent opinions. 



I prefer to let the reader discover for himself the chapters which are of 

 especial importance, but I am perhaps justified in referring to Mr. Walter 

 Glynn's section on canine laws as the most exhaustive treatise on the legal 

 status of the dog that has yet been compiled, and I think I do not mistake 

 in regarding the section dealing with the dogs of foreign lands as unique in its 

 completeness. In this connection I desire to acknowledge my obligations to 

 the generous help of Mr. H. C. Brooke, whose intimate familiarity with rare 

 exotic breeds is perhaps unequalled. 



For the selection of the illustrations I am myself wholly responsible. In 

 a large proportion of cases the specimens depicted are well-known examples 

 of their respective breeds or varieties ; but because a dog's portrait appears 

 in illustration he is not necessarily to be accepted as a superlative and faultless 

 individual. I consider it enough if he is typical of his kind. Obviously, the 

 labour of collecting so many hundreds of canine portraits has been no light one ; 

 but my requests have usually been met with a ready response from the many 

 dog owners at home and abroad who have kindly favoured me with photo- 

 graphs, or with the loan of pictures, or who have as kindly allowed the artists 

 to paint portraits of their dogs for reproduction in the series of colour plates. 



ROBERT LEIGHTON. 



London, October, 1907. 



