CHAPTER VII. 



Different Dogs, used in Field Sports and for Domestic 

 Purposes, Watch-Dogs, etc. 



I HAVE already said that dogs, in all their varieties of 

 form, are but one species, modified and altered by- 

 adventitious circumstances ; climate, feeding, crossing 

 one breed with another, accident, and education, all 

 combining to give that almost infinite variety of form 

 and intelligence now to be met with amongst dogs of 

 every country and climate. How the distinct races 

 which have characters and propensities peculiar to 

 themselves were originally produced it is impossible 

 now to tell. If care is taken to prevent these from 

 commingling with spurious blood, it is certain that by 

 the result of education, the habits to which they have 

 been trained have become hereditary. Many instances 

 have occurred where pointer pups have lost their 

 parent, and been suckled by a bitch of a totally 

 different breed ; and upon being taken into a field, for 

 the first time, have pointed game. 



The subjugation and domestication of the dog by 

 man may be esteemed as one of the most important 

 conquests which he has made in the animal kingdom. 



Without the vices of man, nature has formed the 

 dog with an ardour and purity ot attachment, which 

 when once matured, appears unsullied and inviolable. 

 His whole ambition seems a desire to execute the 



