ii8 THE PSYCHICAL KINSHIP 



his utility to man has always depended largely on 

 his good sense and fidelity, and man has persis- 

 tently emphasised these qualities in his selection. 

 Fierceness and distrust — two of the most promi- 

 nent traits in the psychology of the primitive dog 

 — have been entirely eradicated in the higher races 

 of dogs. There is not anywhere on the face of 

 the earth a more trustful, affectionate, and docile 

 being than this one-time cut-throat. Whether 

 the dog has been derived from the wolf or from 

 some wild canine race now extinct, or from several 

 distinct ancestors, he must have had originally a 

 fierce, distrustful, and barbaric nature, for all of 

 the undomesticated members of the dog family- 

 wolves, foxes, jackals, etc. — have natures of this 

 sort. 



There are about 175 different races of domestic 

 dogs. They represent almost as great a range of 

 developm.ent as do the races of men. Some of 

 them are exceedingly primitive, while others are 

 highly intelligent and civilised. The Eskimo dogs 

 are really nothing but wolves that have been 

 trained to the service of man. They look like 

 wolves, and have the wolf psychology. They are 

 not able to bark, like ordinary dogs ; they howl 

 like wolves, and their ears stand up straight, like 

 the ears of all wild Canidse. Some of the more 

 advanced of the canine races — like the sheep-dogs, 

 pointers, and St. Bernards — are animals of great 

 sympathy and sensibility. When educated, these 

 dogs are almost human in their impulses and in 

 their powers of discernment. In patience, vigi- 



