451 



CHAPTER LI. 

 THE PUG. 



BY FRED*^ GRESHAM. 



" At morning's call 

 The small-voiced Pug-dog welcomes in the sun, 

 And flea-bit mongrels, wakening one by one. 

 Give answer all." 



O. W. Holmes. 



THERE seems to be no doubt tliat the 

 fawn-coloured Pug enjoys the an- 

 tiquitv of descent that is attached to 

 the Greyhound the 

 Maltese dog. and 

 some few other ven- 

 erable breeds. In 

 Butler's "Hudibras" 

 there is a reference 

 to a Stygian Pug 

 kept by Agrippa, and 

 it is the fact that 

 models of little dogs 

 in the form of the 

 Pug are to be seen 

 in many ancient 

 sculptures, often ac- 

 companied by figures 

 of the Greyhound. 

 Then, again, amongst 

 the heterogeneous 

 group of dogs 

 sketched in olden 

 days, when the art 

 of canine portraiture 

 was less advanced 

 than it is in the 

 twentieth centurj', 

 the drawings of Pugs 



?.re very much more accurately treated ; 

 from which circumstance it may be sup- 

 posed that the Pug was a familiar subject. 

 Although much has been written on the 

 origin of these dogs, nothing authentic 

 has been discovered in connection with it. 

 Statements have appeared from time to 

 time to the effect that the Pug was brought 

 into this country from Holland. In the 



MISS F. M. DANIELS 

 BY CH. POUF-POUF — 



Photograph by T. Fall. 



early vears of the last century it was com- 

 monlv styled the Dutch Pug. But this 

 theory does not trace the history far enough 

 back, and it should 

 be remembered that 

 at that period the 

 Dutch East India 

 Company 'was in 

 constant communi- 

 cation with the Far 

 East. Others declare 

 that Muscovy was 

 tlie original home of 

 the breed, a suppo- 

 sition for which 

 there is no discern- 

 ible foundation. The 

 study of canine his- 

 tory recei\-es fre- 

 quent enlightenment 

 from the study of 

 the grow^th of com- 

 mercial intercourse 

 between the nations 

 of the world, and 

 the trend of events 

 would lead one to 

 the belief that the 

 Pug had its origin 

 in China, particularly in view of the fact 

 that it is with that country that most of 

 the blunt-nosed toy dogs, with tails curled 

 over their backs, are associated. 



It has been suggested that the Pug is 

 (if the same family as the Bulldog, and 

 that it was produced by a cross with this 

 and some other smaller breed. But this 

 is improbable, as there is reason to believe 



CH. BOUJi 



-BON BON. 



