556 



THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



looked at from his point of view, the dog 

 has had a terrible unrelenting enemy from 

 the very commencement of things in that 

 heterogeneous mass of beasts and birds which 

 are all included in the one word " Game." 

 One could almost say in sporting parlance, 

 that, at any rate in olden time, he had not 

 a 100 to I chance. Everything that could 

 be done for the perfect security of game 

 was done, and would be done even if it 

 meant annihilation, almost to extinction of 

 the dog. If he were found even looking 

 at game when he ought not to, one may 

 be sure the death knell of that particular 

 dog was sounded, and when one thinks over 

 these matters and considers the great 

 handicap that was always on him it is 

 surely somewhat astounding to find now- 

 adays any specimens of the canine race in 

 existence at all. 



Relics of the old Forest Laws are, how- 

 ever, still with us. The lord of a manor has 

 still some rather autocratic powers which 

 might work great hardship on the owner 

 of a valuable dog, e.g. the 13th section of 

 the Game Act, 1831, enacts that a lord of 

 manor or steward of any Crown manor, has 

 power by writing under hand and seal to 

 appoint one or more gamekeepers to seize 

 and take for the use of lord or steward, or 

 kill all dogs used within the manor for killing 

 game by any person not holding a game 

 licence. 



Badger- and Previous to the reign of Queen 

 Bull-baiting, Victoria, a great deal of sport 

 ^*'°" of the nature of badger- and 



bull-baiting seems to have been carried 

 on, especially within the MetropoHtan Pohce 

 district. Doubtless it came to the ears of 

 the legislature that the traditions of these 

 sports were in London somewhat abused, 

 and the crowds who collected to witness 

 them no doubt gradually became worse and 

 worse, many rowdy and objectionable scenes 

 being witnessed, until it was felt at last that 

 a whole batch of these forms of sport must 

 be made illegal. Accordingly the statute 

 2 and 3 \'ict., c. 47, was passed, which 

 enacted that (i) \\'ithin the Metropolitan 

 Pohce District every person keeping, using, 



or managing any place, room, house, or pit 

 for baiting or fighting lions, bears, badgers, 

 cocks, dogs, or other animals, shall be liable 

 to a fine of £5, or be sent to a House of 

 Correction for not more than one month, 

 with or without hard labour, and that all 

 persons found upon the premises at the 

 time of such exhibitions being given, were 

 liable to a fine of 5s. a piece. 



(2) Every person who, within the Metro- 

 politan Police District, shall turn loose any 

 horse or cattle, or suffer to be at large any 

 unmuzzled ferocious dog, or set on or urge 

 any dog or other animal to attack, worry or 

 put in fear any person, horse or other 

 animal, shall be liable to a fine of 40s. 



(3) Any person who, in the Metropolitan 

 Police District sliall use any dog for drawing, 

 or helping to draw, any cart, carriage, truck, 

 or barrow, shall be liable to a penalty of 40s. 

 for first offence (by a later act it was made 

 not exceeding £5 for the second and every 

 subsec^uent offence). 



This statute must, indeed, at the time it 

 was passed, have created a certain amount 

 of consternation among the several different 

 classes of society. One can only feel glad 

 that such brutal exhibitions as dog fights, 

 bear- and badger- baiting and the like, were 

 put a stop to as far as the Law-makers of 

 the dav were able, and perhaps also the 

 same remarks apply with regard to the 

 making illegal the use of the dog as a draught 

 animal, though it is true in reference to this 

 latter, dogs as long as they are well treated 

 and properly fed and kept, do not seem to 

 object to being used as such ; on the contrary, 

 in the writer's experience they seem rather 

 to enjoy any such employment, always 

 providing they are with their master or the 

 person they look upon as such. 



London is always said to be the centre of 

 all evil, and whatever truth there may be 

 in this, it seems so to have been considered 

 in the early part of Queen Victoria's reign, 

 for although as stated above, these " sports " 

 were made illegal by the statute referred to, 

 it was not until some years later that the 

 provisions of that statute were extended to 

 all parts of the United Ivingdom, this being 

 affected by 17 and 18 Vict., c. 60. Whereas 



