DOGS IN LONDON 259 



are happier, madly happy, because they know — 

 this knowledge having now filtered down into their 

 souls — that it is perfectly safe for them to associate 

 with their fellows, to be hail-fellow-well-met with 

 all the dogs in the place, from the tiniest trembling 

 lap-dog to the burliest and most truculent-looking 

 bull-dog and the most gigantic St. Bernard or 

 Danish boarhound. It is for us a happiness to see 

 their confidence, their mad games, the way they 

 all chase and tumble over one another, pretending 

 to be furious and fighting a grand battle. 



I do not say that there is any radical or any 

 permanent change in the dog's character. Like 

 other beasts, he is morally and mentally non- 

 progressive ; that which the uninformed canophilist 

 takes as progression is merely decadence. Remove 

 the muzzle, and in a short time the habit which 

 the muzzle has bred will fade away and the old 

 bickerings and buUyings and blood-sheddings begin 

 afresh. As it is, some dogs refuse to let their 

 fighting temper rust in spite of the muzzle. 



In Hyde Park some time ago I witnessed a 

 sublime but bloodless battle between a Danish 

 boarhound and a bull-dog. Neither of them lost 

 consciousness of the muzzle which prevented them 

 from " washing " their teeth in one another's 

 blood ; they simply dashed themselves against 

 each other, then drew back and dashed together 

 again and again, with such fury that they would, 

 no doubt, have succeeded in injuring each other 

 had not their owners, assisted by several persons 



