ORIGIN OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 209 
The wild animal nearest to the domestic dog seems to be the 
dingo of Australia. It might be called the wild dog of that 
island. Whether from life in a restricted area and with a simple 
fauna it has had less opportunity to exercise and devclop its 
wolfish instincts than has its cousin of the continents, or whether 
the original stock was essentially more doglike, we do not know. 
We only know that the dingo is more like a dog than is any 
other wild animal of the present time, and that he is very like 
certain forms of the domestic species. 
We know, too, that the line between the dog and the wolf is 
not distinctly drawn; that is to say, there is more difference 
between different breeds of the domestic dog than there is be- 
tween certain breeds and the wolf of the wilds. On this point 
compare the common dogs as we know them with the Siberian 
wolfhound and with the timber wolf. 
They all possess a common instinct to hunt and a common 
ability to trail by the scent.!. True, a few breeds, like the poodle 
and the dachshund, have lost the hunting instinct, having been 
developed as pets, but in others it has been well preserved. The 
bulldog is more savage and more courageous than any wolf ever 
known. The mastiff does not hunt, but he watches, which is 
essentially the same thing. The St. Bernard, which is a gentle 
dog, displays his native instinct in hunting men for rescue.” 
The bloodhound has a keener scent and greater ability to 
follow a trail than has any wolf, but he has lost the savage part 
of the hunting instinct; for, contrary to popular belief, he is 
quite satisfied to sniff his quarry at the end of the trail.* 
The greyhound and the Russian wolfhound have lost their 
ability to trail, but preserve their old hunting instinct, so, while 
obliged to depend upon sight to discover the quarry, they are 
1 Curiously enough, the “bark” which is characteristic of the domestic 
dog and largely absent in the wild is readily acquired upon domestication, but 
abandoned by the same individuals upon assuming the feral state. 
2 Read the story of “ Barry” of St. Bernard. 
8 The term“ bloodhound” means d/ooded or highly bred. It has no reference to 
ferocity, for the bloodhound is the gentlest of all dogs, not excepting the poodle. 
