12 



OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



for which the}' are 

 cliosen. For dogs 

 of mere fancy, — 

 for pets, — the 

 color and especially 

 the marking's about 

 the ears, the head, 

 and the back 

 should be as deco- 

 rative as possible, 

 while hunting dogs 

 should be of a color 

 easily distinguish- 

 able at a great dis- 

 tance in the hunting 

 field. Hounds, on 

 the contrary, ought 

 not to show against 

 the bushes or fields 

 when at work. A 

 beagle, which 

 creeps among the 

 fox burrows, would 

 be useless if he were white and could thus show 

 the fox where his enemy lay. 



We frequently find local disappearances of 

 the color of the hair, very noticeable in spotted 

 German watchdogs and in Dalmatian or tiger 

 dogs. A very remarkable phenomenon is the 

 striking tendency in dogs — as in other animals 



Under Akrkst 



— to a complete obliteration of color (albino- 

 ism) ; this is accompanied by the appearance of 

 red e)'es and a \-ery injurious blunting of certain 

 organs, or else by a delay in their development. 

 The conformation of the dog presents as 

 great a variety as his coat and his color. Here 



Ri:sT AND Play 



again we must ne\'er lose sight of the purposes 

 for which the different species are employed. 

 It is important, therefore, to have seen dogs 

 at their work and in their element. Then, 

 and then onl)', does the external beauty of 

 each breed show itself fully. 



IV. General CHARACTERisrics ; Special 

 Habits 



It is C|uite possible that dogs now and then 

 malign one another v.'hen alone by themselves, 

 but as long as their language is incompre- 

 hensible to us we ha\'e onl)- good things to 

 say of their chief characteristics. 



Their fidelity is proverbial. Hundreds of 

 instances could be given in which dogs will 

 not quit the dead bodies of their masters, but 

 seek — positivel)' sre/r — death upon their 

 graves. As for their xigilance we could cite 

 not hundretls, but thousands of cases in which 



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