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CHAPTER II. 



THE DOG. 



Most of our domestic animals have become modi- 

 fied by changed circumstances since we took them 

 into partnership even more than we have our- 

 selves : they have, in fact, become partakers with 

 us of the advantages and disadvantages of our 

 civilisation. This is especially so in the case 

 with the dog, man's closest associate and earliest 

 ally. Still we can trace nearly every trait in 

 the dog which proves of use to us nowadays 

 to a time when he lived a life of complete in- 

 dependence, and managed his own affairs without 

 the aid of a human partner or director. 



We must remember that although the dog 

 is now our especial friend, with interests in the 

 main in harmony with ours, he was not always 

 so. The wild dog and wild man might have 



