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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



vances ; he never responded to them with 

 so much as a smile. 



He was not so tolerant of dogs, how- 

 ever, and woe to any dog that ventured 

 to cross his path. As a joke I once en- 

 tered him as a "buffalo hound" at one 

 of the big bench shows. He was accepted, 

 benched, and behaved himself perfectly, 

 though I did take the precaution to put 

 a wire screen between him and the public. 



Only once did he even threaten trouble. 

 That was when I was leading him past 

 a bench of the Russian wolf hounds, who 

 instantly leaped to the ends of their 

 chains, eyes blazing, teeth bared, while 

 their savage barking brought every dog 

 in the show to its feet. 



The great wolf whirled about facing 

 the foremost dog. Champion Bistri 

 o' Valley Farm. The calmness of the 

 wild brute was in marked contrast to the 

 excitement of the dogs. As he stood 

 there firmly on his four legs, the hair on 

 his back and neck rising in a tall mane, 

 menacing fangs unsheathed, and those 

 cold, merciless eyes gazing straight into 

 the face of his sworn enemy, I wondered 

 what was going on in the back of that big 

 gray head. Perhaps he was wondering 

 how many dogs of that caliber he could 

 account for in a fair open fight, taking 

 one at a time. Then I dragged him off, 

 mane tossing and with many a backward 

 glance at the splendid dogs who were just 

 as eager as he was to come to grips. 



Jackals, which in many respects re- 

 semble our own coyotes, are found in 

 Asia and Africa. If taken as puppies 

 they are easily tamed. My father, who 

 lived for many years in India, had a tame 

 jackal which showed many doglike traits. 

 It would wag its tail when pleased, and 

 throw itself upon its back in affectionate 

 submission. 



THE WILD DOG O? AUSTR.^tlA 



The dingo is the wild dog of Australia 

 and may have been one of the ancestors 

 of our domestic breeds. There is still 

 some doubt about this, however, as it is 

 not quite certain whether the animal orig- 

 inated in Avistralia or whether it is de- 

 scended from the dogs of Asia and was 

 introduced by man at some very remote 



time. In any case, it is a true dog and 



is easily tamed. 



The native name for the animal is 

 "warrigal," "dingo" being the name 

 given by the natives to any domesticated 

 dog of the settlers. The dingos I have 

 seen were tawny brown in color and 

 about the Size of a smooth-coated collie, 

 but of more stocky build and more pow- 

 erful jaws. I once had a dingo puppy, 

 a lovable ball of soft rich brown fur, but 

 alas ! he died before I had a chance to 

 study him. 



In the wild state dingos hunt in packs, 

 and formerly were so destructive to sheep 

 that the stockmen began a war of ex- 

 termination, aided by a government 

 bounty of five shillings for every dingo 

 killed. Strychnine was the principal 

 weapon used, and it was so effective that 

 the ranks of the wild dog were thinned 

 to a point where they were no longer 

 a menace. 



TRAINING THE DINGO 



On the Herbert River the natives find 

 dingo puppies and bring them up with 

 the children. A puppy is usually reared 

 with great care ; he is well fed on meat 

 and fruit and often becomes an important 

 member of the family. His keen scent 

 makes him very useful in trailing, game, 

 and his fleetness of foot frequently en- 

 ables him to run it down. His master 

 never strikes him, though he sometimes 

 threatens to do so. 



The threats often end in extravagant 

 caresses. And he seems to respond to 

 this kindly treatment, for the dingo is 

 said to be a "one-man" dog, refusing to 

 follow any one but his master. Never- 

 theless, the call of the wild, especially in 

 the mating season, often proves too strong 

 for him, and he will rejoin the pack never 

 to return to his human friends. 



When we consider, then, the doglike 

 friendliness of which these wild forms 

 are capable, even in the first generation, 

 it is not difficult to believe that they are 

 the ancestors of our domestic dogs, with 

 which they freely interbreed. 



Our belief is still further strengthened 

 if we consider how closely many of the 

 domesticated dogs resemble the wild 

 forms of the same regions. The resem- 



