THE 



DISEASES OE THE DOG. 



CHAPTER I.— INTRODUCTION— GENERAL 

 REMARKS. 



A woke on the dog has an all but universal interest. It 

 is almost impossible to enumerate in full the various sport- 

 ing uses to which this noble and sagacious animal has been 

 put : greyhound, foxhound, beagle, and their allies ; pointer, 

 retriever, setter, spaniel; terriers of various kinds and 

 most mongrels are all more or less used in sport, and all 

 by their conformation and mental qualities have been 

 adapted to their special duties through the long-continued 

 and skilled regulation of their breeding operations by intel- 

 ligent men. In war the use of dogs is reviving ; recently 

 an organised dog service for sentry duty at outposts has 

 been officially originated in Russia ; and it certainly seems 

 a legitimate method of defence in those wars where the 

 acute senses and stealthy movements of the savage are apt 

 to be pitted against senses blunted by civilisation and 

 movements cramped by discipline. The fierce bloodhound 

 tracking the runaway negro slave through marsh and over 

 mountain may not be pleasing to our minds, but when we 

 see his instincts turned to the detection of murderers and 

 other criminals we agree that they are being put to a 

 legitimate use. In agriculture throughout the world the 

 dog finds scope for honorable and useful work, whether 

 in the care of sheep, in the extermination of predatory 

 rodents, or the defence of farm buildings. In travel, 



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