i 7 4 DOMESTICATED DOGS. 



known. Within the last few years a good many have been im- 

 ported into England for wildfowl shooting, but a still greater 

 number have been introduced as ladies' pets, the fashion of the 

 day being in favour of a poodle with a black satin jacket trimmed 

 with Astrakan. 



In Eussia the poodle is chiefly used as a house-dog, and is 

 taught many tricks there, for the amusement of the families 

 during the long winters, when no one goes out of doors without 

 necessity. In France and Germany there are a great many 

 slight variations in size, colour, and general appearance, but all 

 exhibit a neatly rounded symmetrical body, covered naturally with 

 short crisp curls, in some cases woolly and in others silky, and 

 exhibiting a decided wig of crisp curls over the eyes. 



Dr. Fitzinger, the chief German authority on the dog, enumer- 

 ates six distinct varieties, but I shall not follow him through the 

 whole. His chief points of difference seem, however, to reside in 

 the size, beyond which he is rather indefinite. Both for sporting 

 and companionable purposes, the poodle is always clipped in 

 France and Germany during the summer, but his coat is allowed 

 to grow during the cold season, a much more humane plan than 

 that adopted by our English ladies, who exhibit them in satin 

 even at Christmas, considering, I suppose, a few tufts of Astrakan 

 enough to keep them warm. 



No dog is possessed of more intelligence than the poodle, and 

 the best tricks exhibited in circuses and elsewhere are almost 

 always performed by this breed. As a retriever he is indefatig- 

 able, but on land he uses his brains more than his nose, and 

 hunts in circles rather than by following the trail. He dives 

 well, and rarely fails to find his bird in the water, while his 

 coat is so impenetrable that he can remain immersed for an 

 almost indefinite time. 



