THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



189 



... . 



Official photograph taken on the British front in France 



'taking his message to garcia" 



While the soldier in the world war was actuated by motives of patriotism, the main- 

 spring of the dog's service in the great conflict was dauntless fidelity to its master. Neither 

 hazards of terrain nor of battle could stop the dumb courier when bearing a message from the 

 front-line trenches to the keeper in the rear. The illustration shows a British war messenger 

 dog in the front area swimming across a canal to reach his master and deliver a message. 



Sooner or later man would discover 

 that certain individual dogs were swifter 

 or stronger than their fellows and there- 

 fore more useful in the hunt. These 

 would be encouraged to accompany him ; 

 the others would be left at home. The 

 less useful dogs would gradually be elim- 

 inated — driven away from the home or 

 killed — and the swifter, stronger dogs re- 

 tained. We can imagine that this process 

 of weeding out might continue until a 

 distinct breed of hunting dogs was devel- 

 oped. 



As dogs were required for other pur- 

 poses — for guarding property, or even 

 for household pets — other qualities might 

 be encouraged and other breeds evolved. 



The varieties produced in different re- 

 gions would be likely to differ from one 

 another partly by reason of the differ- 

 ence in the wild forms from which they 

 sprang, partly because of the difference 



in the lines along which they were devel- 

 oped. 



In the inevitable intercourse between 

 peoples from different regions there 

 would surely be an exchange of dogs, ac- 

 cidental or otherwise, and the result 

 would be new varieties which in the 

 course of ages and under widely varying 

 conditions, including finally selective 

 breeding, might eventually produce the 

 many widely differing breeds we see to- 

 day. 



THE ANCESTORS OE OUR DOMESTIC DOG 



Have you ever been to a dog show? 

 I mean a big one like the Westminster 

 Kennel Club show in New York, with 

 3,000 dogs on the benches and over a hun- 

 dred different breeds represented? If 

 you have, perhaps you have been im- 

 pressed, as I have been, with the marvel- 

 ous variety of forms to be seen. 



