THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



253 



been supplanted by other and more attractive 

 breeds. 



Almost obsolete in America, at least, the pug 

 is now most often encountered in his china 

 image, which still graces the mantel in many 

 a mid- Victorian home. 



Mastiff colors characterize this curly tailed 

 stocky, stiff-legged little dog, "apricot fawn," 

 with black face and ears being the invariable 

 rule except for the all-black variety, which 

 was never popular here. On fawn dogs, a 



black "trace" down the back is very greatly 

 prized. 



The face is very short and cobby, the chest 

 wide, neck short and loose of skin, and the 

 legs straight and well boned, but not too heavy. 

 The eyes are set wide apart and quite low. 

 They are rather full and prominent. The ears 

 are small, thin, and soft, and the coat is short, 

 fine, and hard. They are clean, companionable 

 dogs, with a tendency to get fat, blind, and 

 asthmatic as they get old. 



THE SAGACITY AND COURAGE OF DOGS 



Instances of the Remarkable Intelligence and Unselfish 



Devotion of Man's Best Friend Among 



Dumb Animals 



OTHER papers in this number of 

 the Geographic have pictured the 

 outward dog. They have shown 

 the great gap between the stub-nosed, 

 short-legged pug and the long-muzzled, 

 lank-limbed greyhound. They have con- 

 trasted the bare - skinned, pocket - sized 

 Chihuahua with the rough-coated, mas- 

 sive-built Newfoundland. 



But this article attempts to portray 

 the inner dog — its nature rather than its 

 form. Could there be a greater gap than 

 that existing between the tenacious bull- 

 dog that dares to die at grips with a foe 

 and the timorous toy spaniel that would 

 run from a rabbit? Or a greater diver- 

 gence than between the pointer that, on 

 the run, can tell the difference between 

 the foot scent and the body scent of a 

 quail yards away and the Pekingese 

 whose nose would not tell him, standing 

 still, the difference between a pig and a 

 porcupine a pace distant? 



How truly does Maeterlinck put it 

 when he says that in all the immense cru- 

 cible of nature there is not another living 

 being that has shown the same supple- 

 ness of form or plasticity of spirit as 

 that Avhich we soon discover in the dog. 

 It is but natural that concerning a 

 creature so faithful, a being so intimately 

 identified with man's daily existence, an 

 animal possessing so many and such 

 varied qualities that appeal, there should 



have grown up a literature at once ex- 

 tensive and charming. 



But even a casual examination of that 

 literature reveals the fact that it is just as 

 hard for a dog lover to be coldly scientific 

 in telling of the deeds of his dog as it is 

 for a fisherman to measure correctly the 

 length and weight of the individuals that 

 compose his catch. 



Perhaps of all dogs the pointer and the 

 setter deserve first rank, because of the 

 exquisite development of their olfactory 

 organs and their astonishing adjustment 

 to the Nimrod's needs. Indeed, one 

 scarcely knows which to admire the more, 

 the immeasurable refinement of their 

 sense of smell or their generalship in the 

 field. 



Galloping across a field at ten miles an 

 hour, as he seeks living targets for his 

 master's gun, amid a riot of odors and 

 scents that range from the smell of de- 

 caying vegetation to the perfume of au- 

 tumn flowers, and from the aroma of 

 autumn grass to the body scents and 

 foot tracks of mice and hares and small 

 birds, a well-bred, well-trained pointer 

 can detect a quail at ten paces or more. 

 He can as unerringly pick out the one 

 scent that is uppermost to his purpose 

 as a trained musician can distinguish the 

 one note he seeks in a score. 



Not only does he know the quail scent 

 from all others, but he knows the com- 



