DOG 
DOG 
■when (Culture has perfe£led this quality in the do- 
meftic Dog ; when he has been taught to reprefs his 
ardour, to meafure his motions, and not to exhauft 
his ftrength by too fudden exertions, he then huhts 
with method and fuccels. 
Though the wild Dog, with all his natural pro- 
penfities and habits, is at preient utterly unknown, 
ho fuch animal being now found in any part of the 
worldj there are many Dogs which, from a domef- 
tic ftate, have become favage, and wholly purfued 
the diftates of nature. In thofe deferted and un- 
cultivated regions where Dogs are found wild, 
they feem to be ftrongly tinflured with the difpo- 
fition of the wolf ; they unite in large bodies, 
and attack the moft formidable enemies of the 
■foreft, fuch as the cougar, the panther, and the 
bifon. In the continent of America, where they 
were originally introduced from Europe, and aban- 
doned by their mailers, they have multiplied to 
fuch a degree, that they are difleminated in packs 
over the whole country, indifcriminately attacking 
all other animals, and frequently even man him- 
lelf : and there they meet with the common fate of 
carnivorous animals, being killed wherever they 
happen to make their appearance. Yet, notwith- 
ftanding their natural wildnefs, they are cafily re- 
claimed; and, when treated with kindnefs and le- 
nity, they quickly become fubmifllve, familiar, 
and faithful in their attachments. In this refpeft, 
they totally differ from the wolf or the fox; which 
animals, though taken ever fo young, are gentle 
only while cubs ; for, when advanced in age, they 
always betake themfelves to their natural appetites 
of rapine and cruelty. In a word, it may with 
truth be alTerted, that the Dog is the only animal 
whofe fidelity is not to be fhaken ; which knows 
his mafter and his friends; which inftantly diftin- 
guilhes ftrangers; which obferves his name, and 
anfwers to the call ; which feems to underftand the 
nature of fubordination, and folicits affiftance; 
which teftifies his regret for the lofs of his mafter 
by complaint; which, when carried to any diftant 
fituation, can find his way home ; whofe native ta- 
lents are evident, and whofe education never proves 
fruitlefs when attentively cultivated. 
As the Dog is of the moft complying difpofition, 
fo alfo he is the moft fufceptible in the change of 
his form, the varieties of this animal being too nu- 
merous even for the moft attentive defcriber to 
enumerate. The climate, the food, and the edu- 
cation, all malce ftrong imprefllons on him, and 
produce alterations in his fhape, colour, hair, fize, 
and almoft every thing except his nature. The 
fame Dog, when tranfported from one climate to 
another, feems to become quite a different ani- 
mal; but diftinft breeds are almoft as much fepa- 
rated, in appearance, as any two animals the moft 
diffimilar in nature. Nothing appears to continue 
immutable with them, except their internal con- 
formation : different in the figures of their bodies, 
the length of their nofes, the ftiape of their heads, 
the extent and dire6lion of tiieir ears and tails, 
the colour, quality and quantity of their hair, the 
natural marks only remain unaltered by which the 
fpecies is diftinguiftied, and kept diftinft from all 
other animals. It is this peculiar conformation, 
this faculty of producing an animal that can repro- 
duce, which marks the kind, and approximates 
forms which at firft fight appear as if never in- 
tended for alliance. 
Fom this fingle confideration, therefore, all the 
Various fpecies of Dogs may be pronounced of the 
fame kind ; but which of them is the origiKial of all 
the reft, and which the parent ftock from whence 
fuch a variety of defcendants: is derived, is a quef- 
tion which the ableft naturalift cannot folve with 
any degree of certainty* 
It may be eafily obferved, that all animals which 
are under the influence of man are liable to great 
variations. Thofe which have been fufficiently 
independent to chufe their own climate and nou- 
rifhment, and to purfue their own propenfities, 
preferve the original miarks of nature, without much 
deviation ; and it is probable that the firft of thefe 
is, even after fuch a lapfe of ages, well reprefented 
in their defcendants. But thofe which have been 
adopted by man, tranfported from one climate to 
another, and controuled in their manner of living, 
have alfo been changed in their forms: and the 
Dog in particular has fek thofe alterations more 
ftrongly than any other domeftic animal j for, living 
more like man, he may be faid to live more irre- 
gularly alfo; and consequently muft have felt all 
thofe changes v.'hich fuch variety would naturally 
produce. 
Various other caufes may alio be affigned for 
this variety in the fpecies of the Dog: as he is per- 
petually under the eye of his mafter, where accident 
has produced any fingularity in it's produftions, 
man ufes all his arts to continue this peculiarity 
unchanged; either by breeding from fuch as had 
thofe fingularities, or by deftroying thofe whicli 
happened to be deftitute of them. Befides, as the 
Dog produces much more frequently than fome 
other animals, and lives a Ihorter time, fo the 
chances for it's varieties prefent themfelves more 
frequently. 
If the internal ftrufture of Dogs of different forts 
be compared with each other, it will be found 
that, except in fize, they are in this refpeft exaftly 
the fame. This, therefore, affords no criterion 
by which to judge of the original animal. If other 
creatures be compared with the internal conforma- 
tion of the Dog, the wolf and the fox will be found 
to have the moft perfe£l refemblance : it is proba- 
ble therefore that the Dog, which m{>ft nearly re- 
fembles the wolf, or the fox externally, is the ori- 
ginal animal of it's kind; for it is reafonable to 
conjefture, that as the Dog moft nearly refembles 
them internally, fo he may approximate them alfo 
in external fimilitude, except where either art or 
accident has altered his form. This pofition being 
allowed, if we advert to the number of varieties 
which are to be found in the Dog, that fpecies 
called the fliepherd's Dog will bear the ftrongeft 
refemblance to the wolf or fox. Hence this 
feems to be the primitive animal of it's kind ; and 
we fhall be more confirmed in that opinion, if we 
attend to the different charafters which climate 
produces in this animal, and the different races of 
Dogs which are propagated in every country. If we 
examine thofe regions which are either in a favage 
ftate, or but half civilized, where it is moft proba- 
ble that the Dog, like his mafter, has received but 
few impreffions from art, we fhall find the (hep- 
herd's Dog, or a fimilar animal, ftill exifting. 
Such Dogs as have run wild in America and Con- 
go, approach this form. Thofe of Siberia, Lap- 
land, Iceland, the Cape of Good Hope, Madagaf- 
car, Madeira, Calicut, Malabar, and Kamtfchatka, 
have all long nofes and pricked ears, and feem 
nearly allied to the ffiepherd's Dog. That of 
Guinea quickly affumes this appearance; for, at 
the fecond or third, generation, the anim.al forgets 
