FOREST AND STREAM 
503 
The Psychology of the Dog 
(Cam's Familiaris) 
By W. J. Murray. 
as his human-like intelligence, his moral sense, 
his fidelity, and his emotional nature, he might 
probably be regarded as the nearest approach 
of all animals to man; but not having these, 
there seems no ground for doubt that, psycho¬ 
The dog is a very highly organized vertibrate, 
and in zoology it shares with man himself the 
distinction of being included in the class Mam¬ 
malia. The earliest remains of this class have 
been traced to the Jurassic period; but beyond 
this fact nothing is actually known of the origin 
of the dog. It seems highly probable, however 
that the Canidae family which includes dogs, 
wolves, jackals, and foxes, was derived from a 
common source in remote pre-historic times 
from a group of promammalian carnivores which 
were distributed over the central regions of both 
hemispheres. This view is supported by the fact 
that all sorts of dogs, no matter how different 
in size, shape, color and habits, they may be, yet 
they interbreed freely; the offspring of such 
union being almost invariably fertile; and fur¬ 
ther, these “crosses,” under favorable conditions, 
show a readiness to revert to the wild state. In 
this respect they show a remarkable similitude 
to the pigeon family (Columbia vidia.) These, 
like the Canidae, no matter how many varieties 
may be produced by the selective art of the 
breeder, all tend to revert to the original rock 
pigeon found on the European coasts. 
It is a long call from the crowned pigeon to 
the turtledove; but perhaps not so long as be¬ 
tween a St. Bernard and a Yorkshire terrier, or 
between both these and a greyhound. 
As is well known, the dog is by nature and by 
necessity, a hunter; and in his wild state, lived 
by the chase, trusting .to the fleetness of his 
limbs rather than by methods of cunning and 
strategy, like his congener, the fox. It is gen¬ 
erally supposed that the dog was the first wild 
animal that was domesticated by man; and the 
reason is not far to seek. Our savage 
ancestors, in common with those of the dog, 
were obliged to shift for a living and they both 
found, in the chase, the most ready and con¬ 
genial expedient; a fact which no doubt brought 
them into early association for a common pur¬ 
pose—their mutual help and agreeable compan¬ 
ionship. 
To this fact more than any other is due the 
highly developed intelligence and emotional na¬ 
ture of the dog, as well as his (at least rudi¬ 
mentary) ethical, or moral sense, as well as his 
veneration and unfailing fidelity to his master; 
in the protection of whose life and property he 
is at all times ready to sacrifice his life if neces¬ 
sary. The nature of his attachment to, and 
genuine affection for, his master, has often been 
exhibited in his dog following him to the grave; 
the result of uncontrollable grief on account of 
his bereavement. 
Closely related to his emotional nature is the 
dog’s moral sense. Any civilized (if the term 
may be used) dog when detected in doing what 
he knew he should not have done, will appear 
quite ashamed of himself, and will cower in a 
penitent attitude before his master or mistress, 
as if asking for forgiveness. 
The sense of justice or fair play is often ex¬ 
hibited as between dogs; for instance they recog¬ 
nize vested interests; and much as the natural 
impulse of greed may be present, a decent dog 
will not deprive his fellow canine of his meal 
or his bed, even though perhaps twice his size 
and strength. Now can practical human ethics 
surpass this? Doubtless not; and only too often 
this standard is not attained in human experi¬ 
ence. Of course, there are “black sheep” in 
every flock, but we cannot afford to be too hard 
on even an erring dog! 
As regards the serebral development of the 
dog, it is of a very high order indeed, and it is 
probably the nearest approach of all the lower 
animals to the human standard—not excepting 
the higher primates, including the chimpanzee. 
But the latter scores heavily against ‘the dog, in 
comparison with the human animal, when it 
comes to anatomy and relative morphology. The 
dog’s anatomy is totally unlike the human in 
various important respects, while the human 
organism and the anthropoid apes, so far as bodily 
structure goes, are almost identical—‘the same 
200 bones, the same 300 muscles, the same denti¬ 
tion—32 teeth—16 above and 16 below—set in 
the same order in their jaws, the same plan of 
the limbs, the same vital organs, the same glands, 
the same hairy covering, similar features—ex¬ 
ternal and internal, the erect, or semi-erect posi¬ 
tion, and the same absence of a caudal appen¬ 
dage (or tail)—in short every essential detail is 
similar so far as anatomy goes. It is in brain 
development that the chimpanzee falls so far 
short in comparison with man, while it is in 
bodily shape that the dog shows such a wide dif¬ 
ference from the human form. If a chimpanzee 
only had more of the dog’s higher attributes such 
logically, the dog comes nearer the human stan¬ 
dard. 
Can anything be more distinctly human than 
the various emotions exhibited by the dog, such 
as affection, jealousy, anger, gratitude, joy, etc.? 
Of course, the dog has not the gift of speech, 
but many dogs can understand what is spoken 
to them, and will promptly carry out instructions 
given them by word of mouth. If this is not the 
next thing to speaking, it is hard to know what 
is. 
How often has one heard the remark regard¬ 
ing an intelligent setter or fox-terrier, “'Well, 
that dog can do anything but speak.” There is 
one thing he can, at all events do, he can express 
his pleasure very clearly by the familiar wag 
of his tail. This method possibly originated by 
association of ideas. When the wild ancestors 
of the dog used to hunt in packs through jungles 
and long grass, the tips of their tails would often 
be visible above cover, especially when the 
tails (as is often the case) would be white-tipped. 
It is supposed the dogs used to signal to their 
companions by wagging their tails when locating 
their quarry, and thus the idea of pleasure be¬ 
came associated with the wagging of the tail, 
and thus the idea has persisted in the mind of 
the dog through the force of heredity to this 
day. 
As regards the senses the dog has some, such 
as that of smell, hearing and sight, which far 
(Continued on page 519.) 
Seventh Annual Tournament of N. A. S. 
Following are the scores made in the half-ounce ac¬ 
curacy bait, both regular and special events, at the 
seventh annual tournament of the National Association 
of Scientific Angling Clubs, which were not published 
in the issue of September 19: 
NINTH EVENT—HALF-OUNCE ACCURACY BAIT. 
Scores. 
Regular Event. 
G. G. Chatt ... 99.6 
William Stanley .,. 99.5 
David Kernaghan . 99.3 
E. K. Pierson . 99.1 
Call McCarthy . 98.9 
Kleinfeldt . 988 
Eldred . 98 -7 
98.7 
98.6 
Becker . 986 
Doyle . 98.6 
J. Winteringham . 98.5 
N. Place . 98.5 
D. Whitby . 98 4 
Nordholm . 98.4 
N. Peet . 98.3 
Nordholm . 98.2 
R. Letterman . 98-2 
F. Noland . 981 
E. Lingenfelter . 98.. 
W. Cook . 98.. 
G. Hollingsworth . 98-• 
F. 
Kleinfeldt 
G. 
S. 
Eldred 
C. 
W. 
Grant 
A. 
Bauer .... 
O. 
E. 
Becker 
C. 
H. 
Doyle 
A. 
L. 
A. 
J- 
F. 
C. 
E. 
N. 
C. 
G. 
J 
M. 
R. 
J- 
E. 
J- 
B. 
I. 
W. 
M. 
W. 
W. 
M. 
M. 
F. 
H. 
J 
Clark . 97-9 
Fooitit . 97-9 
Bramhall . 97-7 
Town . 97-7 
Ranney . 97-7 
Burk . 97-6 
M. G. 
J. W. 
Heilman 
Jamison 
Eldred . 
Tice ... 
97-4 
97-3 
97.2 
97-i 
E. H. Kraft . 96.S 
W. W. McFarlin . 96.5 
T. Nordholm . 96.3 
J. R. Brown . 95.6 
Special Event. 
W. Andrews . 98.7 
C. P. Clifford . 98.6 
F. C. Wernecke . 98.4 
L. J. Tooley . 98.1 
F. T. Johnson . 97.7 
E. S. Gray . 97-3 
E. F. Hoxey . 97-3 
J. Zabokrtsky . 97.1 
Edward Moore . 96.7 
F. W. Yocky . 96.7 
Mrs. H. C. Humphreys . 96.5 
G. L. Ames . 96-4 
George Hornstein . 96.3 
E. L. Race . 96.2 
A. J. Pixley . 95-9 
F. j. Lane . 95-8 
H. F. Bennett . 95-7 
F. W. Geary . 95-2 
J. E. Dickinson . 95 -* 
Charles Odell . 94-9 
David Straus . 94-3 
E. W. Elliott . 93-1 
C. C. Rofner . 91.4 
Gus. Heller . 87.8 
Judges—T. W. Brotherton, F. E. Church, H. N. Sher¬ 
man, G. Slocum. 
Contestants in the all-around championship class are 
required to cast in all events. The award is made to 
the contestant showing the highest efficiency. If he 
wins the event he is scored one, and if in another event 
he finished tenth, he is scored ten, and so on through 
all the events. The contestant having the lowest num¬ 
ber of points is the winner. 
Following is the official standing of the contestants 
at the last tournament: 
ALL-AROUND CHAMPIONSHIP. 
2 
O 
i* 
c nfa 
Call McCarthy . 7 
C. E. Lingenfelter . 1 
F. N. Peet . 3 
C. W. Grant . 9 
Wm. Stanley . > 2 
G. G. Chatt . 2 
A. J. Winteringham . 16 
F. Kleinfeldt . J 4 
N. F. Noland . 11 
W. J. Jamison . 5 
J. W. Bramhall . 8 
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Total 
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5 
I 
14 
4 
1 
6 
5 
57 
6 3-9 
2 
4 
26 
2 
8 
2 
20 
66 
7 3-9 
6 
2 
20 
3 
3 
12 
16 
83 
9 2 -9 
12 
11 
7 
11 
4 
l6 
8 
85 
9 4-9 
21 
16 
I 
5 
17 
IO 
2 
93 
10 3-9 
22 
3 
50 
10 
2 
3 
1 
97 
10 7-9 
18 
7 
II 
7 
12 
14 
12 
100 
11 1-9 
7 
8 
35 
1 
II 
1 
6 
103 
11 4-9 
3 
15 
2 
19 
15 
11 
19 
i°S 
11 6-9 
8 
13 
13 
9 
5 
IS 
3i 
119 
13 2 -9 
17 
10 
22 
16 
9 
13 
26 
134 
14 8-9 
