The new book of the dog - a comprehensive natural history of British dogs and their foreign relatives, with chapters on law, breeding, kennel management, and veterinary treatment (1911) (14760433171)

Identifier: newbookofdogcomp01leig (find matches)
Title: The new book of the dog : a comprehensive natural history of British dogs and their foreign relatives, with chapters on law, breeding, kennel management, and veterinary treatment
Year: 1911 (1910s)
Authors: Leighton, Robert, 1859-1934
Subjects: Dogs
Publisher: London New York : Cassell
Contributing Library: Webster Family Library of Veterinary Medicine
Digitizing Sponsor: Tufts University



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bitof barking cannot, then, be regarded as anargument in deciding the question con-cerning the origin of the dog. This stum-bling block in the discussion consequentlydisappears, leaving us in the position ofagreeing with Darwin, whose final hypoth-esis was formulated in the generalisationthat it is highly probable that the domesticdogs of the world have descended fromtwo good species of wolf (C. lupus andC. latrans), and from two or three otherdoubtful species of wolves—namely, theEuropean, Indian, and North African forms ;from at least one or two South Americancanine species ; from several races or speciesof jackal; and perhaps from one or moreextinct species ; and that the blood ofthese, in some cases mingled together,flows in the veins of our domestic breeds. 12 THE DOG IN HISTORY, ART, AND LITERATURE. Of the dog in ancient storyMany a pleasant tale is told. Whatever its direct origin, there is in-dubitable proof that the domestic dog invarious recognisable breeds was co-existent
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ACT/EON DEVOURED BY HIS DOGS. GROUP FROMTHE VILLA OF ANTONINUS PIUS, CIVITA LAVINIA.(British Museum.) with the earliest civilised societies, andthat it was the trusted companion of manmany hundreds of years prior to the timewhen it became the painted Britons pride.Homer, the first of Greek poets, frequentlyused the word dog as an epithet ofcontempt and reproach to women lackingin modesty and virtue, applying it to Helen(Lib. VI. 344), whose incontinence was the Mary Howitt. cause of the Trojan war; and Thou dogin forehead is his taunt flung at a despic-able man. But generally his allusions arenot uncomplimentary to canine sagacity,and they show a certain sympathy andesteem for an animal which was evidentlyheld in high value. When the God ofthe silver bow strikes beasts and menwith pestilence, it is said : Mules first and dogs he struck, but at them-selves,Dispatching soon his bitter arrows keen,Smote them. Yet, mixed with these friendly dogsthere were apparently those of the pariahkin