The same shepherd’s dog, transported into temperate climates, and among people perfectly civilized, as those of England, France, or Germany, loses its savage air, erect ears, its long, thick, and rough hair, and takes the form of the hound, bull-dog, and mastiff. Of the two latter the ears are still partly erect, or only half-pendent; and in their manners and sanguinary dispositions very much resemble the dog, from which they draw their origin. The hound is the most distant of the three; his ears are long and pendent, and the gentleness, docility, and, we may say, the timidity of this dog, are so many proofs of the great degeneration, or, more properly, the great perfection he has acquired by a long state of domesticity, and a careful education bestowed on him by man.
The hound, the harrier, and the terrier, are only one race, for it has been remarked that in the same litter there have been harriers, terriers, and hounds, though the female hound had been only covered by one of the three dogs. I have coupled the Bengal harrier with a common harrier, because they differ only by the number of spots upon their coats. I have also coupled the turnspit, or terrier with crooked legs, with the common terrier, because the defects in the legs of this dog only proceed from a disease somewhat like the rickets, with which some individuals have been attacked, and transmitted the effects to their descendants.
The hound, if transported into Spain and Barbary, where all animals have the hair fine, long, and thick, would become the spaniel and water-dog. The great and small spaniel, which differ only in size, when brought into England change their colour from white to black, and, by the influence of the climate, have become the large and small King Charles’s dog, and the beagle, which is, in fact, the same as the others, but with liver-coloured marks on the fore feet, over the eyes, and on the nose.
The mastiff, transported to the north, is become the large Dane, and to the south changes into a common greyhound. The large greyhounds come from the Levant, those of a middling size from Italy, and the latter being taken into England have become still smaller. The large Dane, transported into Ireland, the Ukraine, Tartary, Epirus, and Albania, have become the large Irish dogs, which in size surpass all the rest of the species. The bull-dog, transported from England into Denmark, is become the small Dane, and this small Dane taken into warm climates changed into the Turkish dog. All these races, with their varieties, have been produced solely by the influence of climate, joined to the effects of food and education; the other dogs are not pure races, but proceed from a mixture of those above.
The greyhound and mastiff have produced the mongrel greyhound, which is called the greyhound with wolf’s hair. The nose of this mongrel is not so thin as that of the Turkish greyhound, which is very rare in France. The large Dane and the large spaniel have produced the dog of Calabria, which is a handsome dog, with long thick hair, and higher in stature than the largest mastiff. The spaniel and terrier produce what is called the Burgundy spaniel; and from the spaniel and small Dane has come the lion-dog, which is now very scarce. The dogs with long fine curled hair, which are called the Bouffe dogs, and which are bigger than the water dogs, come from the water dog and large spaniel. The little water dog comes from the small spaniel and the water dog. The bull-dog and the mastiff produce a mongrel, which is larger than the bull-dog, yet approaches him more than the other; and the pug comes from the bull-dog and the small Dane.
All these races are simple mongrels, and come from the mixture of two pure races; but there are other dogs which may be called double mongrels, because they proceed from a pure race and one already mixed. The bastard pug is a double mongrel, and comes from a mixture of the pug with the small Dane. The Alicant dog is also a double mongrel; he proceeds from the pug and the small spaniel. The Maltese, or lap-dog, is a double mongrel, and comes from the small spaniel and little water-dog. In fine, there are dogs which may be called triple mongrels, because they proceed from the mixture of two races which have already been mixed; as the Artois dogs and what is called the street dogs, which resemble all dogs in general, but no one in particular, since they proceed from races which have several times been mixed.
SUPPLEMENT.
The following curious fact I had from M. de Mailly, of the Academy of Dijon: "The curate of Norges, near Dijon, has a bitch, which has had all the symptoms of pregnancy, and having puppies without having been in either state. She was proud, but was not suffered to go with a dog, yet at the end of her usual term her paps were filled with milk, and she brought up some young puppies that were taken to her, with as much care and tenderness as if they had really been her own; and what is more singular, this same bitch, about three years since, suckled two young kittens, one of which has imbibed so much of the nature of her nurse, that her cries infinitely more resemble the tones of a dog than those of a cat." This is certainly a rare phenomenon, and were this production of milk without impregnation more frequent, it would render female animals more analogous to female birds who produce eggs without connection with the male.
The Russians have brought several dogs to Paris, as Siberians, a very different race from those which we have described; one in particular, both male and female, were about the size of a common greyhound, with pointed noses, ears half erect, and long tails; they were entirely black, excepting a spot of white which the female had upon the top of the head, and one which the male had upon his tail; they were very fond, but exceedingly dirty and voracious, and it was almost impossible to satisfy them with food; upon the whole, they were evidently of the same race as we have treated of under the denomination of Iceland dogs.
Mr. Collinson, who had made various researches concerning the Siberian dogs, informed me that their noses were pointed, and their ears long, that some of them carried their tails like the wolf, others in the same manner as the fox, and that they certainly engendered with both those animals; that he had himself seen dogs and wolves couple in England, and although he knew of no one who could say the same with regard to dogs and foxes, from the kind well known there by the name of the fox-dogs, he did not think there could be any doubt of the fact.