DOGS: THEIR MANAGEMENT.
GENERAL REMARKS.
There is no animal so widely distributed as the dog. The like assertion could not be made of any other domesticated creature. In countries subjected to the extremes of heat or cold, in the centre of Africa, and at the Northern Pole, the horse is absent; but wherever man is able to exist, there, in some shape or other, the dog is represented. Various have been the speculations as to its original. There is no animal in any way approaching in outward appearance to the Canine Species (properly so called), but has been assumed to be the original parent of the family. Some have even fancied the fox was father to all the dogs that trot by the side of man; but this idea seems too preposterous to be maintained. Others, with more reason, have supposed the prototype of the dog was discovered in the wolf. There are, however, many differences to reconcile before this hypothesis can be received. The formation of the two animals is distinct,—their anatomy presents positive differences,—their time of breeding does not agree,—their habits are opposite, and their outward and inward character is entirely dissimilar. The above engraving is the portrait of the wolf. Is the reader in any danger of mistaking it for that of a dog?
THE WOLF.
Thus the apparent separation of the two species appears to be so wide, that a child could point it out, and none but a philosopher could confound it. Others, again, have gone to warmer climates for the founder of the kind, which they have, to their own satisfaction, discovered in the jackal: but there are very many obstacles to be surmounted, before this supposition can be acknowledged. In the first place, although the dog is to be found in warm climates, he thrives least in those to which the jackal is entirely confined. Then all that has been urged against the fancy which conceived the prototype of the dog was to be found in the wolf, applies with even greater force to the jackal. However, to settle the dispute, we here give the likeness of the beast, and leave to the reader to point out the particular breed of dogs to which it belongs.
THE JACKAL.
Beyond the circumstance of the habitats of the animals being distinct, is the well-known fact that all domesticated animals have a disposition to return to their original formation; but who ever heard of a dog, however neglected, or however wild, becoming either a wolf or a jackal?