Another singular variety is the dog of Chihuahua and this is, perhaps, the smallest of all canine creatures. Full-grown specimens have been seen, whose dimensions did not exceed those of the common rat; and a singular fact, well authenticated, is, that this dog, when transported from Chihuahua to any other place—even to the city of Mexico itself—invariably becomes larger, or degenerates, as the Mexicans have it! There is also in Mexico a hairless dog. It is, no doubt, the same as that known by the name of Turkish dog; since this variety came originally from Spanish America.
In South America, there are several species of native dogs, found among the savages of the Orinoco and Amazon. They are small animals, usually of a whitish colour: but their owners follow the curious practice of dyeing them with annatto, indigo, and other brilliant dyes, for the purpose of rendering them more ornamental!
We can only find space to say that there are many other varieties of domesticated dogs, almost unknown beyond the countries in which they are found. Such are the Quao of Rhamgur, the Sumatran dog, the Poull of New Ireland, the dogs of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego—those of the South Sea Islands; and the Waht that inhabits some of the ranges of the Himalayas.
It is reasonable to suppose that there is not a nation upon earth, hardly a tribe—civilised or savage—that does not possess some variety of the canine race differing from all the others.
Chapter Seven.
Wild Dogs.
By Wild Dogs, we mean not only several sorts of true dogs, that in different parts of the world are found living in a wild state; but also Wolves, Foxes, Jackals, Hyenas, and Fennecs—for all these are but dogs in a state of nature.
First, we shall speak of the true dogs living in a wild state—that is, apart from the society of man.