BULL DOG.

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THE DACHSHOUND, OR BADGER-DOG,

is a German breed, closely allied to the Turnspit, but with the characters of the latter exaggerated. The fore-legs are crooked at the wrist-joint, and the feet are very large. It was originally bred, as its name implies, for Badger-hunting, and, so strong is its instinct for the sport even now it has become a drawing-room pet, that it will rush at anything that looks like a hole, and begin to burrow vigorously.

THE BULL-DOG

is undoubtedly the most savage and untamable of all the breeds: he is, moreover, except to the eyes of a fancier, the ugliest; for, although he has not the grotesque proportions of the Turnspit, yet his crooked legs, Rat’s tail, flat forehead, little wicked eyes, turned-up nose, big mouth, and underhung lower jaw, make him a creature absolutely hideous to any one whose taste is not sufficiently cultivated to enable him to admire anything “proper.” The two features of the crooked legs and the underhung jaw are simply selected and perpetuated deformities. The projection of the lower jaw and the receding of the nose are extremely marked, and give the Dog a most sinister appearance. The chest of a good Bull-dog is very broad and strong. The hind-quarters, on the other hand, are comparatively feeble.

The Bull-dog was formerly used—as its name implies—for the barbarous “sport” of Bull-baiting, in which our forefathers took so much delight. The Dog would seize upon the Bull’s nose and lip, and no power in heaven or earth could make him leave his hold. He would even fight with the Lion, and seize upon his gigantic antagonist again and again, although torn and mangled all over with great claw-wounds.

Although not a water-dog, the Bull-dog is a capital swimmer, his immense strength and indomitable pluck giving him an advantage over even such a professed swimmer as the Newfoundland. “During a heavy gale, a ship had struck on a rock near the land. The only chance of escape for the shipwrecked was to get a rope ashore; for it was impossible for any boat to live in the sea as it was then running. There were two Newfoundland Dogs and a Bull-dog on board. One of the Newfoundland Dogs was thrown overboard, with a rope thrown round him, and perished in the waves. The second shared a similar fate; but the Bull-dog fought his way through that terrible sea, and, arriving safe on shore, rope and all, became the saviour of the crew.”

Little is known as to the origin of the Bull-dog, but Mr. Darwin makes the curious and interesting statement that “some authors who have written on Dogs maintain that the Greyhound and Bull-dog, though appearing so different, are really closely-allied varieties, descended from the same wild stock; hence I was anxious to see how far their puppies differed from each other.... On actually measuring the old Dogs and their six-day old puppies, I found that the puppies had not acquired nearly the full amount of proportional difference.”