The sheepdogs and collies are still further removed from the wolf type, and have the tip of the ear pendent. The tail is thick and bushy, the feet and legs particularly strong, and there is usually a double dew-claw on each hind limb. The many varieties found in different countries have the same general characters. The bark is completely dog-like, and the primitive hunting instincts have been cultivated into a marvellous aptitude for herding sheep and cattle. The training takes place during the first year, and the work is learned with extreme facility. The Scotch collie is lighter and more elegant, and has a sharper muzzle. Since it became popular as a pet dog, its appearance has been greatly improved, and whilst it has lost its old sullen concentration, it has retained unusual intelligence and has become playful and affectionate. The wolfdogs all hunt chiefly by scent.
Greyhounds.—These are characterized by slight build, small ears falling at the tips, elongated limbs and tails and long narrow muzzles. They hunt entirely by sight, the sense of smell being defective. The English greyhound is the most conspicuous and best-known member of the group, and has been supposed to be the parent of most of the others. The animal is thoroughly adapted for extreme speed, the long, rat-like tail being used in balancing the body in quick turns. The favourite colour is a uniform sandy, or pale grey tone, but characters directly related to capacity for speed have received most attention. The Italian greyhound is a miniature greyhound, still capable of considerable speed but so delicate that it is almost unable to pull down even a rabbit, and is kept simply as a pet. The eyes are large and soft, and a golden fawn is the colour most prized. The Scotch deerhound is a larger and heavier variety of the English greyhound, with rough and shaggy hair. It has been used both for deer stalking and for coursing, and several varieties exist. The Irish wolfhound is now extinct, but appears to have been a powerful race heavier than the deerhound but similar to it in general characters. Greyhounds have been bred from time immemorial in Eastern Europe and Western Asia, while unmistakable representatives are figured on the monuments of ancient Egypt. The existing Oriental varieties are in most cases characterized by silky hair. The hairless dogs of Central Africa are greyhounds employed chiefly in hunting antelopes, and there are somewhat similar varieties in China, Central and South America.
The whippet is a local English dog, used chiefly in rabbit coursing and racing, and is almost certainly a cross between greyhounds and terriers.
The lurcher is a dog with the general shape of a greyhound, but with a heavier body, larger ears and rougher coat. Lurchers are cross-bred dogs, greyhounds and sheepdogs, or deerhounds and collies, being the parents.
Spaniels are heavily built dogs with short and very wide skulls rising suddenly at the eyes. The brain is relatively large and the intelligence high. The muzzle is short, the ears large and pendent, the limbs relatively short and heavy, and the coat thick and frequently long. It is supposed, from their name, that they are of Spanish origin. They may be divided into field spaniels, water spaniels and the smaller breeds kept as pets. Field spaniels are excellent shooting dogs, and are readily trained to give notice of the proximity of game. The Clumber, Sussex, Norfolk and Cocker breeds are the best established. The Clumber is long, low and heavy. It is silent when hunting, and has long ears shaped like vine leaves. The ground colour of the coat is white with yellow spots. The Sussex is a lighter, more noisy animal, with a wavy, golden coat. The Cockers are smaller spaniels, brown, or brown-and-white in the Welsh variety, black in the more common modern English form. The head is short, and the coat silky and wavy. Of the water spaniels the Irish breeds are best known. They are relatively large dogs, with broad splay feet, and silky oily coats.
The poodle is probably derived from spaniels, but is of slighter, more graceful build, and is pre-eminent even among spaniels for intelligence. The best known pet spaniels are the King Charles and the Blenheim, small dogs with fine coats, probably descended from Cockers.
Setters owe their name to their having been trained originally to crouch when marking game, so as to admit of the net with which the quarry was taken being drawn over their heads. Since the general adoption of shooting in place of netting or bagging game, setters have been trained to act as pointers. They are pre-eminently dogs for sporting purposes, and special strains or breeds adapted to the peculiarities of different kinds of sporting have been produced. Great Britain is probably the country where setters were first produced, and as early as the 17th century spaniels were used in England as setting dogs. It is probable that pointer blood was introduced in the course of shaping the various breeds of setter. The English setter should have a silky coat with the hair waved but not curly; the legs and toes should be hairy, and the tail should have a bushy fringe of hairs hanging down from the dorsal border. The colour varies much, ranging according to the strains, from black-and-white through orange-and-white and liver-and-white to pure white, whilst black, white, liver, and red or yellow self-coloured setters are common. The Irish setter is red without trace of black, but occasionally flecked with white. The Gordon setter, the chief Scottish variety, is a heavier animal with coarser hair, black-and-tan in colour. The Russian setter has a woolly and matted coat.
The retriever is a large dog used for retrieving game on land, as a water spaniel is used for the same purpose in water. The breed is almost certainly derived from water-spaniels, with a strong admixture of Newfoundland blood. The colour is black or tan, and the hair of the face, body and tail is close and curly, although wavy-coated strains exist.
The Newfoundland is simply an enormous spaniel, and shows its origin by the facility with which it takes to water and the readiness with which it mates with spaniels and setters. It has developed a definite instinct to save human beings from drowning, this probably being an evolution of the retrieving instinct of the original spaniels. The true Newfoundland is a very large dog and may reach 31 in. in height at the shoulder. The coat is shaggy and oily, and is preferred with as little white as possible, but the general black coloration may have rusty shades. The eyes and ears are relatively small, and the forehead white and dome-shaped, giving the face the well-known appearance of benignity and intelligence. Although these dogs were originally brought to Great Britain from Newfoundland and are still bred in the latter country, greater size, perfection and intelligence have been attained in England, where Newfoundlands for many years have been the most popular large dogs. They are easily taught to retrieve on land or water, and their strength, intelligence and fidelity make them specially suitable as watchdogs or guardians. The Landseer Newfoundland is a black and white variety brought into notice by Sir Edwin Landseer, but the exact ancestry of which is unknown. The Labrador Newfoundland is a smaller black variety with a less massive head. It occurs both in Newfoundland and England, and has been used largely in producing crosses, being almost certainly one parent of the retriever.
The St Bernard is a large breed taking its name from the monastery of Mount St Bernard in the Alps, and remarkable for high intelligence and use in rescuing travellers from the snow. The origin of the breed is unknown, but undoubtedly it is closely related to spaniels. The St Bernard attains as great a size as that of any other breed, a fine specimen being between 60 and 70 in. from the tip of the nose to the root of the tail. The colour varies, but shades of tawny-red and white are more frequent than in Newfoundlands. In the rough-haired breed the coat is long and wavy, but there exists a smooth breed with a nearly smooth coat.