Williamson's
Oriental Field Sports
Poiret, in his
Travels in Barbary
asserts that
"the dog loses in the East a great part of those good qualities that make him the friend of man. He is no longer a faithful domesticated animal, faithfully attached to his master, and ever ready to defend him even at the expense of his own life. He is cruel and blood-thirsty, his look is savage, and his appearance revolting; carrion, filth, anything is good enough for him if he can but appease his hunger. They seldom bite one another, but they unite against a stranger who approaches the Arab tents, and would tear him to pieces if he did not seek his safety in flight."
Vol. i. p. 353.
Denon, when in the city of Alexandria, in Egypt, says,
"I have no longer recognised the dog, that friend of man, the attached and faithful companion — the lively and honest courtier. He is here a gloomy egotist, and cut off from all human intercourse without being the less a slave. He does not know him whose house he protects, and devours his corpse without repugnance."
Travels in Lower Egypt, p. 32.