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DOG , the See also:English generic See also:term for' the quadruped of the domesticated variety of Canis (Fr. chien) . The See also:etymology of the word is unknown; " See also:hound " represents the See also:common See also:Teutonic term (Ger . Hund), and it is suggested that the " English dog "—for this was a See also:regular phrase in See also:continental See also:European countries —represented a See also:special breed . Most canine experts believe that the dog is descended from the See also:wolf, although zoologists are less certain (see See also:CARNIVORA); the See also:osteology of one does not differ materially from that of the other: the dog and the wolf breed with each other, and the progeny thus obtained will again breed with the dog . There is one circumstance, however, which seems to See also:mark a difference between the two animals: the See also:eye of the ' dog of every See also:country and See also:species has a circular See also:pupil, but the position or See also:form of the pupil is oblique in the wolf . W . Youatt says there is also a marked difference in the See also:temper and habits of the two . The dog is generally easily managed, and although H . C . See also:Brooke of Welling, See also:Kent, succeeded in making a wolffairly tractable, the experience of others has been the See also:reverse of encouraging . G . See also:Cuvier gives an interesting See also:account of a See also:young wolf which, having been trained to follow his See also:master, showed See also:affection and submission scarcely inferior to the domesticated dog . During the See also:absence from See also:home of his owner the wolf was sent to a See also:menagerie, but pined for his master and would scarcely take any See also:food for a considerable See also:time . At length, however, he became attached to his keepers and appeared to have forgotten his former See also:associate . At the end of eighteen months his master returned, and, the moment his See also:voice was heard, the wolf recognized him and lavished on him the most affectionate caresses . A still longer separation followed, but the wolf again remembered his old associate and showed See also:great affection upon his return . Such an association proves that there is very little difference between the dog and the wolf in recognition of See also:man as an See also:object of affection and veneration . H . C . Brooke succeeded in training his wolf so well that it was no uncommon sight to see the latter following his master like a dog . The wolf did not like strangers, however, and was very shy in their presence . In the Old and New Testaments the dog is spoken of almost with abhorrence; it ranked amongst the unclean beasts: See also:traffic in it was considered as an See also:abomination, and it was forbidden to he offered in the See also:sanctuary in the See also:discharge of any See also:vow . See also:Part of the Jewish See also:ritual was the preservation of the Israelites from the See also:idolatry which at that time prevailed among every other See also:people . See also:Dogs were held in considerable veneration by the Egyptians, from whose tyranny the Israelites had just escaped; figures of them appeared on the friezes of most of the temples, and they were regarded as emblems of the divine being .
See also:Herodotus, speaking of the sanctity in which some animals were held by the Egyptians, says that the people of every See also:family in which a dog died shaved themselves—their expression of See also:mourning—adding that this was a See also:custom of his own time
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The cause of this See also:attachment to and veneration for the dog is, however, explained in a far more probable and pleasing way than by many of the fables of See also:ancient See also:mythology
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The prosperity of See also:Lower See also:Egypt, and almost the very subsistence of its inhabitants, depended upon the See also:annual overflowing of the See also:Nile; and they looked for it with the utmost anxiety
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Its approach was announced by the See also:appearance of a certain See also:star, Sirius, and as soon as that star was seen above the See also:horizon the people hastened to remove their flocks to the higher ground and abandoned the lower pastures to the fertilizing See also:influence of the stream
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They hailed it as their guard and See also:protector; and, associating with its apparent watchfulness the well-known fidelity of the dog, they called it the " dog-star " and worshipped it
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It was in far later periods and in other countries that the appearance of the dog-star was regarded as the See also:signal of insufferable See also:heat or prevalent disease
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In See also:Ethiopia, not only was great veneration paid to the dog, but the inhabitants used to elect a dog as their See also:
The See also:Hindus also regard the dog as unclean, and submit to various purifications if they accidentally come in contact with it, believing that every dog is animated by a wicked and See also:malignant spirit condemned to do See also:penance in that form for crimes committed in a previous state of existence
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In every See also:Mahommedan and See also:Hindu country the most scurrilous epithet bestowed on a European or a See also:Christian is " a dog," and that accounts for the fact that in the whole of the Jewish See also:history there .is not a single allusion to See also:hunting with dogs
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Mention is made of nets and snares, but the dog does not seem to have been used in the pursuit of See also:game
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In the See also:early periods of the history of other countries this seems to have been the See also:case even where the dog was esteemed and valued, and had become the See also:companion, the friend and the defender of man and his home; and in the 2nd See also:century of the Christian era See also:Arrian wrote that there is as much difference between a See also:fair trial of See also:speed in a See also:good run, and ensnaring a poor animal without an effort, as between the See also:secret piratical assaults of robbers at See also:sea and the victorious See also:naval engagements of the Athenians at Artemisium and at See also:Salamis." The first hint of the employment of the dog in the pursuit of other animals is given by See also:Oppian in his Cynegetica, who attributes it to See also:Pollux about 200 years after the promulgation of the Levitical See also:law
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The precise species of dog that was cultivated in Greece at that early period cannot be affirmed, although a beautiful piece of See also:sculpture in the See also:possession of See also:Lord Feversham at Duncombe See also: Instances of dogs having saved the lives of their owners by that See also:strange See also:intuition of approaching danger which they appear to possess, or by their See also:protection, are innumerable: their attachment to man has inspired the poet and formed the subject of many notable books, while in See also:Daniel's Rural See also:Sports is related a See also:story of a dog dying in the fulness of joy caused by the return of his master after a two years' absence from home . It is not improbable that all dogs sprang from one common source, but See also:climate, food and See also:cross-breeding caused See also:variations of form which suggested particular uses, and these being either designedly or accidentally perpetuated, the various breeds of dogs arose, and became numerous in proportion to the progress of See also:civilization . Among the ruder or See also:savage tribes they possess but one form; but the ingenuity of man has devised many inventions to increase his comforts; he has varied and multiplied the characters and kinds of domestic animals for the same purpose, and hence the various breeds of horses, cattle and dogs . The See also:parent stock it is now impossible to trace; but the See also:wild dog, wherever found on the See also:continent of See also:Asia, or See also:northern See also:Europe, has nearly the same See also:character, and bears no inconsiderable resemblance to the British dog of the See also:ordinary type; while many of those from the southern hemisphere can scarcely be distinguished from the cross-bred poaching dog, the lurcher . Dogs were first classified into three See also:groups:—(r) Those having the See also:head more or less elongated, and the parietal bones of the See also:skull widest at the See also:base and gradually approaching towards each other as they ascend, the condyles of the lower See also:jaw being on the same See also:line with the upper molar See also:teeth . The greyhound and all its varieties belong to this class . (2) The head moderately elongated and the parietals diverging from each other for a certain space as they rise upon the See also:side of the head, enlarging the cerebral cavity and the frontal sinus . To this class belong most of the useful dogs, such as the spaniel, the setter, the pointer and the sheepdog . (3) The muzzle more or less shortened, the frontal sinus enlarged, and the cranium elevated and diminished in capacity . To this class belong some of the terriers and most of the See also:toy dogs . Later, however, "See also:Stonehenge" (J . H .
See also:Walsh), in British Rural Sports, classified dogs as follows: (a) Dogs that find game for man, leaving him to kill it himself—the pointer, setters, spaniels and See also:water spaniels
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(b) Dogs which kill game when found for them—the English greyhound
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(c) Dogs which find and also kill their game—the bloodhound, the foxhound, the See also:harrier, the beagle, the 'otterhound, the See also:fox terrier and the See also:truffle dog
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(d) Dogs which retrieve game that has been wounded by man—the retriever, the deerhound
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(e) Useful companions of man-the mastiff, the Newfoundland, the St See also:Bernard dog, the bulldog, the See also:bull terrier, terriers, sheepdogs, Pomeranian or Spitz, and Dalmatian dogs
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(j) Ladies' toy dogs—King See also: On the 4th of May 1898 a sub-See also:committee of the Kennel Club decided that the following breeds should be classified as " toy dogs ":—Black and tan terriers (under 7 b), bull terriers (under 8 lb), griffons, Italian greyhounds, Japanese, Maltese, Pekingese, poodles (under 15 in.), pugs, toy spaniels, Yorkshire terriers and Pomeranians . All these varieties were represented at the annual show of the Kennel Club in the autumn of 1905, and at the representative See also:exhibition of See also:America held under the management of the See also:Westminster Kennel Club in the following See also:spring the classification was substantially the same, additional breeds, however, being See also:Boston terriers—practically unknown in See also:England,—Chesapeake See also:Bay dogs, Chihuahuas, Papillons and Roseneath terriers . The latter were only recently introduced into the See also:United States, though well known in Great See also:Britain as the See also:West Highland or Poltalloch terrier; an application which was made (1900) by some of their admirers for See also:separate classification was refused by the Kennel Club, but afterwards it was granted, the breed being classified as the West Highland white terrier . The establishment of shows at See also:Newcastle-on-See also:Tyne in See also:June 1859 secured for dogs See also:attention which had been denied them up to that time, although sportsmen had appreciated their value for centuries and there had been public See also:coursing meetings since the reign of Charles I . Lord See also:Orford, however, established the first club at Marham Smeeth near See also:Swaffham, where coursing is still carried on, in 1776 . The members were in number confined to that of the letters in the See also:alphabet; and when any vacancy happened it was filled up by See also:ballot . On the decease of the founder of the club, the members agreed to See also:purchase a See also:silver See also:cup to be run for annually, and it was intended to pass from one to the other, like the See also:whip at See also:Newmarket, but before starting for it, in the See also:year 1792, it was decided that the winner of the cup should keep it and that one should be annually See also:purchased to be run for in See also:November . At the formation of the club each member assumed a See also:colour, and also a See also:letter, which he used as the initial of his dog's name . The Newcastle dog show of 1859 was promoted by Mr Pape—a See also:local sporting gunmaker—and Mr Shorthose, and although only pointers and setters were entered for in two classes immense interest was taken in the show . But neither the promoters nor the sportsmen who supported it could have had the faintest See also:idea as to how popular dog shows would become . The See also:judges at that historic gathering were: Messrs J . Jobling (See also:Morpeth), T . See also:Robson (Newcastle-on-Tyne) and J . H . Walsh (See also:London) for pointers, and E . Foulger (See also:Alnwick), R . Brailsford (Knowsley) and J . H . Walsh for the setters . Sixty dogs were shown, and it was said that such a collection had not been seen together before; while so even was the quality that the judges had great difficulty in making their awards . The prizes were sporting guns made by Mr Pape and presented by him to the promoters of the show . So great a success was scored that other shows were held in the same year at See also:Birmingham and Edinburgh; while the See also:Cleveland Agricultural Society also established a show of foxhounds at See also:Redcar, the latter being the forerunner of that very See also:fine show of hounds which is now held at See also:Peterborough every summer and is looked upon as the out-of-See also:season society gathering of hunting men and See also:women . Mr Brailsford was the secretary of the show at Birmingham, and he had classes for pointers, English and Irish setters, retrievers and Clumber spaniels . Another big success was scored, and the See also:National Dog Show Society was established for the purpose of holding a show of sporting dogs in Birmingham every See also:winter . Three years later proposals were made in The Field to promote public trials of pointers and setters over game, but it was not until the 18th of See also:April 1865 that a further step was taken in the recognition of the value of the dog by the promotion of working trials . They were held at Southill, near See also:Bedford, on the See also:estate of S . See also:Whitbread, M.P., and they attracted great interest . The order of See also:procedure at the early field trials was similar to what it is to-day, only the awards were given in accordance with a See also:scale of points as follows: See also:nose, 4o; See also:pace and range, 30; temperament, 1o; staunchness before, 1o; behind, 1o . See also:Style of working was also taken into See also:consideration . In 1865 a show was held in See also:Paris, and after the National Dog Club—not the Birmingham society —had failed, as the result of a disastrous show at the Crystal Palace, a further exhibition was arranged to be held in June 187o under the management of G . Nutt and a very strong committee, among whom were many of the most noted owners of sporting dogs of that time . The details of the show were arranged by S . E . See also:Shirley and J . H . See also:Murchison, but the exhibition, although amost interesting one, was a failure, and the guarantors had to See also:face a heavy loss .
A second venture proved to be a little more encouraging, although again there was a loss; but in April 1873, the Kennel Club, which is now the governing body of the canine See also:world, was founded by S
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E
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Shirley, who, after acting as its chairman for many years, was elected the See also:president, and occupied that position until his death in See also: Excepting for greyhounds, however, high prices are rarely offered for sporting dogs, 300 guineas for the pointer " See also:Coronation " and 200 guineas for the retriever " High Legh See also:Blarney " being the best reported prices for See also:gun dogs during the last few years . The foreign and colonial clubs which are affiliated to the Kennel Club are: the See also:Guernsey Dog Club, the Italian Kennel Club, the See also:Jersey Dog Club, La Societe Centrale (Paris), |