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Perhaps the first use man made of the dog was in hunting; and, although it is no longer necessary for civilized man to hunt his food, setters, pointers and other fine dogs are still being raised by sportsmen for the same purpose. As soon as man had domesticated such animals as cattle, goats, sheep, pigs and horses, he began to use the dog as a herder and protector of his flocks; and collies, sheep-dogs and other shepherd dogs are still doing the same work wherever great herds of grazing animals are to be found. When man began to own things which he valued, he trained the watch dog who guarded his property day and night. Now, almost any dog with a good bark can be trained to watch and we have specialized breeds such as the German police dogs who not only watch and give the alarm, but assist in catching thieves. In many parts of America, dogs were used by the Indians as burden bearers and they are still so used by the Eskimos of America and Asia and by peasants in European countries.
At the close of the WWII there were ten thousand dogs employed at the Front. Some served as patrols in No Man's Land; some carried messages; and many more wore the Red Cross emblem as they searched for and aided the wounded. We all know clever dogs whose stage tricks amuse thousands of people each year; and there are also "show-dogs" of another kind - the bench dogs, reared by their masters to conform to certain set standards and to be exhibited with the hope of winning prizes.
And last of all, but the most important of all, is the use of the dog as a companion. He may be a thoroughbred or a mongrel, a fierce watch-dog or a toy breed, he may be a "one man dog", or, like Kim, "little friend of all the world"; but he is our dog we love him and he repays our love with never failing devotion.
There are over 300 breeds of dogs. In the city, we see but few of them. Following are some breeds we all know and a few facts about them.
The collie gets his name from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning black, and it refers to the black-faced sheep which were the charges of his ancestors and which the shepherd collies may still be found guarding in many parts of Great Britain.
The bulldog, with his tremendous courage, was first bred in England to be used in the cruel sport of bull baiting. His work was to try to seize the nose of an infuriated bull and to hang on. His lower jaw was brought forward and his nose made to recede, through generations of breeding, so that he could keep his hold on the bull's nose without having his breathing disturbed. The sport was made illegal in 1835.
The poodle has been made to look like a clown by clipping his woolly hair in curious patterns; but he is one of our most intelligent dogs. It is he who is most often trained for animal acts on the stage and there seems to be no end to his ability to learn tricks.
The chow or chow-chow is a "one man dog". He usually obeys his master implicitly; but no one else can even claim his interest. His ancestors were probably Asiatic Eskimo dogs.
The fox terrier is called terrier because he and his relatives were bred thousands of years ago to hunt animals which lived in burrows in la terre, the ground. He is small, but he has enough courage and energy for several dogs.
The airdale is one of the largest terriers in England. Up to 134 years ago, he was scarcely known outside of Yorkshire, England, and there he was looked upon as a mongrel. Now he is one of our best known and most dependable dogs.
And, last of all, the dog which we usually call a German police dog is, in reality, a shepherd dog. His early ancestors guarded the flocks of the Bronze Age man, and his later ones, the flocks of the peasants of Europe. Cockrell
Doggie Youtube: Very cute and encourages reading.
Doggie Youtube: Very cute and encourages reading.
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