The Dog by William Youatt

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[Illustration: THE SOUTHERN HOUND.]

THE DOG,

BY WILLIAM YOUATT.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

[Illustration: HEAD OF BLOODHOUND]

EDITED, WITH ADDITIONS,

BY E. J. LEWIS, M.D.

Member of the Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia; of the
Philadelphia Medical Society; of the Parisian Medical Society, &c. &c.

1852.

Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by

LEA AND BLANCHARD,

in the clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the
Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

* * * * *

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

THE SOUTHERN HOUND
HEAD OF BLOODHOUND
ANCIENT SCULPTURE OF GREYHOUNDS
THE THIBET DOG
THE DINGO, OR NEW HOLLAND DOG
THE HARE INDIAN DOG
THE DANISH, OR DALMATIAN DOG
THE GREYHOUND
THE GRECIAN GREYHOUND
BLENHEIMS AND COCKERS
THE WATER SPANIEL
THE POODLE
THE ALPINE SPANIEL, OR BERNARDINE DOG
THE NEWFOUNDLAND DOG
THE ESQUIMAUX DOG
THE ENGLISH SHEEP DOG
THE SCOTCH SHEEP DOG
THE BEAGLE
THE HARRIER
THE FOX HOUND
PLAN OF GOODWOOD KENNEL
THE SETTER
THE POINTER
THE BULL-DOG
THE MASTIFF
THE SCOTCH TERRIER
SKELETON OF THE DOG
DOG'S HEAD CONFINED FOR AN OPERATION
DOG'S EYE PREPARED FOR AN OPERATION
TEETH OF THE DOG AT SEVEN DIFFERENT AGES

* * * * *

PREFACE OF THE EDITOR.

The Editor, having been called upon by the American publishers of the
present volume to see it through the press, and add such matter as he
deemed likely to increase its value to the sportsman and the lover of
dogs in this country, the more readily consented to undertake the task,
as he had previously, during the intervals of leisure left by
professional avocations, paid much attention to the diseases, breeding,
rearing, and peculiarities of the canine race, with a view to the
preparation of a volume on the subject.

His design, however, being in a great measure superseded by the enlarged
and valuable treatise of Mr. Youatt, whose name is a full guarantee as
to the value of whatever he may give to the world, he found that not
much remained to be added. Such points, however, as he thought might be
improved, and such matter as appeared necessary to adapt the volume more
especially to the wants of this country, he has introduced in the course
of its pages. These additions, amounting to about sixty pages, will be
found between brackets, with the initial of the Editor appended. He
trusts they will not detract from the interest of the volume, while he
hopes that its usefulness may be thereby somewhat increased.

With this explanation of his connexion with the work, he leaves it in
the hope that it may prove of value to the sportsman from its immediate
relation to his stirring pursuits; to the general reader, from the large
amount of curious information collected in its pages, which is almost
inaccessible in any other form; and to the medical student, from the
light it sheds on the pathology and diseases of the dog, by which he
will be surprised to learn how many ills that animal shares in common
with the human race.

The editor will be satisfied with his agency in the publication of this
volume, if it should be productive of a more extended love for this
brave, devoted, and sagacious animal, and be the means of improving his
lot of faithful servitude. It is with these views that the editor has
occasionally turned from more immediate engagements to investigate his
character, and seek the means of ameliorating his condition.

PHILADELPHIA, October, 1846.

* * * * *

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Chapter

I. The Early History and Zoological Classification of the Dog

II. The Varieties of the Dog.--First Division

III. The Varieties of the Dog.--Second Division

IV. The Varieties of the Dog.--Third Division

V. The Good Qualities of the Dog;
the Sense of Smell;
Intelligence;
Moral Qualities;
Dog-carts;
Cropping;
Tailing;
Breaking-in;
Dog-pits;
Dog-stealing

VI. Description of the Skeleton.
Diseases of the Nervous System: Fits;
Turnside;
Epilepsy;
Chorea;
Rheumatism and Palsy

VII. Rabies

VIII. The Eye and its Diseases

IX. The Ear and its Diseases

X. Anatomy of the Nose and Mouth;
and Diseases of the Nose and other parts of the Face.
The Sense of Smell;
the Tongue;
the Lips;
the Teeth;
the Larynx;
Bronchocele;
Phlegmonous Tumour

XI. Anatomy and Diseases of the Chest:
the Diaphragm;
the Pericardium;
the Heart;
Pleurisy;
Pneumonia;
Spasmodic Cough

XII. Anatomy of the Gullet,
Stomach, and Intestines:
Tetanus;
Enteritis;
Peritonitis;
Colic;
Calculus in the Intestines;
Intussusception;
Diarrhoea;
Dysentery;
Costiveness;
Dropsy;
the Liver;
Jaundice;
the Spleen and Pancreas;
Inflammation of the Kidney;
Calculus;
Inflammation of the Bladder;
Rupture of the Bladder;
Worms;
Fistula in the Anus

XIII. Bleeding;
Torsion;
Castration;
Parturition;
and some Diseases Connected with the Organs of Generation

XIV. The Distemper

XV. Small-pox;
Mange;
Warts;
Cancer;
Fungus Hæmotodes;
Sore Feet

XVI. Fractures

XVII. Medicines used in the Treatment of the Diseases of the Dog

Appendix. New Laws of Coursing

Index.

* * * * *

THE DOG.

CHAPTER I.

THE EARLY HISTORY AND ZOOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF THE DOG.

The Dog, next to the human being, ranks highest in the scale of
intelligence, and was evidently designed to be the companion and the
friend of man. We exact the services of other animals, and, the task
being performed, we dismiss them to their accustomed food and rest; but
several of the varieties of the dog follow us to our home; they are
connected with many of our pleasures and wants, and guard our sleeping
hours.

The first animal of the domestication of which we have any account, was
the sheep. "Abel was a keeper of sheep." [1] It is difficult to believe
that any long time would pass before the dog--who now, in every country
of the world, is the companion of the shepherd, and the director or
guardian of the sheep--would be enlisted in the service of man.

From the earliest known history he was the protector of the habitation
of the human being. At the feet of the 'lares', those household deities
who were supposed to protect the abodes of men, the figure of a barking
dog was often placed. In every age, and almost in every part of the
globe, he has played a principal part in the labours, the dangers, and
the pleasures of the chase.

In process of time, man began to surround himself with many servants
from among the lower animals, but among them all he had only one
friend--the dog; one animal only whose service was voluntary, and who
was susceptible of disinterested affection and gratitude. In every
country, and in every time, there has existed between man and the dog a
connection different from that which is observed between him and any
other animal. The ox and the sheep submit to our control, but their
affections are principally, if not solely, confined to themselves. They
submit to us, but they can rarely be said to love, or even to recognise
us, except as connected with the supply of their wants.

The horse will share some of our pleasures. He enjoys the chase as much
as does his rider; and, when contending for victory on the course, he
feels the full influence of emulation. Remembering the pleasure he has
experienced with his master, or the daily supply of food from the hand
of the groom, he often exhibits evident tokens of recognition; but that
is founded on a selfish principle--he neighs that he may be fed, and his
affections are easily transferred.

The dog is the only animal that is capable of disinterested affection.
He is the only one that regards the human being as his companion, and
follows him as his friend; the only one that seems to possess a natural
desire to be useful to him, or from a spontaneous impulse attaches
himself to man. We take the bridle from the mouth of the horse, and turn
him free into the pasture, and he testifies his joy in his partially
recovered liberty. We exact from the dog the service that is required of
him, and he still follows us. He solicits to be continued as our
companion and our friend. Many an expressive action tells us how much he
is pleased and thankful. He shares in our abundance, and he is content
with the scantiest and most humble fare. He loves us while living, and
has been known to pine away on the grave of his master.

[It is stated that the favourite lap-dog of Mary, Queen of Scots, that
accompanied her to the scaffold, continued to caress the body after the
head was cut off, and refused to relinquish his post till forcibly
withdrawn, and afterwards died with grief in the course of a day or
two.

The following account is also an authentic instance of the inconsolable
grief displayed by a small cur-dog at the death of his master:--A poor
tailor in the parish of St. Olave, having died, was attended to the
grave by his dog, who had expressed every token of sorrow from the
instant of his master's death, and seemed unwilling to quit the corpse
even for a moment. After the funeral had dispersed, the faithful animal
took his station upon the grave, and was with great difficulty driven by
the sexton from the church ground; on the following day he was again
observed lying on the grave of his master, and was a second time
expelled from the premises. Notwithstanding the harsh treatment received
on several succeeding days by the hands of the sexton, this little
creature would persist in occupying this position, and overcame every
difficulty to gain access to the spot where all he held most dear was
deposited. The minister of the parish, learning the circumstances of the
case, ordered the dog to be carried to his house, where he was confined
and fed for several days, in hopes of weaning him by kind treatment to
forget his sorrow occasioned by the loss of his master. But all his
benevolent efforts were of no utility, as the dog availed himself of the
first opportunity to escape, and immediately repaired to his chosen spot
over the grave.

This worthy clergyman now allowed him to follow the bent of his own
inclinations; and, as a recompense for true friendship and unfeigned
sorrow, had a house built for him over this hallowed spot, and daily
supplied him with food and water for the space of two years, during
which time he never wandered from his post, but, as a faithful guardian,
kept his lonely watch day and night, till death at last put an end to
his sufferings, and laid him by the side of his long-expected
master.--L.]

As an animal of draught the dog is highly useful in some countries. What
would become of the inhabitants of the northern regions, if the dog were
not harnessed to the sledge, and the Laplander, and the Greenlander, and
the Kamtschatkan drawn, and not unfrequently at the rate of nearly a
hundred miles a day, over the snowy wastes? In Newfoundland, the timber,
one of the most important articles of commerce, is drawn to the
water-side by the docile but ill-used dog; and we need only to cross the
British Channel in order to see how useful, and, generally speaking, how
happy a beast of draught the dog can be.

[Large mongrel dogs are very extensively used on the Continent in
pulling small vehicles adapted to various purposes. In fact, most of the
carts and wagons that enter Paris, or are employed in the city, have one
of these animals attached to them by a short strap hanging from the
axle-tree. This arrangement answers the double purpose of keeping off
all intruders in the temporary absence of the master, and, by pushing
himself forward in his collar, materially assists the horse in
propelling a heavy load up-hill, or of carrying one speedily over a
plain surface. It is quite astonishing to see how well broken to this
work these dogs are, and at the same time to witness with what vigour
and perseverance they labour in pushing before them, in that way,
enormous weights.--L.]

Though, in our country, and to its great disgrace, this employment of
the dog has been accompanied by such wanton and shameful cruelty, that
the Legislature--somewhat hastily confounding the abuse of a thing with
its legitimate purpose--forbade the appearance of the dog-cart in the
metropolitan districts, and were inclined to extend this prohibition
through the whole kingdom, it is much to be desired that a kindlier and
better feeling may gradually prevail, and that this animal, humanely
treated, may return to the discharge of the services of which nature has
rendered him capable, and which prove the greatest source of happiness
to him while discharging them to the best of his power.

In another and very important particular,--as the preserver of human
life,--the history of the dog will be most interesting. The writer of
this work has seen a Newfoundland dog who, on five distinct occasions,
preserved the life of a human being; and it is said of the noble
quadruped whose remains constitute one of the most interesting specimens
in the museum of Berne, that forty persons were rescued by him from
impending destruction.

When this friend and servant of man dies, he does not or may not cease
to be useful; for in many countries, and to a far greater extent than is
generally imagined, his skin is useful for gloves, or leggings, or mats,
or hammercloths; and, while even the Romans occasionally fattened him
for the table, and esteemed his flesh a dainty, many thousands of people
in Asia, Africa, and America, now breed him expressly for food.

If the publication of the present work should throw some additional
light on the good qualities of this noble animal; if it should enable us
to derive more advantage from the services that he can render--to train
him more expeditiously and fully for the discharge of those services--to
protect him from the abuses to which he is exposed, and to mitigate or
remove some of the diseases which his connection with man has entailed
upon him; if any of these purposes be accomplished, we shall derive
considerable "useful knowledge" as well as pleasure from the perusal of
the present volume.

Some controversy has arisen with regard to the origin of the dog.
Professor Thomas Bell, to whom we are indebted for a truly valuable
history of the British quadrupeds, traces him to the wolf. He says, and
it is perfectly true, that the osteology of the wolf does not differ
materially from that of the dog more than that of the different kinds of
dogs differs; that the cranium is similar, and they agree in nearly all
the other essential points; that the dog and wolf will readily breed
with each other, and that their progeny, thus obtained, will again
mingle with the dog. [The relative length of the intestines is a strong
distinctive mark both as to the habits and species of animals; those of
a purely carnivorous nature are much shorter than others who resort
entirely to an herbaceous diet, or combine the two modes of sustenance
according to circumstances. The dog and wolf have the intestines of the
same length. (See Sir Everard Home on Comparative Anatomy.)--L.] There
is one circumstance, however, which seems to mark a decided difference
between the two animals; the eye of the dog of every country and species
has a circular pupil, but the position or form of the pupil is oblique
in the wolf. Professor Bell gives an ingenious but not admissible reason
for this. He attributes the forward direction of the eyes in the dog to
the constant habit, "for many successive generations, of looking towards
their master, and obeying his voice:" but no habit of this kind could by
possibility produce any such effect. It should also be remembered that,
in every part of the globe in which the wolf is found this form of the
pupil, and a peculiar setting on of the curve of the tail, and a
singularity in the voice, cannot fail of being observed; to which may be
added, that the dog exists in every latitude and in every climate, while
the habitation of the wolf is confined to certain parts of the globe.

There is also a marked difference in the temper and habits of the two.
The dog is, generally speaking, easily manageable, but nothing will, in
the majority of cases, render the wolf moderately tractable. There are,
however, exceptions to this. The author remembers a bitch wolf at the
Zoological Gardens that would always come to the front bars of her den
to be caressed as soon as any one that she knew approached. She had
puppies while there, and she brought her little ones in her mouth to be
noticed by the spectators; so eager, indeed, was she that they should
share with her in the notice of her friends, that she killed them all in
succession against the bars of her den as she brought them forcibly
forward to be fondled.

M.F. Cuvier gives an account of a young wolf who followed his master
everywhere, and showed a degree of affection and submission scarcely
inferior to the domesticated dog. His master being unavoidably absent,
he was sent to the menagerie, where he pined for his loss, and would
scarcely take any food for a considerable time. At length, however, he
attached himself to his keepers, and appeared to have forgotten his
former associate. At the expiration of eighteen months his master
returned, and, the moment his voice was heard, the wolf recognised him,
and lavished on his old friend the most affectionate caresses. A second
separation followed, which lasted three years, and again the
long-remembered voice was recognised, and replied to with impatient
cries; after which, rushing on his master, he licked his face with every
mark of joy, menacing his keepers, towards whom he had just before been
exhibiting fondness. A third separation occurred, and he became gloomy
and melancholy. He suffered the caresses of none but his keepers, and
towards them he often manifested the original ferocity of his species.

These stories, however, go only a little way to prove that the dog and
the wolf have one common origin. [There are some naturalists that even
go so far as to state that the different varieties of dogs are sprung
from, or compounded of, various animals, as the hyaena, jackal, wolf,
and fox. The philosophic John Hunter commenced a series of experiments
upon this interesting subject, and was forced to acknowledge that "the
dog may be the wolf tamed, and the jackal may probably be the dog
returned to his wild state."

The ancient Cynegetical writers were not only acquainted with the cross
between the wolf and dog, but also boasted the possession of breeds of
animals, supposed to have been derived from a connection with the lion
and tiger. The Hyrcanian dog, although savage and powerful beast, was
rendered much more formidable in battle, or in conflict with other
animals, by his fabled cross with the tiger. In corroboration of this
singular, but not less fabulous belief, Pliny states that the
inhabitants of India take pleasure in having dog bitches lined by the
wild tigers, and to facilitate this union, they are in the habit of
tieing them when in heat out in the woods, so that the male tigers may
visit them. (See L. 8, c. xl.)

There is, however, but little doubt that the wolf and dog are varieties
of the same family, as they can he bred together, and their offspring
continuing the cross thus formed, will produce a race quite distinct
from the original. French writers do not hesitate at all upon this
point, but even assert that it is very difficult to take a she-wolf with
male dogs during the period of oestrum, parceque la veulent saillir et
covrir comme une chienne.

Baudrillart, in the "dictionaire des chasses," further remarks that the
mongrels produced by this connection are very viciously disposed and
inclined to bite.

The period of utero-gestation, and the particular mode of copulation in
the wolf, is the same as that of the canine family, which two
circumstances are certainly very strong presumptive evidences of the
similarity of the species. The dogs used by our northern Indians
resemble very much, in their general appearance, the wolves of that
region, and do not seem very far removed from that race of animals,
notwithstanding they have been in a state of captivity, or
domestication, beyond the traditionary chronicles of this rude people.

Another strong circumstance in favour of the common origin of these two
quadrupeds, is the existence in our own country of the Canis Latrans, or
prairie wolf, who whines and barks in a manner so similar to the smaller
varieties of dogs, that it is almost impossible to distinguish his notes
from those of the terrier.

Major Long remarks that "this animal which does not seem to be known to
naturalists, unless it should prove to be the Mexicanus, is most
probably the original of the domestic dog, so common in the villages of
the Indians of this region, some of the varieties of which still remain
much of the habit and manners of this species." (Vol. i, page 174.)

If further proof be necessary to establish the identity of the dog and
wolf, the circumstances related by Captain Parry in his first voyage of
discovery, ought to be sufficient to convince every mind that the wolf,
even in its wild state, will seek to form an alliance or connection with
one of our domestic dogs.

"About this time it had been remarked that a white setter dog,
belonging to Mr. Beverly, had left the Griper for several nights past
at the same time, and had regularly returned after some hours absence.
As the daylight increased we had frequent opportunities of seeing him
in company with a she-wolf, with whom he kept up an almost daily
intercourse for several weeks, till at length he returned no more to
the ships; having either lost his way by rambling to too great a
distance, or what is more likely, perhaps, been destroyed by the male
wolves. Some time after a large dog of mine, which was also getting
into the habit of occasionally remaining absent for some time,
returned on board a good deal lacerated and covered with blood,
having, no doubt, maintained a severe encounter with a male wolf, whom
we traced to a considerable distance by the tracks on the snow. An old
dog, of the Newfoundland breed, that we had on board the Hecla, was
also in the habit of remaining out with the wolves for a day or two
together, and we frequently watched them keeping company on the most
friendly terms."
(Page 136, 1st voyage.)

[In volume 1st, page 111, of the Menageries, it is stated that Mr.
Wombwell exhibited in October, 1828, two animals from a cross between
the wolf and the domestic dog, which had been bred in that country. They
were confined in the same den with a female setter, and were likely
again to multiply the species. Mr. Daniel remarks that Mr. Brook, famous
for his menagerie, turned a wolf to a Pomeranian bitch at heat; the
congress was immediate, and, as usual between the dog and bitch, ten
puppies were the produce. These animals strongly resembled their sire
both in appearance and disposition, and one of them being let loose at a
deer, instantly caught at the animal's throat and killed it. (See
Daniel's Rural Sports, vol. i, page 14.)--L.]

It may appear singular that in both the Old Testament and the New the
dog was spoken of almost with abhorrence. He ranked among the unclean
beasts. The traffic in him and the price of him were considered as an
abomination, and were forbidden to be offered in the sanctuary in the
discharge of any vow. [2]

One grand object in the institution of the Jewish ritual was to preserve
the Israelites from the idolatry which at that time prevailed among
every other people. 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, [3] and they
were regarded as emblems of the Divine Being. Herodotus, speaking of the
sanctity in which some animals were held by the Egyptians, says that the
people of every family in which a dog died, shaved themselves--their
expression of mourning--and he adds, that "this was a custom existing in
his own time." [4]

The cause of this attachment to and veneration for the dog is, however,
explained in a far more probable and pleasing way than many of the
fables of ancient mythology. The prosperity of Lower Egypt, and almost
the very subsistence of its inhabitants, depended on the annual
overflowing of the Nile; and they looked for it with the utmost anxiety.
Its approach was announced by the appearance of a certain star--SIRIUS.
As soon as that star was seen above the horizon, they hastened to remove
their flocks to the higher ground, and abandoned the lower pastures to
the fertilizing influence of the stream. They hailed it as their guard
and protector; and, associating with its apparent watchfulness the
well-known fidelity of the dog, they called it the "dog-star," and they
worshipped it. It was in far later periods and in other countries that
the appearance of the dog-star was regarded as the signal of
insufferable heat or prevalent disease.