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About Pet Dogs. Understanding The Dog as a Pet.
Understanding The Dog as a Pet
To really understand our dog we should know some of the reasons for his habits and peculiar powers. The only way to learn these is to study the ways of his nearest wild relatives, which are the wolves, for we are certain that our dogs had wolf like ancestors. Even now there are packs of wild dogs in Australia and India that have wolf-like habits. There is perhaps no more delightful way to become acquainted with wolf habits than to read the First Jungle Book and become familiar with the ways of Mowgli's brothers. Although the Jungle Stories are in part fanciful, the habits and ways of wolves are well portrayed in them. We should also read ThompsonSeton's "Lobo" in Wild Animals I Have Known, and ''Tito" in Lives of the Hunted.
Let us consider for a moment what we find in our dog that he has inherited from his wild ancestors : The ancestral dog ran down his prey, and did not lie in ambush, as did the ancestral cat. To run down such creatures as deer, sheep, goats, and the like, the dog needed to have long and strong legs, and feet well-padded, so they should not be torn by rocks; the toe-nails had to be large and stout, and not to be pulled back, like the cat's, for the dog needs his claws to help keep his footing, especially when turning quickly. The dog's body is naturally long, lean and muscular, just the kind of a body
that a runner needs; and it is covered with coarse protective hair, instead of fine fur, which would be too warm a coat for so active an animal.
The dog has a keen eye, but cannot see in the dark as well as does the cat. Yet the wild ancestors of the dog hunted mostly at night, their wonderful powers of smell rendering the keener sight unneces sary. Our dog is so much superior to us in the ability to smell, that we cannot easily imagine how the v, orld seems to him ; his world is as full of scents as ours is full of objects which we see. The damp, soft skin that covers his nose is moist, and is in the best possible condition to carry the scent to the wide nostrils. The nostrils are situated in the most forward part of the face, and thus may be turned in any direction to receive the impressions which every breath of air brings to them. Hounds often follow the track of a fox several hours after it was made. The dog knows all his friends and enemies by their odor more surely than by their appearance. The dog's hearing is also very acute, and his ear flaps are arranged so that they may be lifted in any direction, to guide the sound to the inner ear. His weapons for battle are his teeth, especially the great tushes, or canines; his molars are especially fitted for cutting meat, but not for chewing; these teeth cut the food into pieces small enough so that he can gulp them down, and the stomach does the rest.
Most dogs bay when following their prey, which at first thought might seem bad policy, since the sound tells the victim where the enemy is; but we must remember that wolves hunt in packs, and the baying keeps the pack together. Dogs often howl at night; this is an ancestral habit to call the pack together; it is interesting to note that the dog when howling lifts his nose in the air so as to send the sound far and wide. The reason that occasionally a dog howls when he hears music, is because it probably reminds him in some way of the howling of the pack, and he at once joins the chorus.
Although we know that our dog descended from a wild animal, we do not know just which ones of the wolf tribe were his ancestors, for the dog was man's domesticated companion long before there were any picture records of man's history. It is believed that the savages of different lands developed their dogs from the native wild species of wolves or dogs in order to use them to help in hunting. The scientists who study the specimens of animals preserved in the rocks, tell us that the dog's brain has increased in quality and size through his association with man.
More than two hundred breeds of dogs have been developed by man, and each one has its own peculi arities, and therefore should have special treatment. All that we can do in this little book is to give general directions which are equally good for all dogs.
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