ORIGIN OF DOMESTIC Docs. A great amount of discussion has taken place over the question of the origin of domestic dogs—whether they repre sent a separate species, or are time descendants of sonic existing canine species, or are of composite stock. The present diversity is so great that some dogs are no larger than the heads of others; that some are almost totally hairless, while others wear coats of hair longer than is else where known among mammals. and some have narrow skulls with prolonged jaws. while in others the width of the skull is greater than its antero-posterior length, and the jaws hardly pro trude beyond the forehead. Equally remarkable differences separate them temperamentally. The question then arose: Could all these variations be accounted for as the result of domestication and selective breeding acting upon a single spe cies; and, if so. what traces remained to indicate what that species is, or was? It would be un profitable to enter into all the speculations that have been recorded. Some have held that our dogs were only modified descendants of a wolf, the same or essentially similar to the modern common wolf; others, that all dogs are modified jackals. It has been extremely difficult for either school to find characteristics held in common by all varieties of dogs by which to make their comparisons and support their arguments. Time up-eurling of the tail, the drooping of the ears, the presence of 'buttons' of tan over the eyes. and other alleged characteristics are not uni versal, :mud seem comparatively uni m porta nt. Probably the most singular eharacteristie pos sessed by dogs as contrasted with wild canines of every sort is a matter of voice—the hark: but those on the borderland of dogdom. such as the Arctic sledge-dogs and the dingo. do not utter this peculiar sound, and, on the other hand, ding,os. Eskimo dogs, and even wild canines, quickly acquire the habit when assoeiated with tame by imitating them more or less com pletely. See DINGO.
The consensus of modern scientific opinion is that our dogs represent the ration of several strains. during the long ages situp this animal began to associate with wamlering man kind, have been intermixed until only an indefi nite trace of the original wild ancestry can be found : and that this process has continued to the present time. An important element, no doubt. is wolf; an equally important element, jackal. Foxes seem to have had a less part in the mixture. but the former assertion that foxes were unable to cross-breed with dogs is now known to be erroneous; stieh hybrids are uncom mon, hut do exist, and are no less fertile than other canine crosses. such. for instance, as those between domestic dogs and wolves or jackals, which constantly happen on the frontier of civi lization, both by accident and by intention on the part of the owners. But it must be remem
bered that wolves and jackals are of various species and exist in many parts of the and tl at there are various other members of the dog family. such as the .wild dogs' of the I trient. descrila d earlier in this article, the foxes, and the and woke: of South America. :More over, sufficient time has elapsed in all probability since the dome•tie races began for species of a smaller sort to have Iwcome extinct. la chap, largely through man's agency, partly by killing them, and partly by alsorbim• them into his domestic family. The 'peculiarities of certain races, such as the Japanese pugs and the hairless (logs of tropical America. are so great as to he accounted for with difficulty, except upon the !supposition that they are the descendants of extinct species.
All canine animals exhibit, more or less plainly, the qualities which have contributed to make the character and value of the domestic dog what they art. They are courageous, quick witted. and aven-toined to possessing and de ft titling home and property (their captures), and to the exercise of both nose and eyes, whose taeultie: are highly developed. :More important, however. as rendering them susceptible to taming and the offer of human friendship. is their prac tice of hunting in companies and aiding one another, which has developed in them n social disposition lunch in excess of that in any other class of earnivores, and given them a sense of mutual dependence easily transferred to human companions and increased le continual hunian association. Bence the fact that in every part of the world, and from time immemorial. men have been found to own dogs, and the history of the dispersion of his dogs is hound up with the problem of the dispersion of man hiniself. The practice appears as far had: as humanity can he traced. We may not lw sure that Paleolithic man kept dogs as camp-mates. hut 'Neolithic' man. he of tlit• stone village on the hill and of the pile-built dwelling on the lake, certainly possessed and used them as an aid in keeping his flocks and herd:. The oldest monumental remains of the valleys of the Indus. the Euphra tes, and the Nile, show that dogs Wore common among these early peoples and in great diversity. Certain types well known to-day may be recog nized. and will be referred to more in the speeial articles on those breeds. Consult Thf i ari4 tit s of Doffs London. 18115). a is.e upon dogs as they are found depicted in old setplpture:. pictures. engravings. and hunks tt the end of the seventeenth centiiry.