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GENERAL HISTORY OF THE DOG
from:There is no incongruity in the idea that in the very earliest period
of man's habitation of this world he made a friend and companion of
some sort of aboriginal representative of our modern dog, and that
in return for its aid in protecting him from wilder animals, and in
guarding his sheep and goats, he gave it a share of his food, a corner
in his dwelling, and grew to trust it and care for it.
Probably the animal was originally little else than an unusually gentle jackal,
or an ailing wolf driven by its companions from the wild marauding
pack to seek shelter in alien surroundings. One can well conceive
the possibility of the partnership beginning in the circumstance of
some helpless whelps being brought home by the early hunters to be
tended and reared by the women and children.
The savage of New Guinea and mid-Africa does not, as a rule, take the trouble
to tame and train an adult wild animal for his own purposes, and
primitive man was surely equally indifferent to the questionable
advantage of harbouring a dangerous guest. But a litter of woolly
whelps introduced into the home as playthings for the children would
grow to regard themselves, and be regarded, as members of the family,
and it would soon be found that the hunting instincts of the maturing
animal were of value to his captors.
The savage master, treading the primeval forests in search of food, would not fail to recognise the
helpfulness of a keener nose and sharper eyes even than his own
unsullied senses, while the dog in his turn would find a better
shelter in association with man than if he were hunting on his own
account. Thus mutual benefit would result in some kind of tacit
agreement of partnership, and through the generations the wild wolf
or jackal would gradually become gentler, more docile, and tractable,
and the dreaded enemy of the flock develop into the trusted guardian
of the fold.
In nearly all parts of the world traces of an indigenous dog family
are found, the only exceptions being the West Indian Islands,
Madagascar, the eastern islands of the Malayan Archipelago, New
Zealand, and the Polynesian Islands, where there is no sign that any
dog, wolf, or fox has existed as a true aboriginal animal. In the
ancient Oriental lands, and generally among the early Mongolians,
the dog remained savage and neglected for centuries, prowling in
packs, gaunt and wolf-like, as it prowls to-day through the streets
and under the walls of every Eastern city. No attempt was made to
allure it into human companionship or to improve it into docility.
It is not until we come to examine the records of the higher
civilisations of Assyria and Egypt that we discover any distinct
varieties of canine form.
Assyrian sculptures depict two such, a Greyhound and a Mastiff, the
latter described in the tablets as "the chained-up, mouth-opening
dog"; that is to say, it was used as a watch-dog; and several
varieties are referred to in the cuneiform inscriptions preserved
in the British Museum. The Egyptian monuments of about 3000 B.C.
present many forms of the domestic dog, and there can be no doubt
that among the ancient Egyptians it was as completely a companion
of man, as much a favourite in the house, and a help in the chase,
as it is among ourselves at present.
In the city of Cynopolis it was reverenced next to the sacred jackal, and on the death of a dog the
members of the household to which he had belonged carefully shaved
their whole bodies, and religiously abstained from using the food,
of whatever kind, which happened to be in the house at the time.
Among the distinct breeds kept in Egypt there was a massive wolf-dog,
a large, heavily-built hound with drooping ears and a pointed head,
at least two varieties of Greyhound used for hunting the gazelle,
and a small breed of terrier or Turnspit, with short, crooked legs.
This last appears to have been regarded as an especial household pet,
for it was admitted into the living rooms and taken as a companion
for walks out of doors. It was furnished with a collar of leaves,
or of leather, or precious metal wrought into the form of leaves,
and when it died it was embalmed. Every town throughout Egypt had
its place of interment for canine mummies.
The dog was not greatly appreciated in Palestine, and in both the
Old and New Testaments it is commonly spoken of with scorn and
contempt as an "unclean beast." Even the familiar reference to the
Sheepdog in the Book of Job--"_But now they that are younger than
I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to set
with the dogs of my flock_"--is not without a suggestion of contempt,
and it is significant that the only biblical allusion to the dog as
a recognised companion of man occurs in the apocryphal Book of Tobit
(v. 16), "_So they went forth both, and the young man's dog with
them_."
The pagan Greeks and Romans had a kindlier feeling for dumb animals
than had the Jews. Their hounds, like their horses, were selected
with discrimination, bred with care, and held in high esteem,
receiving pet names; and the literatures of Greece and Rome contain
many tributes to the courage, obedience, sagacity, and affectionate
fidelity of the dog. The Phoenicians, too, were unquestionably lovers
of the dog, quick to recognise the points of special breeds. In their
colony in Carthage, during the reign of Sardanapalus, they had already
possessed themselves of the Assyrian Mastiff, which they probably
exported to far-off Britain, as they are said to have exported the Water Spaniel to Ireland and to Spain.
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