MAN’S FRIEND

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 61, 11 December 1946, Page 3

MAN’S FRIEND

DOGS AND THEIR MASTERS DIVERSE TRAITS Everybody recognises the bull dog as a British symbol. His appearance has earned him his title. He stands in an uncompromising*, attitude, four square to the world. His massive frame equals relatively the dreadnoughts of the navy which for so long kept England mistress of the seas. But the bull dog is not the fierce chap he looks. Long ago he was bred for the English “sport” of bull-baiting, and even now, after generations of inactivity iii this respect, a bull dog, when he attacks at all, which is seldom, will pick on cattle or horses. His receding nostrils were bred into him, so that, hanging on by his teeth and powerful, upturned jaw ,to the chin of a bull, he, could breathe, and swing there until he threw the animal. Tenacious, the “Bully” is called; he never lets go. The formation of the jaw means he cannot let go until the part he is gripping comes away. Not as tough as he looks, the bull dog is dependable with children and all other humans, but he keeps everyone' respectful by his appearance alone.

MacTavish is the dog of Scotland, and dour is the expression of his be-whiskered face. The “Die Hard” is his nick-name, and it fits him. He takes a lot of knowing, the “Scottie.” Stubborn, if he does not like where one wants him to go, he will dig in his toes and defy one. Watch him in the show ring. No Scottish Terrier ever seems to like showing himself off. He will come into the ring displaying the whites of his eyes, making himself look as unobtrusive as possible, and glad to turn his back on it all. But what a pal a “Scottie” can be. He will find his own master in a household, and it is not always the hand that feeds him that he wants to lick. Scotland has a worthy representative in this chap.

Ginger Mick, the Irish Terrier, has for his other name ‘the daredevil” and he well answers to it. His harsh red jacket, his disposition to always look for trouble, his fearlessness in combat, and withal his beguilling ways, make him all an Irishman. Some prefer the big shaggy Irish wolf hounds, as the national dog of Ireland, and the old prints'' depict this largest of all breeds in the ancient halls of Tara Palace of the old Irish kings. It was the wolf hound which ran in packs to keep down the hungry ferocious wolves which were a menace to the land of Erin. The Irish wolf hound is a natural hunter; it never tires, gallops easily, and can jump without effort, i

American people are very dogminded, and their dollars have brought famous dogs from all countries to found big kennels, but not yet has there been produced any breed of dog which is distinctly American. The Boston Terrier is perhaps the only dog in the world which bears an American name. The origin of the Boston terrier is British, and its ancestors were a cross between the English bull dog and the brindle bull terrier, imported into the United States in the seventies of the nineteenth century. The Boston terrier is a sporting breed, and a terror to all rodents. He is an ideal man’s companion, and is known in America as a “black satin gentleman.” Soviet Russia has not yet produced any breed of dog to take the place of the national breed, thte Boizoi or Russian wolfhound, the favourite of the Czars.

The Borzoi is the most graceful of any breed of dog. Its streamlined contours and fine bones, with its aristocratic bearing, and lovely, almost all white silky coat, made it fitting to be kept, as it was in the early days of history only in the imperial kennels. Its full control was with the royal family and the grand dukes of the court. Wolf coursing was then the national sport, and the incredible swiftness of the Borzoi, and its daring and courage in hunting, and killing the fierce Russian wolves, became proverbial. v