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Dogs and All about Them
·
Robert Leighton
4
CHAPTER
I
GENERAL
HISTORY
OF
THE
DOG
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
present-day
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.
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