Domesticated animals : $b Their relation to man and to his advancement in civilizationShaler, Nathaniel Southgate
History
Domesticated animals : $b Their relation to man and to his advancement in civilization
Shaler, Nathaniel Southgate
Domestic animals
many individuals even of the combative strains of blood the motive of
battle appears to have quite passed away.
[Illustration: Pomeranian or "Spitz"]
In antithesis to the old Ishmaelitic humor of our primitive dogs, man
has developed a singular, sympathetic, and kindly motive in these
creatures. From the point of view of the dog's education we must not
set too much store by his affection for his master. This kind of
devotion of one being to another is displayed elsewhere in the animal
kingdom, though it is more common among birds than among mammals. We
find traces of it in the greater part of our domesticated creatures or
in those which we have individually adopted from the wilderness. It is a
part of the great sympathetic motive, which, originating far down in the
series of animals, increases as they gain in the scale of being, until
it reaches the highest level it has yet attained in spiritually minded
men. The eminent peculiarity in the case of a dog is that the very
centre of his life is formed of the affections, which are evidently the
same as those which rule the days of the most cultivated men. To him
these elements of friendliness are absolutely necessary to a comfortable
existence. If by chance he becomes separated from his master and the
other people with whom he is familiar, his bereavement is intense; but
in most cases, at the end of a day or two, he is compelled to form new
bonds, and he sets about the task in an exceedingly human way. I dwell
in a town where dogs abound and where the frequent coming and going of
the people puts many of the creatures astray. Perhaps as often as once a
week, almost always late in the evening, one of these unhappy lost ones
seeks to make friends with me. His advances toward this end always begin
by his dogging my footsteps at a little distance. If I do not repulse
him he will come nearer until he has made sure of my attention. A
friendly word will bring him to my hand; but his behavior is never
effusive, as it would be if he had found his rightful owner, but mildly
propitiative and with a touch of sadness. There is, it seems to me, no
other feature in the life of the dog which tells so much as to his moral
nature as his conduct under these unhappy circumstances.
[Illustration: Poodles]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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