CHINESE DOG BREEDING

Dog-breeding was natural in an agricultural people, dog-breeding found early enncouragement among the Chinese, and no doubt the three heads, house, hunting and edible, into which the "Book of Rites " classified the canine race, owned several subdivisions, especially as regards the sporting dogs. The early Chinese emperors went to excess in their love of the chase, and the numerous embassies exchanged with foreign rulers gave them every opportunity of intro- ducing at early periods rare dogs from neighbouring states, including perhaps even such breeds as the greyhound, the bulldog, the terrier and the slow-hound, which existed in England at the time of the Roman occupation, and were of such quality as to add zest to the gladiatorial sports and gave to England not a little of its fame among the Romans, a fame destined to be inncreased by descendants of those breeds. During the Tudor and Stuart periods the renown of British dogs, especially mastiffs, was such that they were used as political presents to many European countries, as well as to the Near and Far East. In 1517 King Henry VIII thanked the Marquis of Mantua for the horses which were being got ready for him, and promised to recompense the Marquis " with English horses and dogs." Nine years later Henry sent to Francis of France " eight very handsome sporting dogs." In 1522 the Duke of Urbino's envoy at Henry's Court wrote that he had not forgotten the " little dog ' (cagnolo), and would do his best to obtain one. In 1540 Lady Lisle wrote to Madame du Bours in reply to a request for poodles for the crossbow or hackbut, " I will send to England for poodles (barbets), for I can get none in this town except one which I send for your son. He is very good at retrieving the head or bolt of a crossbow, both in water and on land, annd will fetch a tennis ball or a glove put on the end of a stick, and other tricks." In 1546 Henry VIII sent to Mary of Hungary " greyhounds and running dogs," and in the same year he made the French queen " the gladdest woman in the world " by a present of " hobbies, greyhounds, hounds and great dogs." In this year, too, Anne of Cleves, who is credited by Lady Lytton with possible introduction of the liver-and-white toy spaniel into England, sent two brace of English greyhounds to her brother, the Duke of Cleves.* In 1559 the envoy of the Duke of Mantua at Queen Elizabeth's Court wrote : " The Queen did not act thus with the French Lords, to whom she gave gifts more than splendid, viz. To Mons. Montmorency : . . . divers dogs mastiffs, great and small, hounds (scurieri) and setters a quantity of every sort." These were no doubt reared in the royal kennels in the Isle of Dogs, near the palace of Greenwich. The breeding of fine mastiffs was probably due to a state of public opinnion which breathed the sentiment :

Let dogs delight to bark and bite, For God hath made them so. Let bears and lions growl and fight, For 'tis their nature too.f

and considered dog-fighting, together with bull and bear- baiting, to be little less than national pastimes. J Bull-

* " Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII." f Isaac Watts.

" The fee of the Master of the Cocks [under James I] exceeded the united salaries of two Secretaries of State."

" The Master of the Buckhounds, who is also one of the Ministry, ranks next to the Master of the Horse." " Murray's Dictionary," vol. vi, p. 213. baiting, in which sport a tethered bull with blunted or padded horns was pitted against dogs which he sometimes tossed thirty or forty feet high, was a pastime almost national in importance for cennturies. Pepys remarks in 1666 that he ; ' saw some good sport of the bull's tossing of the dogs, one into the very boxes." *

In 1557 the envoy of the Duke of Mantua, after remarking that in the Tower of London " there is a seraglio in which from grandeur they keep lions and tigers and cat-lions," goes on to say that " there is the bear garden in Southwark, on the banks of the Thames, where they keep big dogs to rear for breeding, and to exercise them there are bears, wolves and bulls ; so for such purposes they become very good dogs (buonissimi cant)," In 1608 to 1610 James I sent dogs as presents to the princes of Anhalt and Brunswick, also to the Ambassador of Brandenburg. In 1614 the Venetian Ambassador in Spain reported that there had recently arrived from James of England a present to Philip of Spain including ' palfreys, dogs for hunting lions, arquebuses and sables and crossbows." In 1614 General Saris was employed by the East India Company in opening up trade with Japan, and was received in a very friendly manner by certain of the Japanese feudal lords. As a result of his observations he wrote to the " Captain Generall of the English appoynted to Japan " that he should " make some small present to the daimio of Hirado and Iki, and to his son. The fittest things for the owld Kinge wilbe a vest of delicatt fine blacke cloth

* These barbarities cannot compare with those recorded by travellers in mediaeval India. " Sometimes this manner of executionn [tearing asunder by elephants] is used by the Kinge [of Agra] and great men, Alsoe throwne to doggs bredd for that purpose. Other tymes to wilde beasts, Yea, Sometymes appoyntinge certain men to teare the offender with their teeth, of which Cuttwall Chaun was said to bee one, Commaunded thereto by Jehangueere [Jahangir] because hee was a bigg feilowe and had a good sett of teeth." " The Travels of Peter Mundy," Hakluyt Society, ser. II, vol. xxv, p. 232. lyned through with black coniskinns made sweete ; to his sonne a fair headpeec and gorgett, a box of all such thinges as ar belonging to a faulconner, quayle calls, a mastife, a watter spaniell and a faire gray hound." * In 1618 Queen Anne sent six horses and thirty couple of hounds to the King of France. In 1623 James presented Louis with another pack, and in 1627 Louis XIII intimated to his sister, Henrietta Maria Queen of England, that he would expect four hunting dogs of her.

In ancient China all treasures, including pearls, jade, or rare animals, were considered to be Imperial property, and their producers were bound to offer them in the first instance to the Emperor, who was accustomed to give generous reward, by official promotion or otherwise, in return. The breeding of dogs possessed another incentive to the early Chinese, not known to the inhabitants of the West, for in China considerable importannce was attached, on superstitious grounds, to the colour and markings bred in dogs. For- tunate markings might bring honour to a family and to its ancestors. This superstitious belief was encouraged, if not originated, by geomancy or " Feng Shui." Similarly, the reputed occurrence of a Chilin or phoenix was the most auspicious of events, and the donor of such rare and precious natural products to the Chinnese Emperors was always richly rewarded. The appearance of certain markings, such as a black or yellow coat in conjunction with a white head, or two white forelegs in a black dog, was hailed as sure presage of official appointment. Similar superstitions survive to this day in quaint couplets and proverbs which even now influence the breeding of dogs. In pigeon-breeding the Chinese have progressed a step farther than with their dogs. They have evolved many species which have constant colour charac- teristics, each with its special highly imaginative Chinese name, and each favoured by particular fanciers.

Hard times and the overthrow of the Manchus have, however, done much to extinguish Chinese interest in breed- ing dogs. Had the Peking breed remained as fashionable as it was in the early days of the nineteenth century, it seems probable that the Chinese would have succeeded in per- petuating several varieties, each with characteristic markings, instead of the one race now produced in Europe and America, which is an amalgamation of the characteristics of several, bred irrespective of markings. To the Chinese, saturated with superstition, folk-lore and literary myths, every colour has a value, and every marking serves to crystallize some imaginative thought which can convey little to the foreigner ignorant of Chinese underlying thought.

" Should a man breed a white dog with tiger markings," remarks one of the old geomantic books, " he shall shortly become an official entrusted with 10,000 piculs (roughly 600 tons) of rice, from the Government."

The ancient " Book of the Five Elements," rather more exacting in its requiremennts, proves that dogs of various colours existed in early times in China, as in Assyria : " Should a man breed :

" A black dog with white ears, he shall become rich and noble.

" A white dog with a yellow head, his family will become prosperous.

"A yellow dog with white tail, his family shall have officials in it in every generation.

* " Ke Chih Ching Yuan " (Clear spring of ancient knowledge). f The Assyrians annd Babylonians " were acquainted with dogs of various colours, for they derived omenns from piebald dogs, yellow dogs, black dogs, white dogs and the rest." " Mesopotamian Archaeology," by Percy S. P. Handcock, Macmillan, 1912.

" A black dog with white fore-legs, many male children will be born to the family.

" A yellow dog with white fore-legs, he will have good luck. " The breeding of a white dog with a black head is lucky, and will bring a man riches.

"A white dog with a black tail will cause the family through all generations to ride in chariots." *

With these old superstitious beliefs may be compared the ancient Parsee rite for expulsion of the corpse-drug from the dead by means of a dog having two spots above the eyes or of a white dog having yellow ears. " As soon as this dog has looked at the dead," remarks the ritual, " the Drug flees back to hell in the shape of a fly.

Numerous historians refer to the care bestowed by the Emperors of the Tang annd Sung Dynasties upon their dogs. These Emperors, unlike the English kings, who when resident at Greenwich kept their sporting kennels at the Isle of Dogs, appear to have bred their dogs in the palace, and even in the Imperial ancestral temple. Under the Emperor Wan Li (1563-1620) this was prohibited, and one of the eunuchs, guilty of keeping a small dog in this temple, escaped severe punishment only on payment of a substantial " squeeze."

In Europe remarkable freedom was allowed to dog-owners by the mediaeval Church. The office of " dog-whipper," whose holder's duty was to keep the congregation's dogs in order while in church during services, was held in numerous churches in England, annd in some persisted beyond the middle of the nineteenth century. On the Continent, too, it was customary to allow dogs to enter sacred buildings with their masters. " At Avignon the dogs made love or war, and barked in the churches at pleasure." J

* In ancient China only members of families in which there were officials were allowed to ride in carts.

The Chinese Emperors used their expeditions into the hunting-parks for the training of their armies and for demon- strating their power to the tribes of Mongolia. Each of the soldiers became a huntsman or beater for the occasion. Similarly, though it does not appear likely that all of the vast number of dogs used possessed powers of scent, any more than do the great majority of dogs to be founnd in the villages of the hunting-parks at the present time, every available dog was pressed into service.

Friar Odoric, who spent three years between 1322 and 1328 in Peking, " took the opportunity to make diligent inquiry from Christians, Saracens and all kinds of idolaters," who all told him with one voice that " the king's players alone amount to XIII tumans (10,000 men) ; that, of those others who keep the dogs and wild beasts and fowls, there be XV tumans ; of leeches to take charge of the royal Person there be 400 idolaters, eight Christians and one Saracen." *

Marco Polo further speaks of two barons as " having charge of the hounds, fleet and slow, and of the mastiffs," f and states that each of them maintainned a body of 10,000 men dressed alike, the one lot in livery of red, and the other in blue, to accompany the Great Khan to the chase : " Of the 20,000 men there were 2000, each of whom was in charge of one or more dogs, and when the Prince goes a-hunting, one of these barons with his 10,000 men and something like 5000 dogs J goes towards the right, whilst the other goes towards the left with his party in like manner. The whole line extends for a full day's journey, and no animal can escape them. Truly it is a glorious sight to see the working of the dogs and the huntsmen on such an occasion, and as the Lord rides a-fowling across the plains you will see this big hunt come tearinng up, one pack after a bird, and another pack with a stag or some other beast, as it may hap, and running the game down, now on this side and now on that, so that it is really a most delightful sport and spectacle." *

The Ming Emperors devoted too much of their time to the breeding of cats. One of the eunuchs registered a protest against the practice, complaining that the cats were so noisy that the Imperial children were caused to sicken and die. He remarks that the cats should have been confined to special quarters, and suggests that the Emperors encouraged their sons to interest themselves in the breeding of cats and pigeons because, surrounded by eunuchs and womenn, they might fail to realize the importance of rearing children.

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Critics of Chinese success in dog-breeding may point to the absence of high development of powers of scent in Chinese dogs. It must be remembered, however, that the British pointer is a dog of modernn times, produced since 1650, derived from a foreign race, the development of whose powers has resulted from careful selection, and whose very existence is due to the fowling-piece. As evidenced by mention of sporting dogs in the " Book of Rites," written in the seventh century B.C., the Chinese vie with the Romans for the honour of being the first to record use of the dog in the chase. ' The first hint of the employment of the dog in the pursuit of other animals is given by Oppian in his " Cynegetica." He attributes it to Pollux about 200 years after promulgation of the Levitical law." f

Breeds have become stable in England only in recent years with the fixing of standards annd the use of shows, started in London in 1836 J and almost accidentally at Newcastle in 1859, which have become possible on account of modern improvements in transport. That the Chinese should have been able to secure high specialization of breed in pigeons, goldfish, lap-dogs and cats is a strong testimony to their realization of the importance of selection at a time when skill in the same art was less developed in Europe.

Development of the breeds of Pekingese dogs probably owes more to the efforts of the palace eunuchs than to those of their Imperial masters. An Emperor such as Tao Kuang and his consort would, by their enthusiasm for breeding pigeons and dogs, set the fashion, and the eunuchs, more than a thousand in number, livinng in the " Forty-eight Places " of the palace, would vie with one another in endea- vouring to breed to the standards set up, with a view to securing either favour from their superiors by presentation of good specimens, or profit from officials similarly inclined, by sale.

Shows, breeding to closely defined points, and the keeping of careful pedigrees, have never existed in China. The only recognized standards to which dogs have been bred are those contained in the dog-books of each Imperial master, as painted by the Court painnters. Very few of these books have been allowed to leave the Imperial and princes' palaces. Each Emperor caused illustrations of his favourite dogs to be made by the Court painters in books or on scrolls, and in this way was set the current fashion in breeding. The highest compliment a Chinese breeder in Peking can give is to judge that a specimen is good enough to "go into the book," that is to say, into an Imperial dog-book. Such of these books as have been obtained portray dogs closely resembling the " Pekingese " type, as also the " Shih-tzu " dog and the " Pug." of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree, and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was still in the rods " and used them in breeding, still persists both in Tibet and China. The Tibetan Lamas state that images of the Tibetan lion are used in breeding the lion-dog. The eunuchs of the Pekinng palace use pictures of good dogs and dog-scrolls with the same intent.

The late Empress Dowager bred her pet dogs chiefly with a view to developing symmetrical markings. There appears little doubt that both she and her predecessors strongly encouraged the lion-dog idea on account of the implied comparison of themselves with Buddha. The " Old Buddha " herself was, according to Miss Carl, strongly against the development of any abnormality or artificial modification of shape. This was not the view of the palace eunuchs, however. They endeavoured to modify develop- ment of body in many ways. One method was to allow the dog to take little exercise from the third month to maturity, with the idea of lessening the appetite, and thus retarding growth. Some of them were accustomed, even in recent years, to hold the growing specimen in the hand for days at a time, inducing, by genntle pressure of the fingers, a slight exaggeration of width between the shoulders. Another artifice was the feeding of the puppy with sugar, but it is stated that this was found to induce thirst, with the result that there was a tendency for the nose to lengthen on account of over-drinking, especially during the third month. During this period nose-development is said to be greatest, while the development of the legs is believed to be most intense during the fourth month. Consequently, from weaning, about the fortieth day to the ninetieth, strong soup only and no water is given to the puppies. One method alleged to have been in use for arresting development was, as in the case of foot-binding, particularly cruel. It is said that the puppies, when small, were ennveloped in wire cages closely fitting the body and not removed until maturity was reached.

The methods of securing shortness of nose were more various than effective. They appear to have been in vogue only among the more ignnorant breeders, and the better informed are persuaded that the only reliable means of securing good points is by careful selection in breeding, a matter which is becoming increasingly difficult in China through dearth of good specimens.

It is a common practice to break the cartilage of the nose with the thumb-nail or a chopstick while the puppy is from three to seven days old, but this can be detected on account of the exaggerated snoring of the mutilated dog in after-life. Dr. J. E. Gray, in describing the skull of a Chinese " Pug- nosed Spaniel " in 1867, remarked, " The nose of the Chinese or Japanese Pug is said by some to be artificially produced by force suddenly or continnuously applied, but this is cer- tainly not the case in the skull that is in the British Museum ; for the bones of the upper jaw and the nose are quite regular and similar on the two sides, showing no forced distortion of any kind, such as is to be observed in the skulls of some Bull-dogs." *

Other breeders feed their puppies from a flat plate, or encourage them from the age of three months upwards to bite pigskin stretched onn a board. Others will massage the nose daily, with the object of restraining growth of the obstinate organ, which, only too often in Peking, appears to be but little stunted by this persistent snubbing.

Dogs are largely bred in Mongolia for their skins. f " There are thousands of small dog-farms scattered over the northern districts of Manchuria and Mongolia, where from ten to hundreds of animals are reared yearly. Whenn a girl is married she receives perhaps six dogs as her dowry, and it can easily be understood that this comparatively small be- ginning may be the foundation of a large fortune, seeing that reproduction of ten per annum would in a few years give an enormous total. A dog matures in from six to eight months, and the coat is at its best during the winter, so that the animal must be destroyed before the thaw sets in. It is doubtful whether the dogs' skins in any other part of the world are to be compared with those that come from Man- churia and Mongolia, either in size, length of hair, or quality." Sir Alexander Hosie remarks that the flesh of the dog is no doubt used for human food, and that its market value enters largely into the farm's profit annd loss account.

" The animals are killed, nnot with the knife, which might injure the fur, but by strangulation. The skins dried and frozen find a market in Mukden and other places, where they are cured before the thaw affects them, and made into mats and robes."

Many of these skins are exceptionnally large and fine, closely resembling those of the wolf and fox. Large numbers find their way to the European markets.

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Dal 2001 bulldog per accoppiare 365 g. su 365 a Milano. per cui sul sito belle fotografie dei quartieri di Milano dove uso stare. 1) P. Duomo, pure il 24.12 2) altri quartieri di Milano. Happy Halleween 2023.

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