Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-11-26
DOGS PRONE TO MADNESS.
Are Some Breeds More Subject 10 the
Malady Than Others?

ahaAAh. Ahhu oAhftss
Harrison Wcir. the English artist
and illustrator, renowned as a student
of natural history. writes to The Lon
don Standard on the subject Of hydro
phobia as follows: 4 short time since
letters appeared in The Standard re-
lating to the muzzling of dogs, etc.
One from a vegetarian stated hat If
dogs were fed on vegetables there
would be no madness. was too busy
at the time 10 reply TO this assertion.
but GOV do SO. | had a collie dog
that 10 my knowledge was never fed
on other food than biscuits in the win.
ter and oatmeal ana vegetables in the
summer. yet Tor all this the dog went
mad-nor vas Il bitten. as no wound
could be discovered on il. Again. how
will the vegetarian reconcile his the.
ory with tie feet ~ the deer in Rich
mond Nala going madl Surely these
never lasted meat.
AZ lu. / q aungt think for one mo.
mem Int tao.r who Keep entirely
useless dogs Ought To object 10 tie
other portion ui The community en-
dcay0rl.g Ns much as pa IDLE o. pro.
bect thclH"l"cs from oir.,Il, painful,
horrible death. What a man keeps
for his p. H.uu ought not 10 be u the
detrimunt NJ others. / know of moth.
ing SO wCITviDg to TIE Suffering. tired
and slgcplus, us the continued barking
Of the doc, butaAd totlis the a.soc con.
tnual tDlT u. madness. Hul d. II too
much b. ,aaI such DOE .huull be
prevented IIgW doing bodily harm
either ~ iiH human or BruIe creation!
But tLl. not The reason of nay
writing though IL leads to il. For
many years / huvc thought il would
be well If tlc brrr'iuf every dog show
ing particular and sudden i]grocity Or
madness could he reported, aud thusit
might be observed whether ans one
breed was mora prone 10 the outburst
than another For a very long timeI
have cndcavurpl rs much as / could to
find out whether there existed any diff
ference in this respect, and, MS far as
can ascertain, in AL truthfulncss ! am
bound 10 say that | believe there are
more rctricvers on the list than any
other breed-cight or nine 10 one.
Very few fox terriers, two or three
pointers, two spanicls, no grcyhounds
1or d%achshunds. no pOodles, but the
number Of retricvers have been extra,
ordinary and continuous.
Only a short time since in conversa-
ton with a friend who kept n retriever,
| said VI would not keep one if | were
paid $500 year" why, said he,
you would find he is the most de.
lightful dog etc. | saw my friend
the other day, when he told me the
dog had suddenly bitten several chill.
drn and had TO be destroyed, and lac
then mentioned other cases. When
l last wrote on this question | called
attention Ia the retriever, and | re-
ceived a number of letters, all stating
cases within the writer's knowledge of
the peculiar unreliability Of the breed.
i may add, although am very fond
of dogs, nothing would induce me 10
have or keep a black retriever.
What | wish 10 ask through your
columns is this, that in some way or
other a report should be furnished
either by the police or others, making
known in cases Of madness or at in.
quests the breed or breeds Of such dogs
for the purposes Of science and for
noting whether il is really undesirable
that such and such breeds should be
kept al all am told hat the Pome-
ranian is an unreliable dog, and in
some countries is not allowed, but of
this ] am not acquainted. But / thLlk
IL is time that some method should be
adopted 10 learn the statistics Of mad.
ness in the breeds Of dogs, 80 that
some measures should be taken 10 pre-
vent the fearful consequences Of by.
drophobia beyond that Of simply muz- !
xlinq,