A
very remarkable phenomenon is observed in the case of the Laconian
hound: in other words, he is found to be more vigorous in commerce
with the female after being hard-worked than when allowed to live
idle.
The dog of the Laconian breed lives ten years, and the bitch
twelve. The bitch of other breeds usually lives for fourteen or
fifteen years, but some live to twenty; and for this reason certain
critics consider that Homer did well in representing the dog of
Ulysses as having died in his twentieth year. With the Laconian hound,
owing to the hardships to which the male is put, he is less long-lived
than the female; with other breeds the distinction as to longevity
is not very apparent, though as a general rule the male is the
longer-lived.
The dog sheds no teeth except the so-called 'canines'; these a dog
of either sex sheds when four months old. As they shed these only,
many people are in doubt as to the fact, and some people, owing to
their shedding but two and its being hard to hit upon the time when
they do so, fancy that the animal sheds no teeth at all; others, after
observing the shedding of two, come to the conclusion that the
creature sheds the rest in due turn.
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