Dogs in Harness.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVI, Issue X, 9 March 1901, Page 475

Dogs in Harness.

Tbe dog is an animal which, unlike some others, has seldom been com|wiled to work. Ft is true that it has bet ii used to help the shepherd and the herdsman, and to guard the household. but that is light labour. Tile hauling of. sledges over the ice in Arctic regions is work for which dogs have shown much fitness, and in Belgium particularly their usefulness in another direction has long been

proved. In many of the old-world cities of Holland and Belgium dogs are employed in greater number than horses.

Early in the morning, women with brightly painted carts drawn by sleek and well-fed dogs, hurry to the market to sell their wares. The gardener, the butcher, the baker, the grocer—all engage the services of the dog. Its step is so much quicker than that of the horse that it can in an hour go twice the distance covered by the latter, and draw a heavier load in proportion to its size. The dogs are driven in their waggons single, double, and sometimes three and four abreast. There are markets where they are bought and sold, and a well-built and well-broken dog will sell for as much as four or five pounds.