PRESENTED BY

THE DOMESDAY BOOK OF DOGS

Short-legged Indian Dog.

  "It had erect ears and a head large in proportion even when compared with the Eskimo Dog; its body was long and its legs short; its fur was rather shorter and sleeker than that of the other native dogs and its body was studied with small spots of various colours.  There was a good deal of intelligence in its countenance mixed with wildness.  It was extremely active and could leap to a great height.  Carrier Indians used it in the chase.  It was of the size of a large Turnspit Dog, and had somewhat of the same form of body but it had straight legs and its ears gave it different physiognomy."
Richardson, 1831.

Short-legged Indian Dog.  William Brooks Cabot.  C1900.  (From Glover 1920).

Grinnell, 1897, supplies a description of an Amerindian beaver-hunting method. ”Until their intercourse with the white men had taught them the value of the beaver, they did not attempt to trap these animals. At the same time they killed some and had dogs trained to hunt them. When a beaver dam and house were found; it was the practice to break away the dam so as to let out the water, and then to find the hole where the beaver usually went in.  The dogs which were small enough to enter this hole, and yet were pretty good-sized animals, went into the hole, found the beaver, and worried it until it became so angry that it followed the dog out.  As the dog backed away, barking at the beaver, it made short rushes at him,  and finally the dog backed clean out of the hole, and the beaver jumped out after the dog.  Then the man standing there with a club knocked the beaver on the head.”

  With the, albeit scant, information available the short-legged Indian dog seems to bear more than a passing resemblance to the Techichi.

Richardson. Sir John. Fauna Boreali-Americana. 4 vols. 1831 - 1837.

Forest and Stream. The Native American Hunter. 13-11-1897.
George Bird Grinnell.

Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. 1919-20

See Turnspit


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