Canada there is a dog which is peculiar to the country and common there,
and this has "half-webbed feet and is fond of the water." (1/79. Mr.
Greenhow on the Canadian Dog in Loudon's 'Mag. of Nat. Hist.' volume 6 1833
page 511.) English otter-hounds are said to have webbed feet: a friend
examined for me the feet of two, in comparison with the feet of some
harriers and bloodhounds; he found the skin variable in extent in all, but
more developed in the otter-hounds than in the others. (1/80. See Mr. C.O.
Groom-Napier on the webbing of the hind feet of Otterhounds in 'Land and
Water' October 13, 1866 page 270.) As aquatic animals which belong to quite
different orders have webbed feet, there can be no doubt that this
structure would be serviceable to dogs that frequent the water. We may
confidently infer that no man ever selected his water-dogs by the extent to
which the skin was developed between their toes; but what he does, is to
preserve and breed from those individuals which hunt best in the water, or
best retrieve wounded game, and thus he unconsciously selects dogs with
feet slightly better webbed. The effects of use from the frequent
stretching apart of the toes will likewise aid in the result. Man thus
closely imitates Natural Selection. We have an excellent illustration of
this same process in North America, where, according to Sir J. Richardson
(1/81. 'Fauna Boreali-Americana' 1829 page 62.), all the wolves, foxes, and
aboriginal domestic dogs have their feet broader than in the corresponding
species of the Old World, and "well calculated for running on the snow."
Now, in these Arctic regions, the life or death of every animal will often
depend on its success in hunting over the snow when soft; and this will in
part depend on the feet being broad; yet they must not be so broad as to
interfere with the activity of the animal when the ground is sticky, or
with its power of burrowing holes, or with other necessary habits of life.

As changes in domestic breeds which take place so slowly are not to be
noticed at any one period, whether due to the selection of individual