Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1873-01-11
The Consciousness of Dogs.

A dog feels anger precisely as we do,
and after provocation is sometimes vim
dictive and sometimes placable, accord
lng to his individual character. He is
susceptible of hatred of the Oitterest
kind. Heiss so excruciatingly jealous that
his life becomes burden in the pres
ence of favored rival. His envy con-
tinually leads him to eat what he does
not want, lest another animal should
take it, and to illustrate the fable of
the dog in the manger. Gluttony holds
out to him temptations under which
even his honesty sometimes succumb3,
but, on the other hand, from drunken
ness lie is molly emanc pated. A dog
mentioned by the Rev. Thomas Jetter-
son ("Dlr DImb Companions"), having
been once made 30 drunk with malt
qunr that lie was unable to walk up
stairs, ever after d, clined to taste of the
pernicious beverage, and growled and
sn rled at the sight of a pewter pot.
Again, Us to love, Don Juan was cold
and unenterprising character compared
to q dog; and as to the maternal afiec
ton, the mother dog feels it with heroic
passion, starving herself to death rather
than torsake her offspring. Gratitude
may be almost said to be dogs leading
principle, supplying first the spring of
allegiance to his master, and ever after
reconcilng hm with true magnanimity
to take evil from the hand from which
he has accepted good. Regret and
grief he feels 80 deeply that they often
which dogs exhibit with singular vara,
4 Il 4 4 4. l..
very timorous, and Others perfect mod
e's of courage, the latter characteristics
and fortitude seeming TO be more char.
acteristlcally canine. A greyhound
has been known, after breaking his
| thigh, to run on till the course was con
Guided. AS to hope, no one can observe
the dog watching for his masters step,
as in Landseer's picture of "Expecta,
tion," without admitting that he knows
the sentiment as we'll as we. Pride in
| a successful chase may be witnessed in
every dog, and even in the quickened
| heart beats Of greyhound when ca
ressed and praised. That dogs have
peso lal vanity appears from the fact
tnat they are so manifestly detected and
| demon 4lizad when dirty and ragged by
long exposure, and recover their self
respect Immediately on being washed
! and combed. Chivalry and magnanimity
may nearly always be calculated upon
in dogs, and wife beating is an offense
| to which the four footed beasts never
descend. The stories are endless of
| big dogs generously overlooking the in
suits of small ours, or taking them
into water and giving them a good
ducklng as a punishment for their i'm.
pertinence, and then helping them
mercifuily back to LIANT. Sense of prop.
erty, bifurcating into both covetousness
and avarice, is common to all dogs.
The kennel, rug, collar, water basin, or
bone once devoted to his use, no dog
can Sc, transferred to another without
Indignation. Frequently he "covets his
neighbours house, and attempts to en-
sconce himself in it sufreptitously, and
almost universally he covets his neigh.
boris bone, AMI pur, oins it, if he dare.
Even from ayarice he cannot be wholly
exonerated, observing his propensity to
bury his treasures. Shame, after trans
crossing any of the arbitrary rules i'm.
posed on him, a dog displays with ludi-
crous simplicity; but of the deeper
stloC vi Niol'tlt't lhOttotJ W III Hu'
man beings accompanies the commits.
sion of sin, the dog evidently knows
moth ing whatever. llumor, so far as it
can proceed without language, the dog
catches readily from humorous master,
and also the enjoyment of such games
a. he can understand. AS a baby crows
with Gee at "bo,peep," so dog barks
with delight at "go-fetch." Make be-
lieve runs I'd false starts, romps and
tickling; throwing a ball for him to
C ,tch on the grass, or stick to fish out
of lake, all supply him with pleasure
analogous in their nature to that which
men and boys find in blnd-mans buff
and prisoners base, lordly cricket, and
lady-like croquet. Lastly, faith in a
beloved sup rlor is perhaps the most
beautiful and affecting of all the attrib-
utes Of dog. Quarterly Re0iem.