Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-01-01
QUEER DoG.DOIsGs.
illustrative 20 Canine, sag.
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The writer of philosophical treatise on
the consciousness of dogs, in the British
| Quarterly Rerieao gives among others the
| following interesting anecdotes illustrative
of the habits of "Our Poor Relations" :"
The Dowager Lady Stanley of Alderly
some years ago took her skye-terrier with
her in close barouche from GrosVenor
Crescent to London bridge. At London
bridge Lady Stanley embarked 10 steam
er for Gravesend, where she left .Smerock
with her children, and returned to town
Next day the governess wrote to say the
dog had escaped from her charge at Grave
send, and the same night the animal ap-
peared in Grosvenor Crescent, alone, foot
sore and covered with mud. An equally
| remarkable case was that of hound,
which was sent by Charles Cobbe, .Esq,,
from Newbridge, county Dublin, to -Moyn-
atty, county Meath, and thence long after
wares, conveyed to Dublin. The hound
broke loose In Dublin, and the same morn
ing made his way back to his old kennel al
Newbridge, thus completing the third side
of a triangle by road he had never trag-
eled in his life. Mr.. George Jesse
gives a series of similar stories;
butchers dog slipping his chain and run
ming home 120 miles, which he had been
taken by railway; an officers dog returning
$50 miles, also originally traversed by rail,
etc. The only situation in which animals
seem to lose themselves is in the streets Of
2 great city, where the very cleTerest Of
dogs, even, notably, retrievers Gas the keep
ers of the admirable home for lost dogs
will testify, fail to find their way for very
short distances. In the opinion of the wri-.
ter, the theory which best explains the as
ccrtained facts is, that the creatures in ques-
ton have certain sense of the magnetic
currents sufficient to afford them sort of
internal mariners compass, marking the
direction in which they travel. We know
that the magnetic currents affect the needle,
and the hypothesis that they may also
affect living frames, with special organiza-
tions, seems no way incredible; while the
fact that dog, who can find his way for 8
hundred miles in the open country, may
lose it in five hundred yards in a town,
seems to point to the multitude of streets
turning at right angels as the cause of con-
fusion to a sense which simply indicates a
straight direction.
CbiYalry and magIanimity may nearly al
ways be calculated upon in dogs, and wife
beating is an ofiense to which the four-foot-
ed beast never descends. -
Rover was Labrador dog, and much at
taehed to o small dog named zAline. On
one occasion, Aline was missing for several
days, and at last it was discovered that she
had little family Of puppies, which she
had hidden in hole, in bank on Ascot
Heath, and thither for many days Rover
had carried her some Of his dinner. Rover
also fought with another Cog and wounded
him severely, after which he persisted for
long time in bringing his enemy portion
Of his own food until be had recovered.
Another anecdote is equally good:
A large well-fed dog W as observed, on
very rainy day, sitting finder shelter in his
own den in The yard of a country house.,
aud watching 3 strange dog whewas stsIiuA
ing drenched through, In miserable plight.
After thinking about it for some time, the
big dog suddenly spTang up, crossed the
yard, jumped, as he was accustomed, at
the latch OF WOodhouse door till it opened,
and then, leaving the door opened for the
wet do9aO enter, returned to his own abode,
and rolled himself up in the peace of
mems cO1lSciG recti.
Like hisEhuman brother, the dog fre-
quently goes through the somewhat COM
plicated mental process involved in cOnsci-
GUS deception. He pretends to be asleep,
or invents excuses to lag behind n a walk,
or after stealing food, when he hears step
at the door, shrinks tack into his kennel and
lays himself down In an attitude betoken--
iug long unbroken repose. The most di-
xeriing instance of a. beasts hypocrisy of
this kind which we hear is one thus describ
ed by Mrs. SymonGs, of Clifton:
"The dog was poodle puppy called
Bald. One night, after We had ali gone 20
the play, supper having all been ready for
our return, we found the pigeon-pie in this
condition: one pigeon having baen ex-
trscted, and the whole cieverly filed up
with bit of damp inky sponge, which my
father (the late Mr.. North) always kept in
glass on his writing table to wipe his pens
on. Bald looked terribly guilty, and there
was no doubt where the pigeon was gone;
but why he should have thought of conceal
ing bis guilt by filling up the hole, have
not an idea"
Mr.. Froude, in bis awful description OF
the death of Mary Queen Of Scots, tells
us how her little dog was found to have
followed her to the scaffold, hidden under
her flowing robes, and that, when her head
had fallen, the poor creature, In the agony
Of its grief, lay down precisely in Tie sever
ed place ofthe neck: Is it imaginable how
the sympathy of dumb nlourner could be
more forcibly expressed? Another story Of
a lighter sort was recently published in the |
entertaining pages of "AninaM World,"
and illustrates the same sentiment in less
tragic way.
A lady was seriously i'll and confined to
her bedroom, to which her favorIte dog was
rarely granted entrance The servants of |
the lady daily made beef tea for her, and |
threw the meat, after the juice had been |
extracted, to the dog. Apparently the brute |
came to the conclusion that his dear mis- |
tress was being starved, or at all events, that |
his piece of meat would do her good. |
Waiting favorable opportunity, in the eve
ming he stole into her room with the beef |
in his mouth, and when she awoke she |
found 1t deposited as an offering Of affec- |
ton on her pillow. SslaE -
Strangest and most suggestive of all the
anecdotes recorded of dogs are the numer-
Gus histories of their drowning themselves
under conditions which almost compel Us
to class the act as voluntary and conscious
suicide. Not long ago many newspapers
copied mournful story Of q poor dog who
was cruelty discarded IN his old age By his |
master, and after Intellectual efforts to find
shelter in another house, was seen deliber-
ately to stand gazing at the rushing waters
of the Loire, then painfully lift himself on
his crippled limbs, and leap into the
stream. The spectator held out stick to
save him, but the beast gave him look of
despair, turned away his hoad, and foatsd
down without an effort to save himself
fInr rn.rn- H., a., L
"Anecdotes of Dogs" where we are told of
the suicide Of handsome andsvaluable
Newfoundland dog belonging to Mr. Floyd,
a solicitor at Holmfrth. The animal snow
ed low spirits for some days, and then was
seen to throw himself into the water, where
be endeavored to sink by keeping his legs
perfectly still. Being dragged out, he re-
turned time after time to the river, till at
last ne succeeded in keeping his head under
water long enough to extinguish life.