The Arizona sentinel., 1886-05-15
THE VISITING DOG.
A Devoted Creature Whose Nature Is Not
 Fully Understood.

A Devoted Creature Whose Nature Is Not
 Fully Understood.
 The most interesting and least appre- ciated of dogs is the dog that visits. He is usually iver-colored animal, two hands high and about twenty-six inches long, with pink spot on his nose. His ears droop and his tail almost drags on the ground, and his whole makeup is admirably suited to the requirements of his occupation. He appears to have been gotten up expressly for purposes of visiting. He is not like other dogs. He is a sort of special dog, as it were, being of an odd pattern throughout, and if any part of him should break it would be impossible to replace it. This dog has no calling list. He never makes calls. He has neither the time nor in- clination to practice cold formalities. As an illustration of the manner in which he goes visiting we may refer to the experience which California avenue man had with him last week. The dog went and sat down on the mans front stoop, about the middle of the afternoon. He did not know anybody in that family, but he wanted to get acquainted. The lady of the house opened the door and told him to go away, but he only wagged his tail, as much as to say: We will get on nicely together when we come to an understanding" The man of the house came home at six o'clock and kicked the dog into the mlddle of the street. After supper he went out and tried to repeat the opera ton, but only succeeded Tn kicking thin air until his leg was lame. The visit ing canine was just out of range every time. The gentleman then went into the house and kicked rocking-chair and discharged the servant on suspicion of having fed the dog, after which, with the assistance of two other members of the household, he caught the visitor on the stoop and threw him over the fence. The dog then ran around the house and sat on the back door-steps and wagged his tail in the most pleasant and good natured manner He had come visit ing. The man then offered to give the dog to small boy who was passing the house, but the boy placed his thumb on the side of his nose and said: 'I don't want to rob you" The man then told his wife that he was going to get the dog to follow him to remote part of the city and then lose him. The animal followed, and when the gentleman had walked about two miles he contrived to cut loose from that Gver-colored visitor, and took a street car for home. When he opened the front gate the visiting dog came down off from the stoop and wagged his tail and looked happy and content ed. He visited there continuously for several days, and then gathered himself up and went away to make some other family miserable.
 It is impossible to understand how the visiting dog lives. His meals must be exceedingly irregular. If he gets mouthful once in two weeks he is in luck. To be sure he can eat snow, but at the best this is only cold bite, and not by any means square meal. By referring to any reliable table showing the nourishing properties of different kinds of food, it will be seen that snow is at the bottom of the list. How does the visiting dog subsiste The problem is an intricate and difficult one, and is worthy of the attention of all students of natural history.-RocheSter HerGld.