The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-05-12
THE VISITING DOG.
A Devoted Creature Whose Nature Is Not
Fully Understood.

~
Fully Understood.
The most interesting and least appre-
ciated of dogs is the dog that visits. He
lis usually a liver-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 i'll
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 90 away, but he only
wagged his tail, as much as to say:
I'VE 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
middle of the street. After supper he
went out and tried to repeat the opera
ton, but only succeeded IN 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 rockingham
and discharged the servant on suspicion
of,haying 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:
Il don't want to rob you.
The man then told his wife that he was
| going to get the dog to follow him to a
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 liver-colored visitor, and took q
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.
1t is impossible to understand how
the visiting dog lives His meals must
be exceedingly irregular. If he gets a
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 subsist? The problem
is an intricate and difficult one, and is
worthy of the attention of all students
of natural history. Rochester Herald.