Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1888-12-05
SOME SMART DOGS.
Facts That Are at Variance with
Traditional Theories.
A Newfoundland Dog That Drowned Out
an Ineipient Fire-H a Cat
Opened the Kitchen Door-The
Question of Animal Reason.

Inc ulSunction between reason and
instinct, says the Pittsburgh Dispatch, is not
clearly perceived by many persons; in fact,
there are but few persons Of ordinary intel
lgence able TO state the difference. The
Duke of Argyll in his Reign of Law
clearly states the distinction, making in
stiuct 10 be the result or effect of
reason. not in the an NAL but in the Creator.
Thus the instructive and truly ingenious
actions of wild bird to preserve its yosng
could only be the result of well-deined
reasoning power; but as the bird is mani
festly devoid of reason in other respects it
is fair TO infer that the power which rea-
soned out Its ingenious actions must be out
side of the bird-that is, In the Creator
Man, standing ut the head of the animal
creation, Pounds his actions on his own rea-
soning powers and is, therefore, generally
regarded as the only reasoning animal
But there are many actions among the lower
order of animals that can not be accounted
for on the theory that they are guided
wholly by instinct, and the study of these
actions compels a belief that some of the
lower order of animals are endowed with
certain but limited power to reason, and to
act in accordance with the result of such
reasoning.
A gentleman OF undoubted veracIty once
told me of the wonderful actions of dog
tud6 OCCuIFCu III Tue lOWu III WHICH NC uVSQs
There was large cigar factory In the town,
in which the proprietor was in the habit of
shutting up at night a large Newfoundland
dog. One night-as investigation afterward
proved-a coal of fire fell from the stove and
set fire to the floor. The dog, seeing the
danger, jumped up on one of the cigar tables,
and from there procured bucket of water
which he carried TO the burning floor and
poured over the fire. This not being sufll-
Gent to drown out the fire, the faithful
watchdog paved out the remaining fire,
and when the proprietor came in the next
morning he found the poor dog lying by the
burnt hole in the floor unable TO walk step
because of his burnt forefeet. 1t was several
weeks before the dog recovered, but in the
meantime he became the talk and admira-
ton of the town. The actions of this dog
clearly showed better reasoning powers
and more presence of mind than is mani
tested by one-half of the human family
under like circumstances, and no theory Of
instinct can be made to account for his ac-
tons.
L was sitting one evening, in company
with number of ladies and gentlemen, in
large room which opened INTO a kitchen
that opened into the garden. The outer
kitchen door was secured with an ordinary
thumb latch, with the handle on the out
side. When the door was unattached it
swung Of its own accord open into the
kitchen. While we were in the midst of
animated conversation suddenly we
heard the outer kitchen door open, and upon
going out to investigate the cause nothing
could be found but the open door, No one
was in or about the kitchen. After closing
the kitchen door we returned to the sitting
room, and while engaged in discussing the
mystery of how the kitchen door was
opened the man of the house came in, and
in few words cleared the matter up. The
house cat was in the habit, when shut out,
or jumping up and thrusting one foreleg
through the handle of the kitchen door
latch while with the other paw it raised, or,
rather, pressed down, the thumb latch, and
when the door swung open he dropped TO
the floor. Here is another instance of In
telligent action quite beyond the range Of
instinct.
Many dogs show plainly by their actions
that they understand language, at least toa
limited extent A gentleman of this town
told me that when a COW was in the far end
OF a large lot at the rear of his house he,
with his back toward the COW, spoke In or
binary low tone of voice TO his dog, and
said: {" think there is a cow in the lot"
The dog understood him at once and ran OF
to find and drive out the cow Any observ-
ing person can readily call TO mind like in
stances Of intelligence shown by dogs, cats,
horses, etc.
Dogs often show in a marked degree Joy,
affection, jealousy, shame, a sense of guilt,
esteem, contempt, Indifference, ETC., so that
one is puzzled sometimes to draw the line Of
distinction between the mind of an ignorant
man and that of an intelligent dog. Dr. Mof-
fat, the African traveller and missionary,
said that bitch that he had with him could
count her pups better than men Of some At
rican tribes could count sticks of tobacco or
sheep.
In the light of these and many other facts
Of a like kind what conclusions are we to
draw concerning the traditional mind of
man and the instinct of lower animals! l
confess that / don't know. The whole
thing Is tumble; our theories are at va
rance with the facts of every day life, and
our thinkers and writers have not paid that
attention TO this subject which it merits
and demands.
Perhaps at some future day a metaphysi-
cal Moses may lead US to see the lower an
imals as they see US, and may be able to
give US theory concerning the mind of the
whole animal creation that will be in har-
mony with the facts now in our possession.
Until that day comes we must be content to
grope in darkness and theorize like our an
cQctnra