Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1888-10-25
e
A CANINE TiME-PlECE.
The Hours of the Day Told by Remark.
ably Intelligent Dog.

ably Intelligent Dog.
On the banks of St. Mary's river, in
the sequestered Ohio village of the
same name, lives james Litho, the
fortunate owner of remarkable dog.
The animal is named Fritz, because of
the German propensity of its master
He is a beautiful specimen, being a
sort of amalgamation between the Ger
man poodle and water-spaniel species.
The dog has had a varied career,
with the brightness and the blight
common to dog life, but it will suffice
merely to state the. distinguishing
feature of his make-ilp. Fritz's SUI
periority lies in his power to clearly
comprehend the divisions of time in
vogue among civilized nations. He
seems to be first-class time-piece in
disguise, and If any thing an improve
ment on the stem winder.,
When asked for the time Fritz al
ways replies in his peculiar fashion so
correctly that it is quite Incompetent
sible. The hours are designated by
sharp barks; the half-hour by vocal
ism between bark and whine, and
quarter-hour by a pure whine. He
seems to take no notice of any thing
less than the quarter-hour. His head
toward the. east signifies a. M, and
toward the setting sun p. m. 1t will
be seen that the Interpretation is very
simple and the key to this canine clock
is not being continually lost. For fear
that the accusation will be made that
Fritz has been taught this as a trick, it
should be stated that this is not the
case Mr.. Litho and his family are at
a loss to explain just when and how
their favorite acquired his art, but
they are agreed that he is self-made
dog in this respect. His master is
jeweler, and it is but fair to presume
that Fritz's every day surroundings
have been favorable to his natural
bent
Some of the unsophisticated of the
neighborhood explain the freak in u
very ordinary manner. They say the
dog has howled so much at the town
clock when striking, with his head
dropped toward the ground, that he
finally acquired the habit of telling the
hour of the day by looking at his
shadow. The premises, the mode of
reasoning and the conclusion of the
above theory is scarcely of that pro-
found nature which would be ac-
ceptable to the mental philosopher,
and this, together with the fact that
Fritz seems to tell the time correctly
in cloudy weather, will probably pre-
vent the explanation from gaining a
widespread credence.
Perhaps the strangest feat about this
remarkable dog is the application of
his powers in doing an alarm clock
act. Owing to the fact that Mr.. Litho' S
son is in the railway mail service il
has been necessary for him to rise at
all times of the night. So thoroughly
has Fritz conquered this branch of the
business that the convenience of an
alarm clock has long since been dis.
pensed with in the family.
The gong feature of Fritz is also
easily managed A wiring of his tail
just before going to bed informs him
that he is to do the alarm clock opera
tion and the hour is indicated by the
number of twists impaired to his eau
dal appendage. A quick jerk of the
tail backward is the half hour set
Fritz always attempts to awake tn,
one who does the winding process by {
series of barks graduated like those
turned by fire alarm. He seldom
makes mistakes, but when he does it il
generally found that some one has ac
cidentally tinkered with his delicate
machinery. Another useful trait abou
Fritz is his persistence in arousing the
young ladies of the family for break
fast. Pittsburgh Dispatch.