Wichita eagle., 1889-08-28
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Daily eagle
MENTALITY IN DOGS.
INSTINCT SAID TO BE AN lNSUF-
\ FIcIENT EXPLANATION.

There Is a NobIer Quality in Dogs Than
Mere Type-why Did Gypsy and Lion
Always Give Special Projection to Women
and Children ?-Otber Evidences.
Do fanciers ever realize that there Is some
thing in dogs that, in its dim and glimmering
way corresponds to intelligence in man2
Perhaps my term OF mentality may be OBJ
iected to Is too pTetentious, but know Of no
better title for that peculiar faculty shown
IN the pre-eminently useful breeds Of dogs
Instinct hardly goes far enough for that is
quality possessed by 81 animals while none
but dogs commonly show the apparent use Of
a reasoning power, an ability to distinguish
between cases and the course Of action called
for under varying circumstances. For in
stance, cow will sometimes learn how to
pull the peg inserted behind gate TO keep it
shut or to press down pump BANGLE TO draw
water, or horse VIII know his way home
over q road ha las Travelled but once, etc
But al these seem but initiative in their
character To illustrate, l must quote in
Stances in tho breeds I know best, j. G. mas
tiffs and bobtails, and must be forgiven if [
repeat stories that have told il the past.
W A-SAb PAD+-iSttN. ny SSESS kJCAOiS sac VIC
parted for tie Gamma paradise she certainly
earned) OF what now prompts her son Lion
when {. woman or q child goes of the place,
particularly AFTER dark, that they wiz go
along if they csn2 If man goes, they are
somewhat Indifferent, but if prevented from
following woman or child, they would and
will fret in q distracted way. What taught
then that women and children needed q pro-
lection that full grown men didn't2 Why
win Lien allow the ho1senai3 to hammer
tho hired man and only frets and fumes
pushing himself between them, whining and
barking, but if the case is reversed and the
man hammers the women, he jumps on tbs
former, knocks him down il possible, or
catches his arm or leg? The man feeds ham,
looks after him, and IS Tar IS association
goes, the man should be the favored one, yet
he never misses taking the part Of the weak
er party. (0f course, the hammering3 are
az IN sport, serious work IN that Inc would
be very dangerous were any tnastIf around
that / have ever knogla.) What taught
Gypsy, Lion, Boadieea, Bertha, Persephone,
Lees Turk, ETC., that If the house was left
without any OF the family, or only one Of
the women, they mast not 80 out OF it until
adequate protection returned2 Why did the
very cid, crippled Maidstone Nellie bristle
W her back, bare her teeth, growl like a
tiger and advance at q crowd Of roughs
gathered at my gate2 She paid no attention
20 them when they were quiet, but Whan the
air became blue with curses sho took in the
situation at once. When Hector was pass
ing along a public road and saw woman
beating q child with great severity and the
child bowling, what impelled him TO jump
the fence, and without Offering to hurt the
woman, just growl at hsr and push between
her and the victim Of her brutal temper2
Forty or fifty years since, ar. j. W. ThCmp-
sons Juno was lying ii a room and two
tnnps came into the adjoining hail and
walked oil with piece OF meat lying on the
table in the hail; from whence came the i'm
pulse that directed Juno TO follog them and
bring them back to tie housea She didn't
SEQ tie THEFT. Why is il That any mastff
viii bI'istie Up and growl if a crowd assemble
near his owners premises. and stand look
ing, pointing, etc, at it3
What suggested the discrimination Gypsy
made between the glazier she found cutting
at = pane OF glass IL the house and the man
who might pick up something IN the yardi
The former she knocked down, the iaTter sine
obliged to drop what he had taken, and she
evidently recognized that one looked like
burglary and the other was only petty lar
ceny. PersophGne didn't object to a stranger
going 10 tho front door, but when she saw
man 90 Ia the back door she followed and
dragged him out Of the house by the coat
tail Then the bobtail, Bob, drew on his
inner consciousness for the knowledge that
rams should not ba allowed to fight, that
corn thrown dowl to tho chickens was not 10
be taken by the hogs, that a sick animal in
the field must be laid aside by him, and all
iutruders must be kept at a respectful dis
lance, that he'mnst bark like ell possessed if
10 found sheep IN such difficulty as being
fastened by tie UiIld leg in 4 wire fence, that
all strange dogs must lncontinendy be chased
out OF fields where stock were; II no stock
shcgjd happen 10 be in the field, Bob might
hays play with q stranger, but let the latter
cross the fence where the stock were there
would be war unless the Stranger left at once.
Dame judith knows which COWS arc dry and
which want milking sfler once sseipg them;
the cows which arc left n Che harnYari she
knows are not headed, ard GfterIvagd never
brings them, while she does know that these
takeu into the stables are wanted there, and
she win hunt all over a field 10 bring one that
she knows IS wanted, passing by dozen
times tEos5 she -&aowB are not wanted She
also Knows that strange dogs are improper
visitors in fields with stock, but she differs
from Bob In that she viii attack such a tres
paSsar with tbs utmost far0city, while Bob
simply drives them out of the field. Bob
knows That q hens nest found in a tield must
be promptly reporpel By barking until some
body comes for the eggs, bat as the eggs are
not gathered fro2, a turkeys nest, Bob does
not report the latter. Now, not one of the
dogs l have mentioned ever received any
specific training that led it 10 perform the
work have described; the IaostiHs never re-
ccived any training whatever.
The TWO bobtaiis were broken 10 drive
stock, bur newer taught any Of the things
have mentioned To avoid any appearance
OF personal interest, may say that of all the
dogs me1ticGad, only three belonged TO me.
OF couIse, this mentality, or whatever it MY
be called, is 1ot an original characteristic Of
dogs in their natural state. Ii is fair 10 pre-
sumo that the special intelligence shown IL
particular fields CT yyeril Is the result OF train
irs and use in such work Of many generations