Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-02-20
A REMARKABLE FRIENDSHIP
Existing Between the Famous Trot.
ter Rarus and His Dog
Companion.

No sketch of Rarus would be COM
plete without some mention of his re-
markable friendship for dog, saws a
writer In the Atlantic Monthly. When
the horse was in California q fireman
gave to Splan wiry-haired Scotch ter
rier pup, who was then two months
old and weighed when full grown only
two pounds. Splan in turn gave the
pup to Dave, the groom of Rarus, with
the caution not to let the horse hurt
him, for on several occasions Rarus had
bitten several dogs that ventured into
the stall. But to this terrier, who is de-
scribed as possessing almost human
intelligence" the trotter took great
fancy, which the dog fully returned.
They became fast and inssparable
friends.
''Not only" said Mr.. Splan, "were
they extremely fond of each other, but
they showed their affection plainly as
did ever q man for a woman. We
never took any pains to teach the dog
anything about the horse. Everything
he knew came to him by his own pa
tience. From the time took him to
the stable pup until sold Rarus they
were never separated an hour. We
once left the dog in the stall while we
took the horse to the blacksmith shop,
and when we came back we found he
had made havoc with everything there
was in there trying to get out, while
the horse, during the entire journey,
was uneasy, restless, aud In general
acted as badly as the dog did. Dave
remarked that he thought we had bet
ter keep the horse and dog together
after that. When Rarus went to the
track for exercise or to trot race the
dog would follow Dave around and sit
by the gate at his side watching Rarus
with as much interest as Dave did.
When the horse returned to the stable
after heat and was unchecked, the
dog would walk up and climb up on
his forward legs and kiss him, the horse
always bending his head down to re-
ceive the caress. In the stable, after
work was over, Jim and the horse
would often frolic like two boys. IF
the horse lay down Jim would climb
on his back, and in that way soon
learned to ride him, and whenever /
led Rarus out to show him to the pub
lie Jim invariable knew what it meant,
and 1t enhanched the value of the per-
formance by the manner In which he
would get on the horses back. On
these occasions the horse wasshown the
halter, and Jimmy, who learned TO dis
tinguish these events from those in
which the sulky was used, would fol-
olw Dave and Rarus out on the quar-
ter-stretch, and then, when the halt
was made In front Of the grand stand,
Dave would stnop down and In flash
Jimmy would Jump on his back, run
up to bis shoulder, from there leap on
the horses back, and there he would
stand, his head high in the air and his
tail out stiff behind, barking furiously
at the people,"
When Rarus was sold to Mr.. Bonner,
Splan sent Jimmy with the horse,
slightly judging that il would be cruel
to separate them. But in Mr., Bonner's
stable there was q bull TERROR in charge,
and one day when, for some real or
fAneied afffont, the small dog attacked
the larger one, the latter took Jimmy
| BY the neck and was fast killing him,
but Rarus heard his outcries, and per-
ceiving that his little friend was in
danger and distress, pulled back on the
halter till It broke. rushed out Of his
stall and would have made short work
lof the bull terrier had he not been
restrained BY the grooms.
!