The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-01-28
DO DOGS TALK TOGETHER?
A Very Singular Instance of Canine Sagac
ity in Minnesota.

A Very Singular Instance of Canine Sagac-
ity in Minnesota.
In a recent edition of your paper, says a
correspondent of the Kansas City Star, I
read with much interest, "a Bovine Don
is proof to me that the animal kingdom has
a language of its own, or some means of ar
ticulation among themselves, not under
stood by man. 70 more fully illustrate my
candid belief l will relate an instance of
animal sagacity which came to my personal
observation a few years age.
At the Box hotel in Crookston, Mimi.
some six years ago, my attention was more
than once called to two dogs that were al
lowed to loiter about the hotel Office. These
dogs were the greatest of friends; in fact,
so "chu1nmy'' as to call forth admiration
from the various hotel guests. :
One afternoon one of the dogs which had
been basking in the sun OH the floor of the
Office suddenly gave bound and started for
the door. l Immediately stepped to the door
and opened it, and the dog passed out, going
in the direction of the Manitoba depot,
whore l observed some ten or twenty other
dogs holding a pOw-wow. Then l closed
the door and resumed my seat. Immediate
~ L "a "a I IL blC vi
rection in which the dog had gone. Step
ping to the door l observed that a full
tiedged dog fight had begun. Arriving at
the scene of the battle / found that my dog
friend of q few minutes previous was the
under brute in a big fracas. He was howl
ing with pain, while a big Newfoundland
dog stood over him making the fur fly. A
blow on the canine's Uranium from a ball
club in the hands of a small urchin who
stood hard by soon put a stop to the New
foundland's ferocity. The under brute
started for home pell-mell. and when l ar
rived at the hotel l found the Door brute at
the office door bleeding and bruised await
ing ingress. 1 opened the door and passed
into the office, the dog following NE.
Lying OH the floor in close proximity to
the Office stove reposed the sleeping carcass
of my little bested friends companion. He
was a large brute of the mongrel species-a
cross between a bull dog and a mastiff.
The poor, conquered brute, upon entering
the Office proceeded in the direction in which
his dog friend lay stretched upon the floor.
and, going up to him, commenced to smell
him from head to foot. Presently the
sleeping dog rose to a sitting position, and,
gazing at his conquered friend some two or
thres minutes, seemed to take in tine situa-
alton at once-that his dogship had but
lately received a terrible whipping. After
a little more smelling on the part of the
conquered brute, both dogs started toward
the door,. l stepped to the door, opened it,
and the dogs passed out. Both dogs
started in the direction of the depot plat
form, some 400 or 500 feet south of the no.
tel. where they espied several dogs. among
their number being the big Newfoundland.
the object of their vengeance. Going uD to
the big Newfoundland dog, nv little
conquered friend curled NJ his tail and com
menced to g:owl, the big Newfoundland
doing likewise, each dog going round and
round in a circuitous route while thus bar
leying, the big hotel dog in
the meantime standing hard by
watching proceedings. Presently the big
hotel dog gave a spring and landed a good
hold on the jaw of his big opponent. Both
dogs reared in the air, the Newfoundland
coming down the under dog. and the Chew
ing his received in that fracas / suppose he
never forgot, my little conquered friend
nipping the big rascal from behind at eyery
chance presenting itself. To be candid
about it, the hair from the hide of that
poor. martyred Newfoundland actually I'LL
ed the air, and a worse whipped dog never
skunk from the field of battle.
After the fight was over both hotel dogs
returned home, and from their actions after
their arrival there / should Judge they
never allowed the matter to worry them to
any great extent.