The Van Buren press., 1897-09-25
MY FRIEND CARLO.
~ u y
A STORY OF ANIMAL
SAGACITY.


IN dogs have been written of SO vol
uminously. venture to offer an abso-
lutely authentic sketch of one whose
transcendant merits while in life well
deserve such recognition.
To give a detailed account of this
noble creatures extraordinary doings
would fill large volume; therefore
will eonfine myself to recording few
of those which deem the most notable.
Early in the spring of 1888, when ]
was nine years old and living in the
township of Toronto, Canada, my father
bought from the "Six Nations" Indians,
then occupying a reservation on the
river Credit eight miles from our farm,
a dog, whom, in honor of deceased
predecessor, we named Carlo. This ami
NAL was said to be then two years old.
He weighed, perhaps, 60 pounds, and
was not particularly prepossessing in
appearance, being of a mixed reddish
color, with an unusually large head,
dropping ears, tremendously powerful
jaws and tail no more than ten inches
long. That member had never been
dOtHtb, iONNfNAi bot NoH7 III hi~AN.t
tary peculiarly, as WAS amply proven by
the fact that many of Carlos progeny,
which, after awhile, became quite numer-
Gus in our neighborhood, were brought
forth with precisely similar tails-a
very strange, and so far as my obserya-
tion goes, quite unique circumstance.
j have known hundreds of dogs born
with only rudimentary tails, but never,
except in this instance, of any that
came into the world with one apparent
ly cut off in the middle.
At first none of us thought much Of
Carlo; but it was not long before we
discovered his value, and to me he soon
became a constant companion, play
mate, protector and friend. Little by
little, as his good qualities were re-
yealed, we found that his sagacity was
wonderful and his courage and faith
fulness beyond all praise. Not only in
one role did he excel, but as watchdog,
hunter, retriever, cattle driver and
sheep herd he was perfection itself. He
feared no living thing, and would, on
occasion, tackle bear, wolf or lynx
as readily as a deer, fox or rabbit.
OF course he could not, unaided, kill
full-grown bear nor an adult wolf,
but would often harass and detain one
o. the other until the pursuing hunter
got near enough TO shoot it, but he did
once. after a terrific fight, kill large
lynx, an animal so formidable that not
one dog in thousand will face ii.
\ curious popularity of Carlos was
that although the game he was at the
moment chasing might never have been
sighted by the listener, any such,
thoroughly familiar with him, could al
ways tell of what kind il was merely by
the dogs manner of baying, and also
whether the scent was fresh or stale.
lie had one style of bark for a deer, an
other for bear, another for a wolf and
Ftill another for fox, wildcat, rae
coon or what not.
He was the very best "eoon dog" /
ever saw or heard of, and would kill
one of these misehievous creatures,
however large and fierce, in less thau
five minutes after coming up with it.
The raccoon always throws itself upon
its back when fighting, and, instead OF
skirmishing around, swapping at and
tearing the skin as ordinary dogs do,
Carlo would instantly seize it by the
throat and never let go until il was
dead, thus not damaging the pelt at all.
Between the ages of IL and II years
coon hunting by night was one of my
favorite sports, and when following
Carlo his voice always told me as plain
ly as by articulate speech whether he
was running on hot scent, had caught
his quarry on the ground or had treed
il. In the latter case my comrade and
] would build a fire and chop down the
tree, whose top could scarcely crash to
the earth before Carlo would have the
coon. Never once did he let one escape
TO another tree.
Altogether, aside from the fact that
their skins were worth in the proper
season 50 cents each, it was very neces-
sarv 10 destroy these obnoxious though
interesting animals. as they wrought
sad havoc among the green corn and
oats and not infrequently carried off
outlying young ducks and chickens.
lt-was a singular idiosyncrasy of Car
- los that although born among and
brought up by Indians. he would never.
after coming into our possession. let
one of this race approach the house /
without showing the most violent an
ger, and If the red man still persisted |
he would seize some part Of his dress
and prevent his farther advance until |
some member Of the family interfered. |