Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1903-12-23
SOME SMART DOGS.
Ono Reads Newspaper and An other
Understands the Talk of
Parrot.


| citizen uptown" said a man who is
fond of the lower order of creation,
relates the New Orleans Times-Demo-
crat, ''and want to say right at the
start that I think this particular dog
is about the smartest thing on four
legs.
| Dogs are always smart. They are
like babies in this, that from the
standpoint of the persons who own
them they are the cutest and cleverest
things under the sun. l am not the
owner of the dog in question, and,
therefore, may speak of the animal
without bias in his behalf, and may
extol his virtues without any danger
of OVERRIDING the thing. Put different
ly, I may take critical view of this
| dog in particular.
He is as smart as a dog can be and
| is abreast Of the times. He is a news
paper dog, and, hence, manages to
keep in touch with the world He is
| always on the lookout for the morn
| ing paper. AS rule, he is at the front
gate when the carrier comes along.
II he is not there at that time he hears
! the paper fall when the carrier throws
der.
For some time his master has been
a little under the weather Before he
| got sick the dog would simply take
the morning paper to his masters bed,
rear up on the side of the bed, leave
| RyVt
recently-and this is the more impor-
tant point of this little yarn-the dog
master has been confined to his bed,
and has not been able to move around
the room.
GAS usual the dog brings the paper
every morning. But instead of just
putting it on the bed he unfolds it.
headlines and then at his master, as if
trying to aid him in finding the more
important things that happened the
day before. Do you not regard this as
extraordinary intelligence in a dog?
do.
THAT dog is a wonder. and no mis-
take. He is a humanitarian. There
is an element of devotion in his con-
duct toward his master that you would
fail to find in great many friends.
and an element of thoughtfulness that
you would fail to find in great many
persons who are closer than friends. "
| "That reminds me Of very clever
between dog and parrot out in my
neighborhood," said a man who had
| listened to the story about the news
paper dog, land I doubt if you could
! find more forcible evidence of the
| dogs and the parrots intelligence than
| the compact I have in mind.
"They seem to have established a
perfect understanding Of each other,
| and they seem to have developed some
sort of idea of the contractual rela-
ton, as we say in the law. How they
went about the matter l do not know.
| I only know that the results are
achieved quite as satisfactorily as if
the dog and parrot in question were
human beings and capable Of all the
| processes of reasoning.
| 1.-The parrots cage is in the back
yard 1t is close to the ground, where
| the dog can reach the sliding door by
rearing up on his hind legs. Between
the back yard and front yard there is
gate with a latch on the side toward
the dog and parrot are kept in the back
yard. and the little gate which crosses
the alleyway and opens into the front
yaro Is generally kept latched. lit
tie while ago the dog and the parrot
were found out in the front yard to-
gether.
1.-THE man of the house was not a
little perplexed to know how they had
managed to get out into the front
yard. He made up his mnd to watch
| them for the purpose of seeing how
! they overcame the difficulty. The first
thing that attracted his attention was
the call of the parrot.
promptly the dog, who understood
the language, responded. He walked
over to the parrots cage, used his nose
to root the slide door up and let the
bird out. The dog then let the door
! fly back to it's place. The parrot few
over to the side gate and the dog trot-
| ted across the yard in the same direc.
| ton.
"In a few seconds the parrot was
busy with the latch Using his bealz
he raised the latch. and the dog pushed
| the side gate open with his nose
Shortly they were both out in the
front yard.
Nov, what do you think of that:
If that isn't intelligence. what is it:
It seems to me to be intelligence of q
very high order, and I am willing tt
put this dog and this parrot bir6
against anything you can scrape up
for anything less complex than com
bination lock of the most improved
kind wouldn't count with them"
| Feline Ingenuity.
A cat owned by the manager of ar
English restaurant recently noticed {
mouse which had contrived to find it:
way into a cupboard among lot o.
wine glasses. Evidently the cat saw
that to capture the mouse in that re-
treat would be somewhat difficult task
so, jumping on the top of the cupboard
from plate there he gently precipi
tated piece of cheese on the floor-anG
waited. For over an hour the cat.
eyes were glued on the decoying NOR
sci, and not in vain. At last the mouse
could resist the temptation no long.
er, and made rush for the cheese, wheI
the problem which the cat had seem.
ingly pronounced to himself found 8
| solution and the mouse was caught.
Where They Finish.
| The little party of politicians is en-.