Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-04-10
FRIENDSHIP OF BARNEY AND HICKEY
Dog SoryHckey Went About Looking for Trouble But The
Collie Was Amiable Lord-The Canine Vocabulary
of Many Varied Sounds.
By WALTER PRICHARD EATON

TDON'T know If It Is because n Bishop in
L England refused to allow his flock to pray
for any animals that my dog always tips up
his head and bays mournfulfy and protest.
ingly when the bell rings in the Episcopal
church spire. hardly think that can be the
case, because he bays the same way when
the little girl next door practices scales on
the piano. Fortunately, she is not what you
would call passonatey addicted to music,
and she practices as infrequently as possible.
I do know, however, that my dog has
very definite, though somewhat limited,
vocabulary which he can express with his
vocal cords, and, Of course, a much moro
extended vocabulary which he can under
stand when used by human beings. He is not
a particularly smart dog, either. have had
much smarter ones. His chief assets are his
beauty, he being n grandson of Graystone
Champion noble collie and his extremely
amiable disposition. He is a gentle soul,
without much sense of humor, but of senti-
mental cast. Like the sea lion in the famous
story, he likes the ladies best.
But started to tell of his vocabulary. His
expression of woeful Indignation at the Eps-
copal church bell is quite unmstakable by
anybody. Equally unmstakable is his whine
to be let out OF the house when he has been
eating not wisely but too we'll His love for
the ladies' and his plaintive, sentimental eyes
when they are turned toward candy box or
the cake on the "curate are responsible for
many breaches in diet. This whine how
ever, is extremely apologetlc. When we hear
it outside our chamber door in the dead of
night, accompanied by a scratching, it seems
to say, Pm very sorry and ashamed. but
please get up and let me out. I'm awful
sick!"
The Seven Barks
In addition to these two phrases, or SEN
tences Ghe first Of which I'm sure is hardly
fit to PRINT, he has no fewer than three
barks heralding the approach of people to the
house. The first is a bark of joyful welcome
when member of the family or some inti-
mate friend whom he likes has been absent
for some time and is returning. The second
is mere bark OF greeting, without any
great amount of enthusiasm with which he
salutes somebody he knows, provided they
pat him as they come up on the veranda
and he happens to feel in a barking mood.
The third is his watchdog bark, and is used
upon strangers whose appearance he dis
trusts, all small boys and the milkman
When my wife and I are In the garden
behind the house and hear him barking at
the front we can invariably tell which Of
his barks 1t is. and we know something of
lHe CHdTdCter OF lne CdllerS Al the stranger
coming bark the lady of the house is warned
to skip in by the back door and remove some
of the too obvious evidences of agricultural
toll
These are FIVE clearly marked vocal ex-
pressions Barney possesses. But he has
others. He has distinct "golng-for-a-
walk" bark or rather zip, which is a very
silly affair, He begins it, especially in win
ter as soon as we start putting on our coats
While are fastening the thongs of our
he cavorts around. licking our
hands stepping on the shoes and emitting
his silly yips. He becomes simply foolish |
with JOY.
His seventh expression is his battle cry a |
very terrifying, deep, angry bark, which he |
emits when he sees another dog coming into
the yard. He keeps this up while he is dash
Ing at top speed toward the intruder-and, I
must admit. be almost invariably stops II
before he gets to his foe so that when YOU
look feartully down to see the encounter.
what you see instead are two tails wagRlng
pleasantly and two muzzles investigating
one another
Hickey Bites an Auto
These seven different barks are absolutely
different even to the human ear, ana they
always mean the same thing He has. how
sver. subtler variations, fancy, which other
dogs understand, but which am not always
able TO difrerentiate. Hickey could, however.
Poor Hickey Is dead. He fell victim last
summer to his tncuFable passion for biting
The front tires OF automobiles when thew
we're going at a high rate OF speed. He was
probably the finest Airedale ever bred -tba
inest In his own family that Is. His ansee-
ion for those he loved knew no bounds. He
lad great brown eyes that would look YOU
straight In the face TIL you grew positively
embarrassed He would sit IN your Ian
whenever he had the chance, his head eud-
lled down IKE child When I went awav
nom home he always rode 10 the station
~ nl. VIII bis front pams aha.lt -. -