Bogalusa enterprise and American. (Bogalusa, La.) 1918-19??, 1921-02-17
The Neighborhood Dog

AS some know, am real lover
of dogs and it is hard for me to see
any sort Of dog without thinking that
he must be good for something.
When / was younger / took it for
granted that every dog was useful
I and one time / invested the last fifty
cents / had in a noble voice and a
fine movement, just because l was
certain that as fine looking dog as
that would develop into something
unusually useful. have studied
them more and l have learned a good
while ago that for every sort of man
there is a dog to match. My atten-
ton was called to this by President
Jefferson Davis, who knew more
up to that time.
Some years ago a learned profess
sor in one of our great universities
brought out book, the gravamen of
which was that dogs and people have
the same psychology. knew that a
long time before hts book appeared
and had worked on that theory a
good deal.
| come back now to my headline
1.-THE Neighborhood Dog" What
kind of dog is neighborhood dog?
Well, to start in with, he is a dog IN
attached and without collar. He
doesn't particularly belong to any
body. He has no home ties. He
feels no particular responsibility to
keep the cats and stray dogs off of
any place. He goes around from one
place to another, always with broad
smile and merry wag of his tail,
and he will bark just as much at one
house as he will at another. He is
"broad-minded dog" He thinks so
much of everybody that he doesn't
think very much Of anybody. He is
entirely too broad-minded to expend
his energies in the narrow limits Of
any one home.
Moreover, as / have observed the
neighbood dog, he is generally good
looking, has a fine mouth, a. good
voice and carries himself well. He
makes up readily with everybody, in
that way is agreeable whenever he
comes to any house and he is good at
barking, in moderation. He never
wishes to be very disagreeable to
anybody, dog or other person. He
has no fights. With him there is
nothing in the world really worth
fighting for. He picks up his living
around where he goes, sharing with
other dogs or getting little special
tip from anybody who might be es-.
pecially caught by mis- ways.
The dog / gave my half-dollar for
was exactly of this type The first
hunt took him on he got acquainted
with the other dogs in the neighbor-
hood and / never could keep him
home. He went around and visited
all the neighbors, probably did about
his share of barking, but it was not
to any purpose and got tired Of him.
A good dog never barks unless he has
something in his mind worth barking
for. And while judicious barking is
a fine trait in dog, miscellaneous
barking is worth nothing, but isAoften
very confusing to the dogs who are
really out on hunt and want to
catch something.
l saw one of these dogs a few
months ago on train. He was a
Britisher, started life as a preacher,
was well educated, but finally be-
came just university neighborhood
dog. He said he quit the church be-
cause he was too broad-minded and
that he could not find any church
that was broad enough for him and
that he had become a citizen of the
world. His own country was entirely
too narrow. / do not know how he
got his living or his travelling money.
But / thought of him in terms Of the
dog for which squandered my fifty