8 INTRODUCTION. 



book would be a very readable one, and 

 likely to please dog-lovers all the world 

 over, I did not, till the selection was nearly 

 made, realise how much the stories gain by 

 being grouped together. A single story 

 of a clever dog may amuse, but it is liable 

 to be put aside as an accident, a coincidence, 

 a purely exceptional circumstance which 

 proves nothing. If, however, instead of 

 a single story we have half a dozen illus- 

 trating the same form of intelligence, the 

 value of the evidence is enormously in- 

 creased, and a collection of dog stories 

 may become of very great value in deter- 

 mining such questions as the power of dogs 

 to act on reason as well as on instinct, 

 or their ability to understand human lan- 

 guage. The solution of these problems is, I 

 cannot help thinking, materially advanced 

 by the stories in the present book. Take, 

 again, the group of stories which I have 

 labelled Purchasing Dogs. One sample of 

 this kind might, as I have noted above, be 

 put off as a case of imperfect observation, 

 or as a curious coincidence ; but when we 



