iv PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



Hawkins. In a letter by him, printed in 

 a little pamphlet which contains the bio- 

 graphy of his fox-terrier Jack, Sir Henry 

 Hawkins declares that his dog " understood 

 all I said to him as though I spoke his own 

 language, which not being accomplished 

 enough to converse in I nevertheless 

 thoroughly understood." Now, with all due 

 deference to the learned Judge, I doubt very 

 much whether he did understand Jack half 

 as well as Jack understood him. If he did, 

 he was certainly exceptionally fortunate. 

 Men who own dogs no doubt get to know 

 roughly what a bark at this or that time is 

 likely to mean, but they seldom go further 

 than this. Who ever heard two dogs bark- 

 ing together and understood that Jack was 

 saying to Grip, " I mean to run away to- 

 morrow ? " Yet as much as this ought to be 

 understood by the man who would under- 

 stand dog talk, as well as the probationary 

 fox-terrier in the story headed "The Dog 

 that heard he did not give satisfaction " a 

 story which is to be found among the new 

 anecdotes at the end of the present volume. 



