158 OUR HOME PETS 



and on all occasions, with no troublesome in- 

 clination to worry cats or other animals, he is 

 really the ideal dog for a household. To be 

 fashionable he should be black with white 

 points, but he is one of the few with whom 

 varieties in color may be indulged in without 

 total loss of caste. He may wear tan with his 

 black instead of white, if fate so decrees. His 

 tail should be long, carried low, and turned 

 upward at the end ; his coat straight, hard, and 

 rather stiff, with an under coat thick and furry. 

 The "ruff," which is one of his beauties, 

 should be very full, but he must not, if he 

 wishes to be perfect, show much " feather " on 

 the legs none at all on the hinder pair. 



He should have access to water, or, if in the 

 city, be washed once a week in summer. One 

 of the pleasantest recollections of a summer in 

 the Berkshire Hills is of the f am iry collie cool- 

 ing himself by lying flat in the bed of a lively 

 mountain brook till his thick coat was soaked 

 through. 



A little anecdote of a collie will illustrate 

 the character of the family better than any- 

 thing I could say. The story is vouched for 

 as true, and the incident occurred nearly one 



