IN BOOKS AND REAL LIFE 201 



the window curtains, or romping and taking liberties 

 with the older residents. He does not show any 

 disinclination for food ; on the contrary, if you let 

 him eat his fill, he would gorge himself like a boa 

 constrictor. All dogs are fond of good living, and 

 though to keep them in perfect health they should 

 be dieted carefully and regularly, I am afraid that is 

 a rule which I honour in the breach rather than 

 the observance. In fact, so far as my experience 

 goes, when dogs are unconfined, with a free run 

 out of doors, you may indulge them moderately with 

 impunity. Indeed when the servants take to them, 

 you can hardly help yourself. Anyhow, three or 

 four are generally sitting round my dinner-table, 

 and it is then that jealousy comes out. If I did 

 not believe it was the favour as much as the 

 food they cared for, I should say they were detest- 

 ably greedy. A dog who turns up his nose at dry 

 bread when you are dining tete-a-tete^ will snatch at 

 it when surrounded with eager companions. What 

 tempts them most is anything they will crunch, 

 from chicken bones to biscuits, and then they are 

 apt to be betrayed into forgetting their manners. 

 In all my experience I have only known one or 

 two gentlemen or ladies who took food from your 

 hand — in a mixed company — as if conferring a 

 favour, mouthing it as gently as the high-bred 

 retriever, who lays a bird at your feet without 

 ruffling a feather. 



No doubt a dog who lives in the house is likely 

 to be over-indulged, and great authorities will tell 



