374 



Anecdotes of the Dog. 



Vol. VI. 



During the time that lambs are weaned, 

 they are apt to stray in searcii of their dams ; 

 Hoo-g, the Ettriclc shepherd, had at one time 

 700 of these under his care, which broke away 

 in the middle of the night and scampered off 

 in three ditierent parties across the hills, in 

 spite of all he and his assistant could do to 

 keep them together. Addressing his dog he 

 said, ' my man, they 're a' awa' !' Tlie night 

 was so dark that he did not see the dog, but 

 the faithful animal heard his master's words, 

 and without more ado, he silently set off in 

 quest of the flock: meanwhile the shepherd 

 and his assistant spent the night in scouring 

 the hills for miles around, but could see nothing 

 of the flock or dog. On their way home in 

 the morning, they discovered a flock of lambs 

 at the bottom of a deep ravine, and the dog 

 standing in front of them, looking all around 

 for relief, but still true to his charge ; not one 

 lamb of the whole flock was wanting. 



A farmer residing at Hailing in Kent 

 was late one evening at market ; on returning 

 at night with his dog, he again stopped at 

 Aylesford and drank so as to leave the place 

 in a state of intoxication ; his way lay over a 

 brook, which was, in the best season of the 

 year, a very dangerous one for a drunken 

 man, but now the whole face of the country 

 was covered by deep snow, and the frost was 

 intense. By a sudden reel, he passed over a 

 ditch on his right hand, and took towards the 

 river, but having a high bank to mount, and, 

 exhausted with wandering and the effect of 

 liquor, he fell among the snow, in one of the 

 coldest nights ever known, and turning on 

 his back was soon overpowered with either 

 sleep or the cold, when his faithful dog 

 scraped away the snow so as to form a sort 

 of protecting wall around him ; then, mounting 

 upon the exposed body, rolled himself around 

 and laid upon liis master's breast, for which his 

 shaggy coat formed a most seasonable cover- 

 ing, and eventually, protection, during the 

 dreadful severity of the night, the snow fall- 

 ing all the time. The following morning he 

 was found by a person gunning, who perceiv- 

 ing an uncommon appearance, ventured to 

 approach, when the dog got off the body, 

 shaking himself, and encouraging the sports- 

 man to come near by actions of the most sig- 

 nificant nature : upon wiping the encrusted 

 ice from the face, the countenance was 

 known, and by the means adopted, life was 

 restored ; when the grateful master ordered a 

 silver collar to be made for his faithful ser- 

 vant, recording the fact. 



A friend had a terrier which he was some- 

 times in the habit of confining ; he frequently 

 missed the dog's collar, and at last discovered 

 that the animal carried it off in its mouth, in 

 order to hide it, being aware that it was one 

 of the instruments of his confinement. But 



this is not more extraordinary than what 

 might be seen at the zoological farm on 

 Kingston Hill, where the buffalo, who has a 

 strong ring passed through the cartilage of 

 his nose, to which is attached a chain about 

 two feet in length with a ring at the end 

 about 3 or 4 inches in diameter, is in the 

 practice, to prevent himself from treading on 

 it, of putting his horn through the ring and 

 then shaking his head until the ring is made 

 to rest at the bottom of the horn ; and at any 

 time the ring may be seen in this position. 



" One of the fine deer hounds in Richmond 

 park, instead of seizing the deer by the ear or 

 neck, as is usually the case when they stand 

 at bay, always takes it by the skin of the 

 forehead, between the antlers — a difficult 

 place to hold it by, and one of peculiar danger 

 to the dog. — On slipping a puppy of this par- 

 ticular hound at a deer for the first time, when 

 it was only nine or ten months old, it imme- 

 diately seized the deer when brought to bay 

 in the same manner its mother had done, and 

 still continues to do so. 



A gentleman was shooting by the side of 

 a hill, and shot at and wotmded a hare, 

 which ran through one of the several holes 

 made at the bottom of the wall ; the dog 

 leaped the wall, caught the hare and returned 

 with it in his mouth, but finding he could not 

 leap the wall with the hare in his mouth, 

 pushed it with his nose as far through the 

 hole as he could, leaped over, and dragging 

 it through the hole, brought it to his master. 



It was a dark night, and as the mail-coach 

 was travelling at its usual rate, a dog barked 

 incessantly before the horses, and jumped up 

 to their heads. The coachman, fearful of 

 some accident, pulled up, and the guard got 

 down for the purpose of driving off' the dog, 

 which ran a little way and then returned, 

 with such gestures as induced him to take 

 one of the lamps and follow the dog, when 

 at about the distance of 100 yards, he found 

 a man lying drunk across the road, and his 

 horse grazing by the side of it ! 



A friend, while shooting wild-fowl with his 

 brother, was attended by a sagacious New- 

 foundland dog ; in getting near some reeds 

 by the side of a river, they threw down their 

 hats and crept to the side of the water when 

 they fired. They then sent the dog for their 

 hats, one of which was smaller than the other: 

 after several attempts to bring them together 

 in his mouth, the dog at last placed the 

 smaller hat into the larger one, pressed it 

 down with his foot and thus brought both to- 

 gether. 



A gentleman in Sussex had an old spaniel 

 which, if the day was rainy, would remain 

 perfectly quiet in the house, but if fine, he 

 became restless at the usual time for his mas- 

 ter to go out with his gun, and would try to 



