A STRING OF DOG TALES 295 



THE SMOKER'S COMPANION. 



A dog sitting beside me in a frontier hotel in- 

 sisted upon knocking the ash from my cigar. By 

 continued experiments I discovered that the little 

 creature had been trained to do this unique trick, 

 and that it took great delight in the performance. 



DOG ACTORS. 



Many chained dogs apparently make frantic ef- 

 forts to break loose to attack you. They rattle 

 their chains, spring up and come down on their feet, 

 coughing as if their fierce struggling had caused 

 their collars to almost strangle them. But it is all 

 a piece of clever acting nothing but a big bluft. 

 Close scrutiny will show you that the strain put 

 on the chains would not break a piece of string. 

 The chains are never even drawn taut. 



I once entered a yard and passed a sleeping 

 monster Dane without seeing the brute. The dog 

 suddenly awoke and seeing a stranger in the yard, 

 with a savage growl sprang at me. To my hor- 

 ror, the chain snapped like a thread and the dog 

 was free. 



But the brute did not expect this result and was 

 so terrified at its unusual position that after an 

 amazed look at the broken chain, it gave a startled 

 yelp, clapped its tail between its powerful legs, 

 cleared a high board fence with a single bound and 

 vanished down the street. 



