254 OUR OBLIGATIONS TO THE LOWER ANIMALS 



would be far happier working for its living than loung- 

 ing as a superfluous pet. Well-meaning dog-owners 

 should read Dr. Louis Robinson's admirable and 

 suggestive work, Wild Traits in Tame Animals, if 

 they would understand what a dog really dreads and 

 suffers from most namely, solitude. A social and 

 gregarious animal, the dog cannot bear to be alone; 

 his chief delight is co-operation with other animals ; if 

 not with other dogs, then with man. I forget whether 

 it was the late Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey or Sir Henry 

 Smith who has explained the barbarity of tying up an 

 intelligent retriever alone in a barrel, and why it is 

 that a shepherd's or a poacher's dog is so marvellously 

 wise and helpful because being always with his 

 master, he learns to interpret and execute his wishes 

 almost before they are expressed. It is not every man 

 who ought to keep a dog: he who does, should re- 

 member that the noble animal's life is a short one ; let 

 him put into it all the enjoyment possible, not by 

 stuffing it or by superfluous caresses, but by allowing it 

 to be as constantly as possible in his company. 



No harm, however, has been done by putting an end 

 to dog-labour, beyond depriving dogs of a congenial 

 occupation ; but it would be dangerous to give the 

 reins of legislation wholly into the hands of the tender- 

 hearted. Ultra-humanitarian methods verge upon the 

 hysterical. Horrible stories, illustrated by still more 

 horrible pictures, are circulated about the torture of 

 animals in the process of medical and surgical research. 

 Now vivisection undoubtedly is attended with suffering 

 and injury to the animals upon which it is inflicted ; 



