96 HOW THE DOG JUDGES US 



drawing-room half-full of callers scattered about the 

 room, conversing and drinking tea. He too has been 

 thinking of his tea, but before attending to his own 

 wants he goes about among the guests, smiling, so 

 to speak, at those who are of the house, greeting 

 others who are callers but well known to him, but 

 looking and sniffing very attentively at the strangers. 

 But it is a mistake to speak of his looking at them; 

 he sees them so vaguely, so dimly, his whole attention 

 being taken up with the new smell which he finds in 

 each. His nose, pointed at them, has the nervous 

 twitching seen when a scent deeply engages him, and 

 at the same time there are little nervous bodily move- 

 ments which show that he is somewhat excited. And 

 we see distinctly — I have seen it in scores of instances 

 — that he is, in his lowdown dog mind, actually 

 investigating and estimating character according to 

 smell. For you will observe in some instances, after 

 the little sniffing performance, a sudden change in 

 the attitude of inquiry and suspense, and this may be 

 a quick aspect of friendliness, a tail-wagging, a look 

 up at the person's face, a nearer approach, and those 

 movements of the ears and forehead and mouth which 

 undoubtedly show that the person is pleasing to him; 

 or, on the other hand, the sniffing with a slight recoil, 

 a look as if a menacing gesture had been seen, and 

 a quick movement away from the person who has 

 not been liked. 



This fact, which millions of persons must have 

 observed in their time, is worth putting on record, 

 but comment would be idle, since in this matter we 



