him now and remarked about what he did; and as he was 

 only a very young puppy, they teased him, fed him, 

 petted him, and did their best to spoil him. He was 

 so young that it did not seem to matter, but I think 

 if he had not been a really good dog at heart he would 

 have been quite spoilt. 



He soon began to grow and fill out ; and it was 

 then that he taught the other puppies to leave him 

 alone. If they had not interfered with him he might 

 perhaps have left them alone, as it was not his nature 

 to interfere with others ; but the trouble was they 

 had bullied him so much while he was weak and help- 

 less that he got used to the idea of fighting for every- 

 thing. It is probably the best thing that could have 

 happened to Jock that as a puppy he was small and 

 weak, but full of pluck ; it compelled him to learn 

 how to fight ; it made him clever, cool, and careful, 

 for he could not afford to make mistakes. When he 

 fought he meant business ; he went for a good spot, 

 bit hard, and hung on for all he was worth ; then, 

 as the enemy began to slacken, he would start 

 vigorously worrying and shaking. I often saw him 

 shake himself off his feet, because the thing he was 

 fighting was too heavy for him. 



The day Jock fought the two big puppies one 

 after the other for his bone, and beat them off, was 

 the day of his independence ; we all saw the tussle, 

 and cheered the little chap. And then for one whole 

 day he had peace ; but it was like the pause at low 

 water before the tide begins to flow the other way. 

 He was so used to being interfered with that I suppose 



74 



