whenever he saw a thing that he did not understand, 

 he would watch it very carefully from a little way 

 off and notice what it did and what it looked like, I 

 before trying experiments. I/ 



So, little by little, Jock got to understand plenty of 

 things that no town dog would ever know, and he got 

 to know just as some people do by what we call 

 instinct, whether a thing was dangerous or safe, even 

 though he had never seen anything like it before. 

 That is how he knew that wolves or lions were about 

 and that they were dangerous when he heard or 

 scented them ; although he had never seen, scented 

 or heard one before to know what sort of animal it 

 might be. You may well wonder how he could tell 

 whether the scent or the cry belonged to a wolf which 

 he must avoid, or to a buck which he might hunt, 

 when he had never seen either a wolf or a buck at 

 the time ; but he did know ; and he also knew that 

 no dog could safely go outside the ring of the camp 

 fires when wolf or lion was about. I have known 

 many town-bred dogs that could scent them just 

 as well as Jess or Jock could, but having no instinct 

 of danger they went out to see what it was, and of 

 course they never came back. 



I used to take Jock with me everywhere so that he 

 could learn everything that a hunting dog ought to 

 know, and above all things to learn that he was my 

 dog, and to understand all that I wanted to tell him. 

 So while he was still a puppy, whenever he stopped 

 to sniff at something new or to look at something 

 strange, I would show him what it was ; but if 



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