144 INTELLIGENT BEHAVIOUR 
the time of the dog’s death, had not served as a sure guide to 
his experience. 
The way in which my dog learnt to lift the latch of the 
garden gate, and thus let himself out, affords a good example 
of intelligent behaviour. The iron gate outside my house is 
held to by a latch, but swings open by its own weight if the 
latch be lifted. Whenever he wanted to go ont the fox 
terrier raised the latch with the back of his head, and thus 
released the gate, which swung open. Now the question 
in any such case is: How did he learn the trick? In this 
particular case the question can be answered, because he was 
carefully watched. When he was put outside the door, he 
naturally wanted to get out into the road, where there was 
much to tempt him—the chance of a run, other dogs to sniff 
at, possibly cats to be worried. He gazed eagerly out through 
the railings on the low parapet wall shown in the illustration ; 
and in due time chanced to gaze out under the latch, lifting 
it with his head. He withdrew his head and looked out 
elsewhere ; but the gate had swung open. Here was the 
fortunate occurrence arising out of natural tendencies in a dog. 
But the association between looking out just there and the 
open gate with a free passage into the road is somewhat 
indirect. The coalescence of the presentative and re-pre- 
sentative elements into a conscious situation effective for the 
guidance of behaviour was not effected at once. After some 
ten or twelve experiences, in each of which the exit was more 
rapidly effected with less gazing out at wrong places, the fox 
terrier had learnt to go straight and without hesitation to 
the right spot. In this case the lifting of the latch was 
unquestionably hit on by accident, and the trick was only 
rendered habitual by repeated association in the same situation 
of the chance act and the happy escape. Once firmly 
established, however, the behaviour remained constant through- 
out the remainder of the dog’s life, some five or six years. 
Mr. E. J. Shellard observed * an act of similar import in 
a Scotch staghound, which “appeared at first to be the result 
* ««Tntroduction to Comparative Psychology,” p. 290. 
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