690 THE DOG. 



sheep- stealer was condemned to die, and, proh pudor ! the 

 matchless dog, whose only crime was his fidelity. 



The Dog knows when he has committed an offence, and 

 not unfrequently seeks to conceal it. Some dogs acquire the 

 habit of destroying sheep, in the manner of the wolf. Con- 

 scious that they are committing an offence, they employ ex- 

 treme precautions to prevent detection, using the dead of 

 night to steal upon the flock, avoiding those in their imme- 

 diate vicinity, and taking a wide circuit in returning home, 

 so that the place where they live may not be discovered. 

 They have been known to wash themselves in a pool or river, 

 that the marks of the blood might be effaced ; and in all cases 

 they clean themselves carefully of dust and blood before 

 morning. Sir Thomas Wilde was cognizant of a case in 

 which a dog addicted to this offence used to slip his head 

 from his collar when he went away, and slip it back again 

 when he returned.* 



The Dog, beyond any animal known to us, is grateful for 

 benefits received. Should any one chance to save the life of 

 a dog, or rescue him from some cruel persecution, the animal 

 ever afterwards manifests gratitude. Rude and savage as 

 are the unowned dogs of the Turkish towns, should the pass- 

 ing traveller bestow upon one of them, when in distress, a 

 morsel of food, and speak kindly to him, the dog will wag 

 his tail, and manifest, by the expression of his counte- 

 nance, his gratitude to the stranger for the unwonted boon. 

 Should a dog be wounded, as by a thorn running into his 

 foot, it is wonderful how perfectly he understands the pur- 

 pose for which he is put to pain in the attempts to relieve 

 him. A dog will submit to the surgeon's knife, and lick the 

 hand of the operator, and ever afterwards fawn upon his 

 preserver when he meets him. Again and again have dogs 

 been known, to submit to the reduction of painful fractures, 

 lying almost motionless for weeks until the cure was effected. 



* Quarterly Review, 1844. 



