ANECDOTES ABOUT DOGS 335 



of dominoes with one of his dogs, which he consented 

 to do. The younger dog, Brae, seated himself on a chair 

 at the table and Messrs. Leonard and Blanc seated 

 themselves opposite. Six dominoes were placed on their 

 edges, in the usual way, before the dog and the same 

 number before Mr. Blanc. The dog having amongst its 

 numbers a double number, took it up in its mouth and 

 dropped it in the centre of the table, Mr. Blanc added a 

 single number to one side of it, the dog at once played 

 another correctly, and so on, till all the pieces were used 

 up. A fresh lot of six dominoes were then served out 

 to each competitor and Mr. Blanc (just to test the dog) 

 intentionally put a wrong number in the course of the 

 game. The dog looked surprised and excited, stared 

 hard at Mr. Blanc, growled, and finally barked loudly. 

 Finding no notice taken of his remonstrances, he then 

 pushed away the wrong domino, with his nose, and put 

 a right number, from amongst his own, in its place. Mr. 

 Blanc afterwards continued the play correctly and the 

 game was won by the dog. Not the slightest hint or in- 

 formation appeared to be given by Mr. Leonard to the 

 dog. This method of playing a game of dominoes must 

 have been entirely the result of his individual observa- 

 tion and judgment. The performance was strictly pri- 

 vate throughout, the owner of the dogs was a gentle- 

 man of independent fortune, and had taken up the in- 

 struction of his dogs merely as a curious and amusing 

 investigation as to the cultivated intelligence of ani- 

 mals. 



Plutarch relates that, at the Theatre of Marcellus, 

 a dog was exhibited before the Emperor Vespasian 



22 



