124 NATURAL 



Not only are instances of quai-relsomeness to be found in Dogs, but also of the strongest desire to 

 revenge real or supposed injuries, of the exercise of a wonderful amount of cunning and reasoning 

 power to bring a hated rival to justice. The following anecdote forms a capital antithesis to that 

 of Mr. Romanes' Terrier, who prevented the escape of the Dog he disliked and was jealous of, although 

 such an event would have brought him the greatest possible comfort : 



" A fine Terrier, in the possession of a surgeon, about three weeks ago, exhibited its sagacity in a 

 rather amusing manner. It came into the kitchen and began plucking the servant by the gown, and 

 in spite of repeated rebuffs, it perseveringly continued in its purpose. The mistress of the house 

 hearing the noise, came down to inquire the cause, when the animal treated her in a similar manner. 

 Being struck with the concern evinced by the creature, she quietly followed it up-stairs into a bed-room, 

 whither it led her; there it commenced barking, looking under the bed, and then up in her face. 

 Upon examination, a Cat was discovered there quietly demolishing a beef-steak, which it had feloniously 

 obtained. The most singular feature in the whole case is that the Cat had been introduced into the 

 house only a short time before, and that bitter enmity prevailed between her and her canine companion." 



Besides illustrating the desire for vengeance, this is as good an instance of reason as any we have 

 given. The Dog evidently argued to himself in this wise : " If I fly upon this wretched Cat and 

 deprive her of her stolen goods by force, she will get nothing more than a fright, or, perhaps, a few 

 tooth marks ; but if I lodge a complaint against her before the proper tribunal, her guilt will be manifest 

 to the whole household, and she will -be got rid of, or even killed." The Dog, by the way he con- 

 ceived and acted on this plan, showed himself to be nearly as clever and almost as wicked as a great 

 many men one reads about in history. 



We have spoken of maternal love as exhibited by the Dog. This is, of course, a case of instinct ; 

 but instances are not wanting in which Dogs have shown the high faculty of devoted love towards other 

 than their offspring, and of friendship like that of Ruth for Naomi. Mr. Darwin mentions a Greyhound 

 bitch who, contrary to the usual custom of her race, fell deeply in love with a Pointer, and would have 

 nothing to say to any other Dog during the life of her lover ; and, stranger still, when he died, she 

 showed a constancy equal to that of the best of her sex among the human race, and remained strictly 

 faithful to his memory, never afterwards bearing pups. 



Rarer than conjugal affection amongst animals, is friendship between individuals of the same sex ; 

 of this, too, instances are not wanting. Mr. Youatt relates the following : " Two Dogs, the property 

 of a gentleman at Shrewsbury, had been companions for many years, until one of them died of old age. 

 The survivor immediately began to manifest an extraordinary degree of restless anxiety, searching for 

 his old associate in all his former haunts, and refusing every kind of food. He gradually wasted away, 

 and at the expiration of the tenth day he died, the victim of an attachment that would have done 

 honour to man." 



Of equally intense devotion to man, instances are so numerous that one hardly knows which to 

 mention. None is, perhaps, more wonderful or more affecting than that we have already men- 

 tioned, of the Dog who watched for three months by the corpse of his dead master on Helvellyn. 

 There is also a tale of a Newfoundland Dog, whose master a soldier returned to his home, after an 

 absence of many years, when the Dog recognised him at once, "leaped upon his neck, licked his face, 

 and died." He must have retained, during the whole of the time his master was away, the memory of 

 his care and friendship. One cannot doubt that he often thought of and longed for him ; and the rush 

 of joy and hope fulfilled was too much for the great heart of the noble animal. He succumbed to the 

 intensity of his feelings, thereby showing himself to be superior in one of the highest and grandest of 

 qualities to by far the greater proportion of the human race. How many men, or even women, of 

 one's own acquaintance, are capable of dying of joy 1 



But there is a dark side to this picture. A very large proportion of Dogs possess but little of this 

 virtue of fidelity, but have greatly developed the contrary vice of extreme fickleness. They will 

 change masters without the slightest objection, and be " off with the old love and on with the new " 

 absolutely without a pang. Froissart, the chronicler, tells a curious tale respecting the treachery of 

 Richard II. 's Dog, " a Grayhounde, called Mithe, who always wayted upon the kynge, and woulde 

 knowe no man els. For where so ever the kynge did ryde, he that kept the Grayhounde dyd lette 

 him lose, and he wolde streyght runne to the kynge, and faune uppon hym, and leape with his fore 



