THE ANIMAL ' CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS' 129 



to have only three feet. This may be compared with 

 the accounts of a collie-dog, recently quoted in the 

 papers, which had one fore-foot and one hind-foot cut 

 off by a reaping-machine, but which still manages to 

 help with the flock. Dogs, which ought to be little 

 liable to accidents, are very frequent sufferers, largely 

 from their association with man and intense desire to 

 participate in all his doings. One of their commonest 

 mishaps arises from their love of riding in carts. They 

 become quite clever at scrambling or jumping in, but 

 are not ' built ' for jumping down on to a hard road. 

 If the cart moves as they make their spring the danger 

 is increased, and fore-legs broken, usually just below 

 the shoulder, are very commonly seen. Dogs also have 

 dangerous falls when on the ground, accidents usually 

 ascribed only to bipeds and horses. A greyhound 

 going at full speed will trip, fly head over heels, and 

 break a leg, or even its neck. Master Magrath in 

 1870 went through the rotten ice of the river Alt, from 

 which Altcar takes its name, while following the hare, 

 and nearly died from the effects. But the strangest 

 mishap which the writer has ever seen fall to the lot of 

 a dog was the case of a setter which ' tripped ' over a 

 sitting hare. The dog, a large, heavy animal, was 

 ranging at high speed in a field of thinly-planted 

 mangold. As it passed between the rows its hind-feet 

 struck something, and it nearly turned a somersault. 



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