140 INSTINCT OF DOGS. 



than what any retriever puppy would have done." It is 

 not, however, the mere act alone, but the connecting 

 circumstances which often show the superior instinct of 

 the canine species. 



The performances of the retriever are more showy, 

 and the generality of observers would immediately on 

 that account pronounce him the more sagacious dog. 

 In taking a walk with him one winter, I met a friend 

 who had dropped a whip : if this had happened to myself, 

 there would have been no difficulty, as I had only to 

 send the dog off upon my track ; but, upon trial, he 

 immediately ran back upon that of my friend, recovered 

 the whip, and brought it to me. Another time, when he 

 was following an open carriage, a shawl was dropped ; 

 no one perceived the loss until the dog was seen carry- 

 ing it in his mouth behind. Not long after, a bouquet of 

 flowers was missed : I immediately looked round for the 

 retriever, and, to be sure, there he was with the bouquet 

 most jauntily carried in his mouth. But perhaps the 

 following instance may serve still better to show the 



He died the following spring, and was immortalised by a dog-grel 

 epitaph : 



" We climbed the rocky hills, and trod the heather, 



And many a 12th of August have we seen together. 



At length thy foot grew weary, age its only clog ; 



And here thou art at rest, my poor old dog ! " 



Poor Gruff died a couple of years after Cigar, but I have never been 

 able to replace him by a worthy successor at least by one uniting all his 

 excellencies. A Tweed spaniel came the nearest to him in docility, but, 

 like most of these silken gentry, he is shy of the water in cold weather 

 Gruff was as hardy in the winter-storm as a walrus. 



