INSTINCT OF DOGS. 179 



creature marching along with its load. It had seen the 

 bag carried in once or twice, and immediately learned to 

 do so. 



I do not mean to deny that some varieties of the dog may 

 excel others in sagacity ; but this will be found in most cases 

 to arise from other circumstances than the natural gift and 

 that dogs, whose avocations require a phlegmatic quiet temper, 

 have certainly the advantage over others, though the instinc- 

 tive powers of both, in the first instance, may have been 

 equal. A terrier, for example, may be, and has been, taught 

 to herd sheep, and if kept to this employment, would appear 

 more sensible ; but his snappish disposition, though an ad- 

 vantage in his own more congenial occupations, renders him 

 unlikely to excel in those of the collie. The latter, again, 

 is admirably adapted for his own work : his thick rough coat 

 protects him from the severity of the weather, to which he 

 is constantly exposed, and his less ardent temper prompts 

 him to look for guidance from his master in all his move- 

 ments. Both sheep-dogs and terriers may be taught to point, 

 but they are always deficient in hunt, and their olfactory 

 powers are never so acute as in those dogs which nature 

 seems to have formed for the purpose. We thus see that 

 dogs are trained to different employments, for many quali- 

 fications apart from their instinctive powers, though these 

 may be materially increased or retarded by the nature of their 

 occupations. 



The Newfoundland and water dog are generally reckoned 

 paragons of sagacity ; but has their treatment nothing to do 

 with this ? From their earliest days taught to fetch and 

 carry, and never leaving their master's side, they learn to 

 understand his least signal, and, from constant practice, some- 

 times even anticipate his will. This is also precisely the case 

 with the collie : made, as soon as it is able, to follow the 

 shepherd to the hill, and from everyday habit always on the 

 alert to please him, it daily acquires greater dexterity both in 



