DOGS I HAVE KNOWN 81 



direction, and this I heard was his regular 

 habit. He had another very awkward trick, and 

 that was, if he was walking behind you, he would 

 come up and lay hold of your leg, not apparently 

 with any vicious design, for if you stopped and 

 looked down at him, there he was with his eyes 

 half shut, holding on to your leg with his teeth, as 

 if it was necessary to support himself by such 

 means. After a time he would drop his jaws off 

 your leg and go maundering along as he had done 

 before ; but it was not altogether a pleasant trick. 

 My last interview with the brute was not an agree- 

 able one. We were to go out duck shooting on the 

 river, and my friend proposed taking the dog with 

 us in the punt to retrieve the ducks. This I 

 decidedly objected to, as a wet dog in a boat is an 

 unpleasant companion, so he was left on the bank 

 to follow as best he might. The dog trotted along 

 quietly for some way, until at length we fired at 

 some ducks, when he jumped into the river to get 

 them, as we thought ; instead of which he swam up 

 to the punt and seizing the pole in his mouth began 

 to bite and tear at it in the most furious way. He 

 then tried to scramble into the boat, and getting 

 his fore-paws on the gunwale, began to tear at the 

 sides in the most determined manner, snapping 

 furiously at anyone who went near him. The 



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