THE CLEVER TERRIER 251 



time the retriever has a biscuit left over from the last 

 meal, which she has lightly buried, on her master's 

 approach she will promptly disinter the treasure, 

 holding it out as much as to say : " Thank you, I 

 need no biscuit." But experiments with the terrier 

 show that she will ever refuse to give the slightest 

 indication of a buried hoard. Whether she needs a 

 biscuit or not, she always takes one when offered, 

 as though she desired nothing better in the world. 

 A good story in proof of a retriever's reasoning powers 

 is told by an old-time sportsman. He was shooting 

 beside a frozen stream, and winged a mallard, which 

 fell in mid-stream. His dog crashed on to the ice, 

 broke through it, and fought her way to the middle, 

 where the ice only skimmed the water. She swam 

 round for a moment, then broke her way to the opposite 

 bank, paused to give a knowing look at the thin ice, 

 and went down stream at full speed for about eighty 

 yards. Running down the bank, she broke a hole 

 in the ice with her fore-paws, then crouched back, 

 watching the hole. In a few moments she made a 

 spring and plunged in, reappearing in mid-stream 

 with the mallard in her mouth. There was no doubt, 

 at least in her master's mind, that she had broken the 

 hole for the purpose of catching the bird when he 

 came up to breathe. 



^ V v 



A keeper owned two retriever puppies who were 

 given a curious start in life. Their mother was shut 



