256 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 



all-round improvement in temper, a disposition of 

 the people to mix freely instead of separating into 

 well-defined groups, each with some famous fight- 

 ing-man, wearing a knife as long as a sword, for 

 its centre ; also instead of wild and whirling words, 

 dust raised, and blood shed, great moderation in 

 language, good humour, and reasonableness in 

 argument. 



In the same way we may see that our dogs 

 grow less and less quarrelsome as they become 

 more conscious of their powerlessness to inflict 

 injury. Their confidence, and with it their friend- 

 liness towards one another, increases; the most 

 masterful or truculent cease from bullying, the 

 timid outgrow their timidity, and in their new- 

 found glad courage dare to challenge the fiercest 

 among them to a circular race and rough-and- 

 tumble on the grass. 



Now all this, from the point of view of those 

 who make toys of sentient and intelligent beings, 

 is or should be considered pure gain. Moreover, 

 this undoubted improvement could not have come 

 about if the muzzle had been the painful instrument 

 that some dog-owners believe or say. It seems to me 

 that those who cry out against torturing our dogs, 

 as they put it, do not love their pets wisely and 

 are bad observers. Undoubtedly every restraint 

 is in some degree disagreeable, but it is only when 

 an animal has been deprived of the power to 

 exercise his first faculties and obey his most impor- 

 tunate impulses that the restraint can properly 



