20 Chapters on Animals. 



vary his diet when necessary. Above all, give him plenty 

 of exercise, take him out with you into the fields and 

 woods — that is what he most enjoys. Keep him under a 

 strict and wholesome discipline, for dogs are happiest, as 

 men are, when wisely and steadily governed. Our ca- 

 resses ought to be reserved as a reward, or a recognition, 

 not given continually till the dog is weary of them. In 

 the same way, besides the regular food, we may give 

 occasionally little morsels out of kindness, because he 

 values the kindness, just as we like a cigar that a friend 

 gives us out of his own case. His happiness, like our 

 own, is best promoted by activity, by temperance, by 

 obedience to duty, and by the sort of affection that is not 

 incompatible with perfect dignity, of which every noble 

 dog has his full share. 



But however healthy and happy a dog may be, there 

 comes a time at last when the gladness fades out of his 

 life. I see with sorrow that my poor old Tom feels 

 obliged to decline to follow me now when I go out on 

 horseback. This is one of the first symptoms of old age, 

 and he does not hear so well or see so well as formerly. 

 Still, on a bright morning, when we go out in the woods 

 together, he is quite himself again, apparently, and the old 

 activity revives. It is that last renewal of summer which 

 precedes the frosts of autumn, that after-glow in the 

 western sky which is so swiftly followed by the leaden 

 greys of night. One of my neighbours has an old dog 

 that can neither hear nor see, and passes the dark, silent 

 days in an arm-chair which has been given to him for the 

 comfort of his age. One sound is audible by him still, and 

 one only — a little shrill silver whistle that he has obeyed 

 from puppyhood till now. It is one of the most pathetic 

 sights I ever witnessed, when the master comes and sounds 



