CHAPTER XVI 
MY DOGS AND OTHERS 
A good dog—A wild dog—Dog-dealing—A London auction—Two 
little terriers—Perfect obedience—Two tragedies—A beautiful 
Clumber — Distemper — Natural accomplishments of dogs— 
Friendships among dogs— And with a goose—A mad dog—Dog- 
shooting—Trespassing dogs. 
Opinions differ as to what is a good dog. A very 
learned Oxford classic was standing by me while 
I was ferreting and shooting rabbits in a dell; and 
SO was a wavy-coated retriever bitch that I had 
picked up in a neighbouring town for a sovereign 
when I was hard-up for money and a dog. A 
rabbit bolted, and tore round the side of the dell. 
I scarcely had time to fire before the bitch was off 
and back with the rabbit. So impressed was my 
companion with the performance of the dog that 
I am certain he would have given me a big price 
for her had he been in need of a retriever. I got 
a litter of puppies from her, one of which I sold 
at eighteen months old for twelve pounds to the 
son-in-law of a rich brewer, and then sold her 
back to her former owner for the same price as 
I gave for her. 
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