MY DOGS AND OTHERS 263 
would not have happened unless he had been 
poaching. Once when I had occasion to visit a 
strange keeper, and he was showing me round his 
premises, I sawa huge bundle of dog-collars—enough, 
I should say, to fill a half-bushel basket. I asked if 
he had recently given up a large kennel of dogs. 
‘No,’ he said, ‘only I always takes the collar off 
them as I shoots ; but there, most on ’em ain’t got 
ne'er ’n.’ A boy brought me a dog that had been a 
horrible nuisance to me for years, with a request 
that I would shoot it. I happened to know that the 
people who owned the dog were going away, and | 
sent back a message with the dog that they might 
have got rid of the dog long ago to oblige me, and 
I certainly would not shoot it now to oblige them. 
The most pathetic request in the dog-shooting line 
came from an old shepherd who was past work. 
He led his old dog on a chain to my cottage; he 
explained that he ‘couldn’t abear to see the old 
feller go shart o’ vittals,’ and asked me'to ‘take and 
shoot un out o’ the way.’ I promised him that an 
under-keeper should see to it. 
Coming across some sportsmen who were walking 
for partridges, and had with them a good-looking 
spaniel, I inquired how they were getting on. 
‘Pretty well—plenty of birds,’ one of them replied ; 
‘but the dog won't kill ‘em after we’ve shot ‘em 
down.’ I hoped he would improve, and walked 
quickly away. The funniest doggy incident I ever 
