House Dogs 
Now here again about “Laddie.” He was a very 
young dog when my English friend gave him to me, 
and when I took him out to my place in Morris 
County, New Jersey, I had a toddling daughter, 
more pleasant than kind. She had a habit of sitting 
down on “Laddie,” pulling his ears, 
and otherwise making him very un¬ 
comfortable. He soon found that 
his comfort was in quitting her 
acquaintance; whenever she 
appeared, he ran away. Bur 
towards nightfall, when the 
nurse brought the little girl 
to say her “ good-nights, ” 
the dog took notice. Fif¬ 
teen minutes or so after 
the child had disap¬ 
peared, he would also dis¬ 
appear, and he stretched 
himself out by the side of 
her crib and remained there 
until the morning. Was 
not that fidelity Now anoth¬ 
er instance about this same dog. 
One day my sister went oft' for a 
mile or so from my house and sat 
down by a spring on a very se¬ 
cluded road. I'here appeared 
pretty soon a very shabby man in 
a very shabby wagon. Instead of 
passing by, he stopped and tried 
to engage in conversation. My sister was annoyed, 
and somewhat alarmed. She did not speak to 
“Laddie” at all, but “Laddie” took in the situation 
himself, and he went for that man there and then. 
He tumbled him out of his wagon, and my sister’s 
only difficulty was to prevent the chewing up of the 
intruder. 
If I were to tell you 
the rest of “ Lad¬ 
die’s” history, socio¬ 
logically and dogmat¬ 
ically, I should be in 
danger of reproof 
from high authority 
for “faking!” God 
save the mark! 
Now as to other 
dogs: T h e r e i s a 
prevalent idea that 
the mastiff is a cruel 
and dangerous dog. 
Nothing could be 
more absurd. The 
purely bred mastiff' 
is as kindly as an old- 
fashioned policeman. 
But the mastiff. 
crossed with some other breed, becomes one of 
the most dangerous dogs that can be conceived of. 
lake, for instance, the Newfoundland, a dog once 
held in very high esteem in this country, and still 
highly regarded m England, and cross this type with 
the mastiff and the result is a mongrel 
which gives disrepute to the mastiff' 
and the Newfoundland. Here, by 
the way, is an axiom in regard 
to animal breeding: that mon- 
grelization tends always to 
the accentuation and exag¬ 
geration of all the evils of 
both types. We all know 
that every now and then, 
“the yellow dog” of un¬ 
known parentage is most 
interesting—this is the 
exception that proves the 
rule. 
I suspect that there is 
as much nonsense believed 
about dogs as there is about 
horses; and there the field 
stretches from horizon to hori¬ 
zon. The English greyhound, for 
instance, is regarded by people 
who have no knowledge of the 
breed as unintelligent and unaft'ec- 
tionate. Everyone concedes, of 
course, that for gracefulness of 
action and symmetry of form, there is nothing in 
the dog species that approaches it. 1 will confess 
that I was a pessimist in regard to the greyhound 
until I had an opportunity to study him at close 
quarters. I now know that a better dog for the 
house or the country place could not be had. 
Stretched on the 
hearth, he is as beau¬ 
tiful as a peacock on 
the lawn. And when 
he puts his muzzle 
into your lap, it is 
“ Sweetheart, c o m e 
back again. ” 
Here is a rather 
interesting instance 
of greyhound breed¬ 
ing. Mrs. H.C. Kel¬ 
ley, Tioronda Ken¬ 
nels, Nyack, New 
York, began breed¬ 
ing only about eight 
years ago. She has 
succeeded by careful 
mating in breeding 
the best greyhounds 
that this country has 
Scottish Terrier 
New Castle Kennels, Brookline, Mass. 
Sco'iTiSH Terrier 
New Castle Kennels, Brookline, Mass. 
37 
