Anecdotes About Dogs, Personal and Selected

I have generally found persons, whether doggy or not, interested in anecdotes about dogs, particularly those displaying their intelligence, fidelity and courage. Some of the following are within my own knowledge, all are related as being believed to be true. I have selected those I fancied might be interesting out of a great many I have collected, but some of them may have appeared elsewhere.

We were telling of the extraordinary ways dogs will find their way home, alone, when a farmer in my district named Churchill said, "Yes, you see that Sheep dog," pointing to a large merle, rather old-fashioned type of Collie, called by his master "Ben." "Well," he said, "I was down at my daughter's in the lower part of Somersetshire, and had taken Ben there with me, by rail, and while we were all in the garden in the evening, I went into the house for something or other, and Ben missed me. He at once jumped the fence and set off on the return journey just as darkness was coming on, but he could not have wasted much time about it, as my servants told me he was back at my farm, more than forty miles distant, very early the next morning, and they kept looking out for me, as we were generally not far away from each other. I had that dog from a puppy, and I knew he had never seen that road before, it was dark soon after he started, yet he must have travelled at the rate of five or six miles an hour all the way, and at a time when there would be few people or conveyances about to help him."

I had a very similar experience with a dog of another breed. I had been travelling in the island of Skye, and bought from a game-keeper at a romantic looking village called Uig, a young dog, which he called a Short-Haired Skye Terrier, but which was, really, what is now known as a Scottish, or Aberdeen Terrier, called by the Gaelic name of "Fraochen," which I believe means heather, and was very appropriate in his case, for he was just that sort of brindle grizzled colour, that if he was in the heather (as I noticed many times while he was with me,) you could hardly distinguish him from it.

After going about with us to various places, I brought him to my mother's house at Clifton in Gloucestershire, where I was making a short stay, and the following day I went out for a drive over the Durdham Downs, through Westbury, Henbury, etc., to a village, about ten or twelve miles from Clifton, and (as I have since thought very foolishly,) I allowed, "Fraochen," to follow the trap, and several times during the journey, there I noticed him running by the side, or in front, but when we had accomplished the journey and were about to return by a different route, I missed him, and it then struck me, what a fool I had been, to take out a young dog, not only along a strange road, but in a country which he had never before seen, and quite a contrast to his native home in Skye. I of course gave him up as lost, which I much regretted, as his cool, independent manner and quaint, jaunty air had greatly endeared him to me, during the time we had been acquainted. However, when I returned to Clifton, I had to pass one place, near where some of the houses of the Clifton college masters now stand, where four roads meet, by one of which I must come to reach my mother's house. On the space in the centre, and commanding a view of these four, sat "Fraochen," waiting our approach. How he managed to get over the ten or twelve miles of quite unknown country, (as I found that he, like ourselves, came back by a different route from the one we went by,) I do not know, but I asked several travellers we met, if they had noticed a dog coming towards them along the road, and most of them answered they did, and that he was "running like steam," or he "wasn't wasting much time about it," etc.

He lived with me until his death from old age, many years afterwards but was quite a character in many ways. One of his peculiarities was, if he was out with my wife, with whom he was a prime favourite, without me, he considered her under his special protection, no matter how many or how large any of the other dogs out at same time might be, and if he was on, ever so far in front, and he met any rough-looking or suspicious character of the tramp species, he would immediately return and walk close to my wife's side, so as to come between her and the objectionable person, and continue that position so long as he was anywhere near.

We were talking of the speed of Greyhounds, which has been said to be equal to that of the fleetest horse, and a singular circumstance which occurred at Doncaster, in Yorkshire, sometime since, proved that it was not much inferior. A mare cantering over the Doncaster course, her competitor having been withdrawn, was joined by a Greyhound bitch, when she had proceeded about a mile, she seemed determined to race with the mare, which the jockey on the latter humoured, and gradually increased his pace, until at the distance, they put themselves at their full speed. The mare beat her antagonist only by a short head.

The race horse is perhaps from his superior strength and length of stride, generally able to outrun the Greyhound on level ground, but the latter would have the pull over him in a hilly country, or over ground at all rough or uneven.

The Greyhound is said to be deficient in attachment to his master and in general intelligence. There is some truth in the imputation, but he has, in fact, far less even than the hound, the opportunity of forming individual attachments and no other exercise of the mind is required of him, than to follow the game which starts up before him and catch it, if he can. If, however, he is closely watched, he will be found to have all the intellect his situation requires.In illustration of this, I remember reading in a very old doggy book, an account of two greyhounds said to be as arrant thieves as ever lived. They would now and then steal into the cooking house, belonging to the kennels, lift up the boiler lid with their noses or paws, and if any portion of the joints or pieces of meat rose above the water, suddenly seize them and before there was time for them to suffer much from the heat, fling it out on the stone floor and eat it at their leisure, when it had grown cold. In order to prevent this, the top of the boiler was secured by an iron rod, passing under its handle and tied to the handle of the boiler on each side; and not many days passed before they found out they could gnaw the cords around it, displace the rod and fish out the meat as before. Small chains were then substituted for the cords and the meat was cooked in safety for nearly a week, when they found that by rearing on their hind legs and applying their united strength towards the upper part of the boiler, they could lift it off the fire and roll it on the floor, so getting at the soup or broth, although the meat was not in their reach. The keeper who looked after them expressed himself heartily glad when they were gone, for he said he was often afraid to go into the kennel, wondering what they would be up to next, and felt sure they were demons, and not dogs at all.

A singular story is told of King Richard II. of England, and a dog of this breed. It is given in the quaint language of Froissart. "A Greyhound called Mithe, who always wayted upon ye Kynge, and wolde know no man els. For when so ever ye Kynge did ryde, he that kept ye Greyhounde dyd lette hym lose, and he wolde streyht runne to ye Kynge and faun uppon hym and leape with his fore fete upon ye shoulders of ye Kynge. It came to passe that onne daye as ye Kynge and ye Erle of Darbye talked togyther in ye yarde of ye Courte ye Greyhounde who was wonte to leape uppon ye Kynge, left ye Kynge and came to ye Erle of Darbye, Duke of Lancastre, and made to hym the same friendlye continuance, and chere as he was wonte to do to ye Kynge. The Duke, who knew not ye dogge, nor whence he came, demanded of ye Kynge what ye Greyhounde wolde do. Cousin, quoth ye Kynge, it is a great good token to you, but an evyl and a gruesome signe to me. How know ye that, quod ye Duke. I know it fulle wele, quod ye Kynge. Ye Greyhounde acknowledgethe and acceptethe you, here this daye as ye ryteful Kynge of Englande, as ye shal be, without doubte, and I shal be streyghtwaye deposed; the Greyhounde hathe thys knowledge, naturally, there fore take hym to you, he wil followe you and forsake me. Ye Duke wel understoode those wordes and cheryshed ye Greyhounde, who wolde never after followe Kynge Richarde, but continued to follow at all tymes ye Duke of Lancastre."

The owner of the dog an English Water Spaniel, tells the following anecdote, which is stated to be absolutely true: "I was once on the seacoast, when a small, ill-made and leaky fishing boat was cast on shore, on a dangerous reef of rocks. Three men and a boy of ten years, constituted the crew, the men swam to land, but were so bruised and knocked about against the rocks that they were unable to render any assistance to the poor boy, and no one was found to venture out to help him. I heard the noise and went to the spot with my dog, I spoke to him and in he went, more like a seal or other marine animal, than a dog, and after several vain attempts succeeded in mounting the wreck and laid hold of the boy's clothes, who screamed and clung to the ropes, etc., being much frightened at being thus dragged into the water, as the waves were dashing over the rocks. In the excitement and anxiety of the moment I thought the dog had missed his hold, and stripped off most of my clothes to render what assistance I could. I was just in the act of springing in, having selected the time when the receding waves gave the best chance, when I caught sight of old Bagsman, as my dog was called, with the struggling boy, whose head was uppermost. I rushed to where they must land and received both as they reached the shore.

Some time after I was out with the same dog, wild fowl shooting. We had both been hard at work and I left him behind me, while I went to a neighbouring town to get a supply of gunpowder. A man in a drunken frolic had pushed off in a boat with a girl in it, the tide running out, carried the boat quickly away, and the man being unable to swim, became frightened and jumped overboard. Bagsman was near the spot, heard the splash, jumped in, swam to the man, caught hold of him and brought him twenty or thirty yards towards shore, when the drunken fellow clasped the dog tightly round the body, and they both went down together. The girl was saved by a boat going to her assistance. The body of the man was recovered about an hour afterward with that of the dog, tightly clasped in his arms, thus dragging both to the bottom."

The sagacity of the Poodle is well known, and their aptitude to learn tricks. Mr. Wilkie, of Ladiethorn, in Northumberland, had one he had instructed to go through all the apparent agonies of death. He would fall on his side, stretch himself out and move his hind legs as if he were in great pain; he would next simulate the convulsive throbs of departing life, and then stretch out his limbs, and thus seem as if he had expired; in this position he would remain motionless, until he heard his master's command to rise.

Jesse, in his "Gleanings in Natural History," gives another illustration of the intelligence of this breed. A friend of his had one that was not always under proper command. To keep him in better order he purchased a small whip, with which he, once or twice, corrected him during a walk. On his return the whip was put on a table in the hall, but the next morning it was missing. Soon afterwards it was found concealed in an outhouse, and again used in correcting the dog. Once more it would have been lost, but on a strict watch being kept upon the suspected dog, he was seen to take it away from the hall table in order to once more hide it away.

There are endless stories told of the life saving qualities of Newfoundland dogs. I will here mention two of them. A German was travelling one evening on foot through the Dyke country in Holland, accompanied by a large specimen of this breed, walking on a high bank which formed one side of a dyke, his foot slipped and he was precipitated into the water, and being unable to swim soon lost his senses. When he recovered consciousness, he found himself in a cottage on the other side of the dyke, surrounded by peasants, who had been using the means for the recovery of drowned persons. The account given him by one of them was, that returning home from work he observed, some distance off, a large dog in the water, swimming and dragging, and sometimes pushing along something that he seemed to have great difficulty in supporting, but which he at length succeeded in getting into a small creek on the opposite side. When the animal had pulled what he had hitherto supported, as far out of the water as he was able, the peasant was able to discover that it was the body of a man, whose face and hands the dog was industriously licking. He hastened to a bridge across the dyke, and having obtained assistance, the body was conveyed to a neighbouring house, where proper means soon restored the drowning man to life. Two very considerable bruises, with the marks of teeth, appeared one on his shoulder and the other on his poll, hence it was presumed the faithful beast had first seized his master by the shoulder and swam with him in this manner for sometime, but that his sagacity had prompted him to quit this hold and to shift it to the nape of the neck, by which he had been enabled to support the head out of the water and in this way he had conveyed him, nearly a quarter of a mile, before he had brought him to the creek where the banks were low and accessible.Another story runs as follows: A vessel was driven on the beach at Lydd in Kent. The surf was rolling furiously. Eight poor fellows were crying for help, but no boat could be got off for their assistance. At length a gentleman came down to the beach accompanied by a fine Newfoundland dog, he directed the attention of the animal to the vessel and put a short stick into his mouth. The intelligent and courageous fellow at once understood his meaning, sprang into the sea, and fought his way through the waves. He could not, however, on account of the high seas running, get close enough to the vessel to deliver that with which he was charged, but the crew understood what was meant, made fast a rope to another piece of wood and threw it towards him. The noble beast dropped his own piece of wood, and seized that which had been cast to him, and then, with a degree of strength and determination scarcely credible, for he was again and again lost sight of in the roaring sea, he dragged it through the surge and delivered it to his master. A line of communication was thus formed, and every man on board was rescued.

Referring to some of the breeds peculiar to northern climes the following is told: A man named Chabert had a beautiful Siberian dog, who would draw him in a light carriage twenty miles a day. He asked £200 for him, and sold him for nearly that amount, for he was a most beautiful specimen of his breed, and as docile as he was beautiful. Between the sale and the delivery, the dog had an accident and broke his leg. Chabert, to whom the money was an object of immense importance, was in despair. He took the dog at night to a leading veterinary surgeon. He formally introduced them to each other, he talked to the dog, pointed to his leg, limped round the room, then requested the surgeon to apply some bandages, etc., round the leg and then seemed to walk sound and well, he patted the dog on the head, who was looking alternately at him and the surgeon, desired the surgeon to pat him and offer him his hand to lick, and then holding up his finger to the dog and gently shaking his head, quitted the room and the house. The dog immediately laid himself down, and submitted to a reduction of the fracture and the bandaging of the limb, without a motion, except once or twice, licking the hand of the operator. He was quite docile, and remained in a manner motionless, day after day, until at the expiration of a month, the limb was sound. Not a trace of the fracture was to be detected and the purchaser knew nothing of it.

Many years ago, the following scene took place in a street adjoining Hanover Square. It was an exhibition of a highly interesting character, worthy to be recorded. The then editor of the "Lancet" having heard that a French gentleman, Mr. Leonard, who had for some time been engaged in instructing two dogs in various performances, that required the exercise, not merely of the natural instincts of the animals and the power of imitation, but of a higher intellect and degrees of reflection and judgment far greater than is commonly developed in dogs, was then residing in London, obtained an introduction, and was obligingly favoured by Mr. Leonard, with an appointment to witness the performance of his extraordinary pupils, and he thus describes the interview:

Two fine dogs of the Spanish breed were introduced by Mr. Leonard, with the customary French politeness, the largest by the name of Philax, the other as Brac (or Spot), the former had been in training three, the latter two years. They were in vigourous health, and having bowed gracefully, took their seats on the hearth rug side by side. Mr. Leonard then gave a lively description of the means he had employed to develop the brain power of these animals, how from being fond of the chase and anxious to possess the best trained dogs, he had employed the usual course of training, how the conviction had been impressed on his mind, that by gentle usage and steady perseverance in making the animal repeat over and over again, what was wanted, not only would he be capable of performing the act required, but the part of the brain which was brought into mental activity by the effort, would become more fully developed and a permanent increase of power obtained.

After this introduction, Mr. Leonard spoke to his dogs in French in his usual tone, ordering one to walk, the other to lie down, to run, gallop, halt, crouch, etc., which they did as promptly and correctly as the most docile children. Then he put them through the usual exercises of the circus rings, which they performed as well as the best trained ponies at any high class circus. He then placed six cards of different colours on the floor, and sitting with his back to the dogs, directed one to pick up the blue card, and the other the white one, etc., etc., varying his orders rapidly, and speaking in such a manner that unless the dogs had a perfect knowledge of the words used, they could not have carried out his commands. For example, he said, "Philax, take the red card and give it to Brac," and "Brac, take the white card and give it to Philax." The dogs instantly did this and exchanged cards with each other. He then said, "Philax, put your card on the green," and "Brac, put yours on the blue," and this was immediately done. Pieces of bread and meat were placed on the floor, also figured cards and varied directions and instructions were given to the dogs, so as severely to test their memories, obedience and intelligence. They brought the bread, meat, or cards, as commanded, but did not attempt to eat any of the two former, unless ordered to do so. Philax was then desired to fetch a piece of meat and give it to Brac, and then Brac was told to give it back to Philax, who was to return it to its place. Philax was next told he might bring a piece of bread and eat it, but before he had time to swallow it, his master forbade him and desired him to show he had obeyed orders, and the dog instantly protruded the crust between his lips. While some of these feats were being performed, Mr. Leonard loudly cracked a whip occasionally, to prove that the animals were so completely under discipline that they would give no heed to any noises or interruptions.

After many other performances Mr. Leonard invited Mr. Blanc, a gentleman present, to play a game of dominoes with one of his dogs, which he consented to do. The younger dog, Brac, seated himself on a chair at the table and Messrs. Leonard and Blanc seated themselves opposite. Six dominoes were placed on their edges, in the usual way, before the dog and the same number before Mr. Blanc. The dog having amongst its numbers a double number, took it up in its mouth and dropped it in the centre of the table, Mr. Blanc added a single number to one side of it, the dog at once played another correctly, and so on, till all the pieces were used up. A fresh lot of six dominoes were then served out to each competitor and Mr. Blanc (just to test the dog) intentionally put a wrong number in the course of the game. The dog looked surprised and excited, stared hard at Mr. Blanc, growled, and finally barked loudly. Finding no notice taken of his remonstrances, he then pushed away the wrong domino, with his nose, and put a right number, from amongst his own, in its place. Mr. Blanc afterwards continued the play correctly and the game was won by the dog. Not the slightest hint or information appeared to be given by Mr. Leonard to the dog. This method of playing a game of dominoes must have been entirely the result of his individual observation and judgment. The performance was strictly private throughout, the owner of the dogs was a gentleman of independent fortune, and had taken up the instruction of his dogs merely as a curious and amusing investigation as to the cultivated intelligence of animals.

Plutarch relates that, at the Theatre of Marcellus, a dog was exhibited before the Emperor Vespasian so well taught, as to perform the figures and steps of every (then) known kind of dance. He afterwards feigned illness in a most singular manner, so as to strike the spectators with astonishment. He first exhibited various symptoms of pain, then fell down as if dead, afterwards seemed to revive, gradually, as if waking from a profound sleep and then frisked and sported about, giving meanwhile various demonstrations of joy and delight.

It is surprising the antipathy which sometimes exists between inmates of the same kennels, I have had several instances of it in the course of a long experience with most breeds. I remember some years ago I had a Skye Terrier bitch, called "Wasp," and a Pepper Dandie bitch, known as "Hornet," which we generally characterised as "The Insects," and very stinging insects they were, if they happened to meet. One day when I was driving in the dog cart to the railway station, at that time about a six-mile drive to the nearest town to where I was living, and as we were going along, I thought I heard a humming sound, and said to my kennelman who was with me, "Jump down, Hale, I believe those Insects are at it!" and I was right. They had eaten through the sides of their baskets, and got at each other, through the holes, and were fairly enjoying themselves on the journey. We managed to keep them apart the rest of the way to the show they were bound for. I cannot recall what the place was, but I well remember that "Hornet," who although quite a little creature, was a perfect demon with others of her own race, though sweet tempered, and most engaging with human beings, broke three chains I bought there, two of them new ones, in order to get again at "Wasp," before they left the show to return home. Their portraits appear in one of my pictures with pony, my children and dogs, and are very like them.