A NEW DOG

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 1476, 4 March 1925, Page 2

A NEW DOG

ESTABLISHING RELATXOUS. - _ To those who have many dogs thei getting pf a new one may .mean little more ' than the buying of another hat', to''a willdressed woman (says a writer in the Lbn- ' don ' Times'). But to those who have but one, and would be quite incapable of preventing it from entering fully, into their daily life, even did they desire to do _so> the question is -far .more serious. It is useless to think of replacing.the departed watchman at once. A'decent interval must elapse, and meanwhile ''it'j is quite possible to become reconciled to* a dogless especially if in London, or even to develop into a a dog-hater'.;' Then something happens;, You -are?; offered a puppy, or there is an outbreak 1 of burglary, and you fino! that houses] with.dogs escape, or you get bored wjth things in.'|general,>'and with a sigh, you decide to try another. At once a whole world seems to.reawaken for you. You pick up .endless lost threads. You recover ypur' knowledge'-of-the canine map of the neighborhoodj, of the addresses and peculiarities of its-dog's,' to say nothing, of the cats, and in astonishment the changes that'hkyc taken place in the dog life around you. The bulldog in .the villas has gone, but. there is an even more formidable ione;/ 'in, thes'-crescent; the jsober old 'Sawishu'n'd doors down has a.far better influence on your rowdy puppy than the lively terrier found the cprner. . -,A doctor could hardly' do better than, pres'cribe'ia half-trainedvfox 'terrier of Sealyhampup for "a patient, suffering from depression,' Ordering him to exercise it as far'as possible Without a lead. He will have little' time for letting his'fancy roam or falling a prey, to loathed melaiicholv. • •'» ; - ' ', ,

A whole treatise may be -written on the naming of dogs and' the. reasons why certain names flourished at certain epochs. Possibly there is one already. There are Lear's Tray, Blaiich, and Sweetheart, for instance/ iDoes. Tray date from the time when-dogs were used as draught animals? Towsers are still to-be found, mostly in the country, and we all know dogs who should have -So oilier, name'. Indeed, I like to-think that cats have adopted Towzer as a, comprehensive term of abuse for all dogs. Dempseys there are, too, but heroes of the ring do not now stand godfather to as, many dogs as did the great Cribb. In Gray's, day big mastiffs were appropriately : called Pompey .or Csesaiy Of Peter and Jocks, especially among. Aberdeens, .there' is no end. On the whole, Blanch and Sweetheart are more in tune . with , our day. Manners, even among dogs, are milder, and their names more feminine.. There is Vecovet, for instance, a delightful' little cocker spaniel whose mistress ? spends "- almost as much time on his toilet as her own, and with hardly less 'charming results. But one should be careful. A name! may affect its owner. "Of course, if you will call him Cheeky, what can you expect?" A name may also provide a valuable safety-valve for the master. There was a naval officer' who named his dog after an admiral whom :he did not love," in«"drder to be. able to vent his feelings without danger. And the admiral was actually pleased with the compliment.;.' Your dog Will naturally influence your views of your,neighbors, just as it may influence their' of you, especially if they own cats or other dogs. Should his ■breed happen to -be quite all- it might be, you will- find' yourself .dividing them into the sheep, apd ,jjhe goats,' v thijse who lpye you ;and-, make-hf;4x)iht-* outsailing him a Seaiyham, and those,, who talk about mongrels always t being slj: intelligent'. . *A little iltalian girl.; once told the writer that she always talked"to her dog in English, because; she was sure it was' their natural language, since Jwe!:- understand them -and treat i them so. ;.mucb better than anyone else. '■ ., Of course, right. If there is ever'a danger ■of a" Bolshevist revolution in this country, all you have to do is to provide yourself 1 ;, with a dog, a terrier for choice; and you will be perfectly "safe A child may help you with the women,' but theretis nothing like a dog for the men; v It breaks ..down all barriers as if by magic. "Why 'don't 'e let 'em 'ave it aht ? ft exclaimed an indignant owner when we stopped a fight'before the end ; of the first round, and that though it was going against his, ovfn champion. . .'" ' Then there.are other delightful compensaitioris. -The_ prettiest, liveliest gijrls, those that wear the gayest colored stdcknever resist a' 1 nice dog. Why is it, by the way, that little girls "are always so much less afraid of them than little boys? J ' And' some of the pats they cannot refuse belong, of course, to the owner, or, if he is a bachelor, he likes' to think so. There must be,something nice about him, or he would not have so jolly a dog, for at. dog is generally a good deal what his owner makes him,, and he takes him about ;on the tops of buses in all weathers. "Love my dog, love me," in 'fact.'--' '- -. . ■ • '• - .-,"