Love Sic, Love my Dog.

Auckland Star, Volume XVII, Issue 203, 30 August 1886, Page 4

Love Sic, Love my Dog.

(To the Editor. >

Sir,—l sco a hireling sorilx* has been writing down dog liberty. If ho could only be point?d out to those " two fine mastiffs and couple of staghounds," wheso beat is in " Symonds street, neav City Road," they would make fchort vark or him, The dog is a nobly aninal, and though he may now and then, in sport, tear dov;n a '.san, or in hunger worry and devour S child or two, what does it mattor? Wo have too many men at present, and too many children also. Dogs have an instinctive knowledge of tho bad and worthless, and only fiy at them. I knew a toothless) brindled pig-dog which used to pinch the legs of tho milkman who supplied a Scotch family. The milkman complained to tho guidwife of the farrily. Her reply was, " Ye canna be a quid man., or the dug wadaa bite ye." The other week a fellow was passing the open gate of a villa front ; a lady was sunning herself on the verandah of the villa ; a dog rushed out and bit the fellow on the leg ; he turned on the dog," the dog fled inside tha grounds, the fellow followed making a, straight course over flower plots. The dog hid, and the lady scolded the fellow for the havoc he bad made in the flowerplots, and heinsulcingly replied, "The dog shows more sense than you ; he knows he did wrong ; you don't." But what could you expect ? Hβ was one of the unemployed. There are little well-washed pats, ladies' dogs, who yelp nicely, and warn when anyone is approaching the house, and the lady reconnoitres, and decides whether to bo at home or not. If the visitor is only a parcel boy the dear pets oips his heels and keeps him from loitering away his master's time, and. tho ladies lovingly fondle these pete—a much more pleasant employment seeking out and relieving these horrid sick and poor. And is it not delightful to see coursing doge run down those ferocious hares? Eveiy gentleman of taste and breeding, and lady too for that matter, knows that. Kestrict theliberfcyofjdogs? Certaisry not. Look what a benefit they ara to ehopkeepers. When a shopkeeper has his front freshly painted, the attentive dogs come round and micturate on tho sides of the entrance, giving the fresh paint a finishing touch. Tbe drapers' rolls of carpeting and flannel they kindly attend to ia the came manner, imparting to tba fabrics a delightful odour, which causes great competition among tho purchasers to obtain the goods so treated. Butchers, in contravention of the City By-laws, haver often joints of meat projecting too far ovef the footpath. These tho dogs, in maintenance of the by-law, remove. a butcher throws a cleaver after the (iog , , making him drop the meat. Svi&a a wretch ought to be punished. Look sit the amusement dogs furnish. Is ther» a dog fight on the 3treet r and within two minutes there aro a couple of hundred of enjoying spectators on the spot. Should tho dogs or the crowd crush in a jeweller's window, what does it matter ? lie had no business to have a window there. Look, too, at the guileless simplicity with which doers conduct their amours in the, street, and what suggestive lesions they give tho rising geneiration. What a grand commanding auimal a mastiff about tho Eizo of a yoar-old calf is! One feels inclined to respect him and be civil to him, I saw one mount the platform of a public meeting, take position, and etava at the audience. He distracted tho meeting from its business ; but what of that? he waa anobledog, and no one was rude to him. One or two wheedled round him and decayed him out of the assembly, One of the same majestic figure accompanied a lady into a shop, but did not notice when the lady left. Hβ lay down in the doorway to await her return. The shopkeeper scolded him off, but did not attempt to kick him. Ah ! no. There he kept his place for Lours to the dismay of timid lady customers, and the reductions of the shopkeeper's takings. But what of that ? ho was a noble dogi We must have our dogs, and our dogs must have their liberty. Whoever says no ie destitute of doe sympathy, and a very brute. Though too poor to feed and clothe our children we must have our dogs, if only common curs. If in genteel circles and puzzled to make both ends meet, still we must have our doge, poodles or sporting, and whoever says co is unworthy the sympathy of tho human, or of tbe canine, race.—Youra, 4c, A. Campbell.

August 29