SOMETHING LIKE THINKING

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 15, 18 January 1930, Page 3 (Supplement)

SOMETHING LIKE THINKING

HOW A RETRIEVER SAVED HER N PUPPY. Knowing from sad experience that all but two or three would 'be taken from her she evidently made up her mind t<J save as many as she could, and hid !oiie to such good purpose that her Oifrner, after repeated countings, decided that he had! been mistaken ift thinking there had been So he carried off,seven, leaving three. Next morning, when he returned to Lizzie's kennel, he found her lying serenely m the midst of four -puppies* and he declares that she grinfled all over her face when she saw 'him, a& much as to say: "I won that trick, at all events." She was allowed to keep all four for several months, but after that they were given away One by one'to friends and neighbours. She did not seem to iinind much till the last one went} but then she made a great fuss and appeared 'quite inconsolable for several days. At last she disappeared suddenly, and it was eventually found that she had succeeded an tracing her puppy to a farm about ten miles off to which it had been .eent. .. .. Prom that time otjl she made it a habit to visit the farm, regularly every two or three days, carrying with her fiot only bones and other bits of. food which she had saved from her own dinner, but also a variety of objects calculated to give pleasure to any wellregulated puppy; bits of string, old Shoes, and a stuffed rabbit whidh she liiad found lying about the house. When the unusually hot summer weather made it advisable that she , should be shorn she collected all the hair that had been cut off her j back and in some mysterious way transferred it to the farm to make the pup's bed Softer. Evidently she had a poor Opinion both of the food and of the other comforts provided by the farmer. At last his master grew tired of her running away and tied her up three nights running. She must have done a bit of thinking during this period and arrived at the Conclusion that the time had come to give tip her nocturnal, visits. But She was not going to leave her child to Its own resources in a place where it was not properly looked after. So at the very first opportunity she slipped off again, and when she returned she had the puppy with her! We wish we could report that she was allowed to i keep it after that, but stern discipline forbade. Ths puppy was returned to its new master and I/izzie made to understand once and for all that, she must wash her paws of it. But she did not forget it; and though she does not now play truant so often she still trots off once a month or so to see that all is well, and she takes her punishment like a IsAj.