FOR THE LITTLE ONES

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 237, 7 October 1933, Page 3 (Supplement)

FOR THE LITTLE ONES

DOGGY LANGUAGE

SUPPOSE YOU WERE AN ANIMAL

My Dear Little Friends, E a ch year the S.P.C.A., which, as you know, stands for the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, sets aside one week when they ask everyone to have a special regard for the welfare of animals. To-day sees the close of that week for 1933, but I do hope that all my little friends will make every week animal welfare week. The society uses as its slogan, "We speak for those that cannot speak for themselves." That is splendid, but I believe that animals can speak. True they cannot utter actual words, but they employ means of telling us their thoughts in a manner which cannot be misunderstood. I owned a lovely big dog. We were great pals, he and I, and, just as he knew almost every word I said, so could I understamd him. His eyes performed duty for his voice, and just as we humans can, so did he show pleasure or sorrow, understanding or lack of understanding, whilst sometimes when he was puzzled his comical expression left no doubt as to what he meant. Now we who have pets must remember that the animals we control by word of mouth rely very much on the tone of our voice rather than the actual words. You can try this for yourself, and you will find that ,f you adopt the Go and sit down, sir" tone, but say the words, "Come here, old chap, your pet will drop hi. tail and "go «md sit down." But C h 'V yei ; a " d y, ou wi » see i" them a puzzled expression, which shows quite clearly that he knows thing, are not quite right , D o™'oir&» to p z. —'°" e ' bM -** '<•»' "■«' Let's all try and be kinder, more considerate, towards our pets and before we say or do anything, letus say to ourselves, "Now, if I was the pet and the pet was me, would I like to do this T' Then mv little friends you cannot go wrong, and, after all, we do not «■ u . • bullies; we do not intend to be mtend to be we just "didn't think." But from now 1 on I know all my little friends are f} going to think for their pets, and so make their lives ever so much happier.