SAGACIOUS DOG.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 207, 2 September 1936, Page 9

SAGACIOUS DOG.

NEWSPAPER RUNNER.

SEARCHES OUT HIS MASTER.

NEW PLYMOUTH STORY.

Many stories have been told of the intelligence of canine friends and the faithfulness of dogs t6 their masters. Here is another that is worth telling, and it is repeated daily in New Plymouth (states the "Taranaki Herald"). At the hour of the issue of the "Taranaki Herald" each day there is a dog, whose master lives in Brougham Street, who regularly collects for his owner the copy of the "Herald" from the street | stall and delivers it at his home. He boasts no princely pedigree, nor can he even certify as to his ancestry. _ He may even not be able to lay claim to that purity of breeding which is so much esteemed by many owners of dogs. There is little in his appearance to distinguish him from many other dogs that may be seen about town, or to cause anyone with an expert knowledge of canine quality to give him a second look.

Yet he has achieved a distinction with his master that has made him _ the firmest of friends and companions. Whatever else he may have learned, or whatever natural instincts he may possess, he understands how much his master values his evening paper, and regularly each afternoon he may be seen making his way to the street stall to collect his owner's "Herald" and then to deliver it at his home.

He knows, too, better than to give up possession to anyone else and has been seen to refuse to give the paper up even to his master until he reaches home. On a recent afternoon last he displayed one of his particularly interesting moods. Approaching the stall the paper was delivered to him and, trotting off along Devon Street at a.time when there was considerable traffic on the footpath, he searched out his master, who was walking about the street in the central area. Using his sense of smell,, which is the

strongest of the canine senses, he at last found "Own God," as Kipling makes "Boots" call his master, though not before he had done a considerable amount of investigating. Several other persons in the street, maybe some who knew the dog, made attempts to take delivery of the paper, but the faithful "runner" would not give up; nor would lie deliver to his master when he found him. "Own God" strolled back to his home in Upper Brougham Street and the dog for a moment lost him. A short whistle brought him up again with his master, but it was not until both had disappeared inside that the paper" was given up. There are other dogs who regularly bring the paper to the doorstep after runners have delivered at homes; but there are others, and these generally of the juvenile variety, that have not come to appreciate the importance to the household of the daily evening paper, who literally "devour the news" if a watch is not kept on them about the usual time of its delivery.