A DOG’S LIFE

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6537, 20 February 1928, Page 11

A DOG’S LIFE

PETTED POMS AND VAGRANTS There is a social scale amongst dogs as well as there is amongst the humans who kick and pet them according' to their temperament. It is also a well' expressed truism that every dog has his day, but some live loss precariously than others. There are the aristocrats of dogland —fluffy-haired “Poms,” Pekinese, Sydney Silkies, and Australian terriers, whose pedigrees arc as big as themselves, Alsatians that dwarf them into insignificance by their bulk and look with disapproving eyes at one from luxurious motor cars, and greyhounds that have been elevated on the rung in recent times because of their value as tin hare racers—and there are the vagrants, flea-bitten, cadaverous, and mangy outcasts that arc buffeted from pillar to post, and have to scratch for an existence, unti they are ultimately gathered in by the dog catcher and put out of their misery. The balls of fluff of the Pomeranian variety have little to do but to look perky and nice, and sleep. They are fondled and caressed, and have as much affection lavished upon them as tho latest addition to the family. Delicate dishes aro prepared for them regularly and their cares in life are so few that they even have little necessity to Walk, for they aro usually carried from place to place under women’s arms—things of ornamentation. They look most inoffensive but they aro capable of becoming agitated and ■ emitting sounds that distinctly resemble a hark. From the point of view of • usefulness, they aro a negligible quantity, but their popularity does not appear to bo on the wane. On the other hand, there arc canines who have to work strenuously for their living, and earn every juicy bit of meat that comes their way. In this category come sheep and cattle dogs of the collie typo, that aro indispensable on the farm and to the drover. Intelligent, alert animals, they obey their master’s commands with des 1 patch, and a shrill whistle sends them speedily away to return a wandering sheep or a trouble-some steer to the fold. They never appear to tiro, and are indeed, true .friends to man. Here, passing reference might be made to the value of gun dogs, who live in luxury in tho off-season, but are compelled to bo on the job early and late when tho shooting season is at its height. But, when all is said and done, the lot of tho stray, although ho has little to do but to scrape around for a meal and avoid tho dog collector, is tho hardest of all. Ho is full of cunning, and, after a few days of vagrancy, knows where to find all the scrap tins that are likely to produce a dainty morsel or two, and a sheltered spot where ho can rest his weary bones and escape tho rigors of winter or wot nights. Tho roars of restaurants make “happy hunting grounds,” and it is quite possible, if alertness is preserved, to get down on a juicy bone lying around in a butchery establishment. Canines of this description daily roam the streets of every city, and In the course of a year the authorities find it necessary to destroy many hundreds of them by moans of a simple, but very effective, process. While occasionally a valuable animal is raked in for being abroad without the collar which usually distinguishes the outcast from tho dog that is merely temporarily lost, in the majority of cases it is the mongrel typo that is destroyed If a dog shows any semblance of breeding it is kept by the authorities for a week in order to give its owner an opportunity of recovering it and teaching it better manners. And so it is that, in this manner, aro the streets of the city kept comparatively free from the wandering dog nuisance.