A REMARKABLE DOG

Taranaki Daily News, 16 February 1933, Page 5

A REMARKABLE DOG

YOUNG MAORI’S MESSENGER.. BRINGS THE TEA “BILLY.” In a remote comer of the Hokianga county there is a dog which might have made fame behind the footlights or in the moving picture ’ studio had he been given the opportunity. He is owned by a young Maori, Aninea, who is on relief employment on the ; new road to Mitimiti, on the coast. Skipper is his name, hut the “s” is silent in that Maori locality. He is a collie of not great beauty, hut has an extraordinary knowledge of both English and Maori. His most notable achievement is. to travel about a mile from the road works to the camp where Mrs. Aninea lives and return with a ‘billy” of hot tea for his master. He- carries his burden very carefully by the handle, around which a piece of cloth is tied tp improve his grip, and so far he has not upset the “billy.” Not only can be carry a long-handled shovel, although sometimes it takes him a little while to lift it at the point of balance, but he is able to pick out the right one from a dozen. To search for and find his master’s hat is easy. Occasionally he is sent for Aninea’s horse that has been left grazing with a loose rope, but is now a little diffident about leading the horse, having been kicked by it. “Skipper” has been sent miles with a note to a house where his owfter has been. Once he was sent up a paddock to a homestead on the verandah of which a lady was sitting. He was simply told to bring the hat. He took it frOm her head, carried it to his master and then, on command, returned it to the lady. This wonderful dog owes most of his knowledge to the training of a little girl, Aninea’s sister, who had no other playmate. Apparently she talked to. him as to another child, and he proved to be an apt pupil.