A CLEVER DOG

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19834, 25 June 1934, Page 13

A CLEVER DOG

OFFER OF £2500 FOR IT REFUSED. Recently I tried to “rob” a house, and I was arrested —but not by detectives,” says a “Sunday Chronicle’s” correspondent at Amberley, England. “Dewet of Pinefold caught me. He gripped my coat between two rows of strong white teeth, and held me in charge, and handed me over to his mistress. I went quietly.” “Now Dewet, let him go.. He’s a visitor, not a burglar,” said Mrs Girdwood. Dewet, her brilliant Alsatian, obeyed and “put it there.” Then under Mrs Girdwood’s guidance he performed a series of hair-raising feats.

This dog, it is asserted, can understand words in three languages, rescue children from blazing buildings, direct a jet of water on a fire by holding the hose in his mouth, run up and down a ladder. He can follow tracks like a bloodhound, catch eggs in his iron jaws without cracking them. . . . He can, in fact, do anything after once being shown, Six-andra-half years old, this dog was once a German police dog. He is jet black, a fine example of beauty and brains, ano his awards at shows and exhibitions nearly fill a room. Dewet is the dog money cannot buy. A wealthy American woman wanted to take him to guard her baby. She offered £2500. “But Dewet is worth more than all the money in the world,” Mrs Girdwcod said.

Although able to perform acts requiring extreme powers of endurance Dewet is amiable and gentle in the ordinary way, showing a distinct liking for children. He had rescued a child from a pond when he thought she was in danger of drowning. The dog is said to understand orders given in three languages—German. French, and English. “In July he is to perform in public and will be sent into a blazing house to perform rescue work. Then he will play a hose on to the seat of the fire,” said Mrs Girdwood. “He understands every word said to him, and is the most faithful animal I have ever known."