A BIT OF DOG EXPERIENCE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 13, 26 March 1892, Page 310

A BIT OF DOG EXPERIENCE.

BY SYDNEY DAYRE. TgSKtE'ag’’' ES, I’ll give you two pounds for him if you’ll ■7 break him of that trick.’ t>l could, I wouldn’t want to sell him,’ £ said Jack. ‘ He’s the best watch dog in the « country.’ jtrj[Gs\ * That’s what I want him for.’ ; ‘lt’s the only trick he’s got,’ said Jack, patting the head of the dog, which looked :r " up with eyes human in expression, wagging his tail at the caress; then hung his head in shame as Jack went on. ‘Ah, you scamp, how dare you chase the cattle ! But you,’ he said to Mr Hardy, ‘ have so little stock, I thought you might get along with him.’ ‘ Little or many, you don’t want a dog tearing after ’em.’ ‘ No, you don’t,’ said Jack, much depressed. ‘ I’ve tried every way to cure him. I whip him, and tie him up. See ; he breaks away,’ pointing to a fragment of chain which hung to Carlo’s collar.

‘ But you can’t keep a dog tied all the time. And when you whip him, he doesn’t know

what it’s for.’ ‘ That’s so,’ said Jack. ‘ It’s too bad !’ Mr Hardy walked across the field in the direction of his own farm, while Jack wandered towards the house, turning over in his mind

many projects, possible or impossible, for the

breaking of his favourite dog of the most objectionable practice of running after the fine live stock upon his father’s farm. It was in the pure fi olicsomeness of immature doghood that

Carlo would make a sudden rush upon some fine animal, and with loud barks and growls,

chase it madly through the meadow and the adjoining strip of woods, very often driving it to the verge of frenzy by seizing and holding on to its tail.

It was early in one of the long summer evenings, and as Jaek walked up the driveway he perceived that most of the family were seated

on a side porch. ‘Mr Hardy doesn’t want Carlo,' he said, addressing the company in genera), ‘ unless he can be broken of running after cattle.’

‘Well, I’m afraid,' said Jack’s father, ‘that the only cure for that will be a dose of cold steel.’ ‘ Where is he now?’ asked Hiram, Jack’s brother. ‘ He was with me a few moments ago,’ said Jack, looking around. ‘ I don’t know where he is. I meant to bring him up and tie him.' ‘ Hark 1’ said his father. A succession of sharp barks followed by the bellows of a worried animal smote upon the quiet air. ‘ That’s him now !’ exclaimed Jack, springing to his feet in dismay.

• After one of those young steers,’ said his brother. Over the meadow the sounds came clearly. Jack struck out on a lively run, his brother following, while his father, with an expression of great irritation on his face, brought up a slower rear. • Get out, there ! Quit, you rascal—or—l’ll—blow your brains—out,’cried Jack, as he panted on, striving to get near the scene of the trouble, although it had never as yet been any use to call Carlo when he was once in pursuit of his favourite amusement.

Arriving at the edge of the woods, Jack stopped a minute to get his direction clear, and at once perceived a variation upon the sounds usually attending Carlo’s diversion. The occasional bellow, choked and gasping through violent exercise, was easily heard, but mingled with it was the voice of the dog, not in short barks of triumph, amusement, or mischief, but in loud yelps and howls, plainly expressive of pain, fright and dismay. They were approaching. Jack ran to where he could secure a view, and then stood in open-mouthed wonder. Was it boy hunting bear or bear hunting boy?

There came the steer, wild-eyed, and panting in efforts to escape from the enemy. After it came Carlo, but not this time in malicious pursuit, with the tail of the poor beast between his teeth.

The broken chain had become firmly entangled in the mass of burdock matted in the hair at the end of the steer's tail, and Carlo was being dragged helpless. Over logs, against trees, through bushes, the steer still, in its fright, believing itself pursued. • Hullo 1 Stop I’ shrieked Jack, trying with both arms extender!, to stop the steer. But it turned aside. Carlo giving a yelp of added agony as he was jerked between some close growing saplings. ‘Stop him! screamed Jack to Hiram. Head him off! He's yanking Carlo round on his tail, and thrashing the woods with him. He'll be killed.'

By the efforts of both boys and their father, the steer was headed towards a corner of the woods where it was hoped he might be stopped. But with a bound he cleared a brush fence. Jack's eyes at the moment dimming with tears as he saw Carlo dragged over it. • Into the lane, hi !' he contrived to gasp. Others were now joining in the chase, and the steer was finally stopped in a narrow lane. Poor Carlo had by this time almost given up running. Tears flowed from Jack's eyes as he bent over his pet ‘ All bruised and scratched. Oh, Carl, why wouldn't you learn sense ? There's —just enough of him left to—lick my hand ’ ‘ Come, come,' said his father, as the boy's voice broke into something very like a sob. ‘ He'll get well all right. Perhaps it'll be the best thing that could have happened to him.’ Which proved to be a correct opinion. Carlo, tenderly nursed by his young master, soon recovered from his injuries, and always afterwards at the approach of anything in the shape of a bovine turned his face with what Jack called a far-off look in his eyes, by which he meant that Carlo s body quickly followed his eyes. ‘ I’ll give you the two pounds now,’ said Farmer Hardy two or three months later. ‘ Thank you, sir,' said Jack ; ‘ but I think I 11 keep him.'