Anecdotes of the Habits and Instinct of AnimalsLee, R., Mrs.
General
Anecdotes of the Habits and Instinct of Animals
Lee, R., Mrs.
Animal behavior -- Juvenile literature
The great friend and playmate of Bruin, was Pincher a very accomplished,
smooth terrier, capital dog to go with the hounds, and to kill all sorts
of obnoxious animals. If the two appeared to be asleep, and we
exclaimed "Cat!" or "Rat!" in one instant they were on their legs,
seeking in every direction for their game. They hunted on their own
account sometimes, and were often seen with a red spaniel, trotting
through the fields, no doubt conspiring together to have a feast. Both
Bruin and Pincher were perfectly aware when Sunday came round; and
although on other days, when they saw us equipped for a walk, they were
most vociferous in their entreaties to go also, on Sunday they hid
themselves under the sofa, and never offered to accompany us. They knew
where we went, and generally came to meet us on our return, sometimes
venturing as far as the gate of the churchyard, which was a mile
distant, but never went within the enclosure.
One of my brothers, who was more peculiarly Pincher's master, had a
great fancy to be a doctor as he called it; and he chipped various flint
stones into fancied instruments. With these he pretended to perform
operations on Pincher, who would lie perfectly passive under his hands,
to have his teeth drawn, his limbs set, his wounds bandaged, his veins
opened. The grand finale used to be an entire cutting up, which the boy
copied from the same process practised on pigs. The dog was laid upon a
table, with his legs stuck out which he made as stiff as possible. His
head was then cut off, and as soon as the flint was passed across his
throat, the head fell on one side, and it might have been thought that
the dog fancied it was really off, so entirely did he let it lie without
motion. The flint was then passed round his legs, each of which fell
down without further movement, as close to the body as he could pull
them. At last, when all was ended, my brother said, "Jump up, good dog!"
and Pincher bounding off the table shook himself to life again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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