OUTLINES
1. Dogs tamed from earliest times.
2. Many kinds of dogs.
3. The different ways in which dogs serve men.
4. The friend of man — the dog’s love and faithfulness.
The dog is an animal of the same family as the wolf, the jackal and the fox. But these are all still wild animals, and have never been tamed; while the dog has been the servant and friend of men from the very earliest times.
There are now many kinds of dogs, from big and strong animals like mastiffs and wolfhounds, down to the pretty lap-dogs which European ladies keep as pets.
Dogs are very clever animals, and can be trained to do all kinds of useful work. Some kinds of dogs make good watch-dogs, and guard houses against thieves. In cold countries, one kind of dog is taught to drag sledges over the snow. The famous St. Bernard dogs are trained to search for travellers lost in the snow on the Alps and guide people to save them. Many kinds are used in hunting; some, like fox-hounds, because of their keen sense of smell, and some because of their speed and keen sight, like grey-hounds, and deer-hounds. In the Great War, many dogs were used to carry messages during a battle to the troops. The cleverest kind of dog is the sheep-dog, that understands its master’s words and signs, and can look after a flock of sheep almost as well as the shepherd himself.
The dog has been called the friend of man. Many owners of dogs feel they are real companions. This is not only because dogs are cleverer than most other animals, but because, when they are treated with kindness, they are so loving and faithful. They will follow their masters everywhere, and will often defend them at the cost of their own lives. Some dogs have loved their masters so much that when their masters died, they have died themselves of grief. In the town of Edinburgh in Scotland, there is a monument to such a faithful dog. When its master died and was buried, it refused to leave its master’s grave or to eat any food. It lay on the grave day and night, and at last died of sorrow and lack of food. So the people put up a statue of the little dog, to remind everyone of its faithfulness. Its name was Bobbie, and as its master was buried in a cemetery called Grey Friars, the dog was called “Grey Friars’ Bobbie “.
