Page:The power of the dog.djvu/45

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crystallize the early impressions. With manners as charming and irreproachable as her looks, before many days had passed she had won all hearts, becoming an important member of the household. That wise head of hers held brains which led her instinctively to adapt herself to her surroundings, and fall in with the habits and wishes of the human gods who formed her little world. Visitors, though tolerated as necessary evils, were regarded with signal disapproval, heavy bark and bared teeth warning that no evil intent must be harboured towards the inmates of the house.

As Pandore grew older the downy coat was shed, profuse long hair taking its place in gradual transition, and she became more and more intelligent, until we agreed that we had never, among our host of canine friends, met one so sensible. None, too, could be more expressive. When on mischief bent she displayed it with a roguishness of demeanour that earned absolution for the misdeed almost before it was perpetrated.

Greatly did she delight in a game of "catch as catch can" on the lawn with the children. Entering into the spirit of the fun she would romp round in endless gyrations, bushy tail extended to the full a few inches from hands ready to grasp, but she could calculate to a fraction, twisting and dodging with the art of a football player, until pity impelled her to pretend she could go on no longer. One could fill a book relating Pandore's escapades,