28 JANUARY 1922, Page 15

DOGS AND WOLVES.

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] should be grateful if you or any of your readers can explain some curious characteristics of our watch-dog, a wolf- dog. He is considered very well bred, which perhaps means very closely allied to his wolfish ancestors. He is nearly four years old, and the last two years has developed some strange habits. (1) He runs round tables or chairs, or in the garden chooses plants or shrubs, uttering short, excited barks with his nose on the ground; when tired of revolving in one direction he does so in the reverse order. (2) He jumps at shadows on the walls and tries to lick them, but if they fall across his path in the garden he crouches down, wagging his tail, and tries to scratch them up by making a hole. (3) When I am drawing water from a tap, which is near the ground, to fill the watering-pot, the dog lunges at the running water and tries to bite it. This is the most strange trick of all. He is perfectly healthy, but extremely nervous, and a most excellent watch-dog, ready to bite anyone who enters our garden.—I am,