DO DOGS RECOGNISE PORTRAITS?
LTo THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."] Srn,—Having been much interested in some letters which appeared in the Spectator. a while ago about dogs taking notice of pictures, &c., I venture to send you the following. We had a well-bred and very intelligent fox-terrier who had once or twice shown a tendency to run sheep, but who had been cured (contrary to our expectations) by judicious punish- ment. One day I was employed in painting a picture of sheep and sheep-dogs in the snow. Having occasion to leave the room, I leaned the painting up against the wall; on returning, I was much flattered to find 'Grip' gazing intently at it, with
ears erect and all the signs of canine excitement. What seems to me curious is, that the sheep were only about eight or ten inches in length, and the dog must have understood that they were supposed to be at a distance from him.
Any one who has tried to make a dog see an object a good way off, must know that it is generally rather difficult to do so, as he depends so much more on his nose than his eyes ; it therefore seems to me a sign of great intelligence that a dog should recognise sheep as sheep when they were not the natural size. (The dogs in the picture he apparently entirely ignored.) I shall be glad to learn if any of your readers know of a similar instance. We often amused our- selves by showing the dog the picture on future occasions, and he once was so excited, that he jumped on a table to get a better view; but in the first case he certainly found it out for
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