Country Life
A. DOG'S SENSES.
A spaniel puppy in my garden distinguished himself the other day by an unmistakable interest in the scent of a bush of ribes or wild currant. As he passed it, he stopped suddenly, as a dog stops at a sudden perception, and he began to sniff at the leaves and flowers. He was obviously—and ludicrously —puzzled. It appeared to me quite beyond argument that the dog noticed and was interested in the scent. It has been alleged again and again in books on the senses of animals that dogs are only aware of scents of animal origin. Certainly they do not apparently pay the least observable heed to the vibrations that delight the human nostril. A bed of asphodel would not divert their attention from the scent of a fox's pad a quarter of an hour old. But does anyone know how far this is due to mere interest ? Is it likely to be true that a dog, with its scarcely credible sensitiveness of perception, is absolutely cut off from all those classes of scent that please
men and insects ? *
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