ALSATIAN TREACHERY.
The psychology or morality of that popular and most precious dog, the Alsatian, has been much canvassed of late, in the Times and elsewhere. Many of the charges brought against the Alsatian are identical with those commonly brought against the colly. Both are said to be treacherous. One certain fact about the mentality of the genus dog is that its actions are uncertain, and are certainly dangerous, when any event produces over-excitement ; and they are an excitable race. An amazing example was given in the Spectator a score of years ago. A carriage upset at the gate of a country house, and several dogs, chiefly terriers, following the carriage at once fell upon the overturned crew and bit some of them badly. They bit the people they knew best and were most devoted to, solely because excess of excite- ment let loose some primeval savagery. Some dogs have been so long domesticated that the risk of such a relapse is negligible. A St. Bernard or old English sheep dog or a retriever can hardly be upset. They are as much under their own control as a man, and even more tightly bound by their affections. Other sorts are not ; and, of course, some varieties are of their nature more prone to excitement as in William Watson's admirable Study of Contrasts, that is of n cony and cat :
"Clamour on small occasion, fussiness."
They have more mental restlessness. Both the colly and the Alsatian rank high in this regard, but both have a peculiarly firm respect and love for their proper masters. You could not more deeply insult some old country shepherd.
than by venturing the suggestion that his sheep dog, a colly, if not usually a highly bred colly, is in any respect treacherous. His intelligent skill and fidelity stand out in comparison even 'with the retriever. But perhaps the dangerous quality ia both the colly and the Alsatian is enhanced, not diminished, by -their fidelity to one persOn. They are excitable partisans'; and their emotional nature as well as their sense of morality is flattered by an attack on anyone in the nature of a stranger. The instances of sudden outbreaks in Alsatians and in collies if at all soured by age are too numerous to be denied, in _spite of the high qualities of both.
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