Dogs are very like children who never grow up. But a child would have to have a very loving heart to be as fond of any one as a dog. A dog is so faithful, too; he never tires of people or thinks them wrong or unfair, and he is just as devoted and obedient to them however old he gets. He is always trying to please them and is miserable and unhappy when he fails. That is why it is so easy to train a dog; you only have to make him understand what you want and he will try and do it. If dogs could understand all our language, you would only have to say to your dog, “Don’t walk on the flower-beds,” or “don’t take anything off the table,” or “don’t bark when we want to go to sleep,” and he would obey you. This doesn’t mean that dogs are never naughty; I know they are sometimes, but before you punish a dog you should be quite sure he understands what it is for. If he is an intelligent dog, a scolding will often do as well as a whipping. Tim only had a whipping once in his life, and yet he was a very well trained dog. He was taught not to go across the beds in the garden by being called off and made to go round, and he never stole after he had taken one piece of cake.
I must tell you about that. It was really not quite his fault, for it was on a very low table, and being rather new I expect it smelt extra tempting. He was made to feel horribly ashamed. Ever afterwards the cake plate was shown him with reproachful remarks, such as “Oh, Tim, how could you! Oh, fie, what a wicked thief!” till he would turn his head away as if he hated the sight of the stupid old cake and wished we would stop teasing him. After this he could be trusted never to take anything however near the ground it was, and no matter how long he was left alone with it.
One day the tea had been taken into the garden. Tim, of course, could be trusted, but the puppies had been forgotten. When he came out there was Tim sitting up with a very dejected look, and the two naughty puppies busy with the bread-and-butter, some crumbs on their shaggy mouths being all that was left of the cake!
“Did they get a whipping?” you ask.
Well, when we found all our nice cake gone we did feel inclined to give them some pats, but then they were too much of babies to understand, so they had a shaking and a scolding and were shut up for the rest of the afternoon. Tim soon got more cheery when we petted him up and told him it wasn’t his fault.