Katharine Pyle

“ One day Fifine was talking again about my being [16] there. She was talking to Prince Coco, and I was under the sofa pretending to be asleep, but she knew I heard her. “I don’t see why our mistress allows him to stay,” she said. “He’s not at all like any dogs I ever associated with before. He’s just like those common little dogs we see running about the street when we go out riding in the automobile.” ”

“ He was a smart little dog, but not as smart as me. I heard Mr. Bonelli say to Mrs. Bonelli, “Ah, yes; he is quick, but not quick as is my little clown dog. There is but one Grineo, and I was foolish when I promised to sell him.”
And Mrs. Bonelli said, “But it is much money.”
Then one day, after Fido had learned all the tricks he seemed able to learn, an automobile came to the door, and in it was William sitting in front, and Tommy sat up beside him. ”

“ Mr. Bonelli had trained them. After they were trained he took them to a big place called a theatre, and crowds and crowds of people came to see them do their tricks. Showing off his dogs was Mr. Bonelli’s business, just as going to the factory was Mr. O’Grady’s business.
Soon after I came to live with Mr. Bonelli he began to teach me tricks. He began with easy tricks, almost as easy as the ones Mr. O’Grady had taught me, but he went on to harder and harder ones. Some of them were very hard indeed, and some were funny. I never knew there were so many tricks a dog could learn. ”

“ We went into a room and Tommy and his father [83] and Mr. Bonelli sat down and talked. I wanted to get up in the chair with Tommy, but Mr. Bonelli wouldn’t let me. He took me up on his knees, and all the while he was talking he kept smoothing me and gently pulling my ears.
At last Tommy and his father stood up, and Mr. Bonelli, too, and I scrambled down and ran over to Tommy, and Tommy caught his father by the arm and cried, “Can’t I take him now? Please!”
But his father shook his head. “You’ve heard what Mr. Bonelli says; he’ll have to train a dog to take his place before he can let him go.” ”

“ Prince Coco sat down close against the radiator. He always chose the hottest place. He yawned, [30] and then he looked over at me in sort of a proud, lazy way.
“Well, I hope you enjoyed yourself with the visitors yesterday,” he said. “Fighting before them all, and upsetting the tea and everything!”
The way he said it made me so mad I couldn’t help growling.
“Perfectly disgraceful,” snarled Fifine. “I never was so ashamed in my life. I’m glad the mistress told them you were Tommy’s dog, and didn’t belong with us.” ”

“ He said I was the smartest puppy he had ever seen. I heard him telling someone that. He said, “Why, that pup can almost talk; I believe he understands every word I say.” Of course I didn’t, but that’s what he said. I did understand a good deal, though.
I was the only one of the puppies that he kept. He gave the others away to different people. He kept only mother and me. Mother was getting sort of old and cross. She used to growl when I tried to play with her.
Mr. O’Grady used to play with me in the evenings while he smoked his pipe. ”

“ Tommy found him and brought him in, and begged to keep him for awhile. I don’t know how the dog managed to steal in here. Ring the bell, please, for James to take him away.”
When she said that I knew I’d have to hurry if I wanted the people to see my tricks, so first I rolled over and played “dead dog,” and then I sat up and grinned and waved my paws, and then I barked.
“My word! He’s a clever little chap,” said the gentleman, and he tossed me a bit of cake.
It fell on the floor beside me, and quick as a flash Bijou jumped to get it. But I was quicker than he was. ”

“ The names of the three dogs were Prince Coco and Bijou and Fifine. Prince Coco was rather old and fat. Fifine was a snappish little dog. I liked Bijou best, but they were all very proud and haughty with me. They were the kind of [15] dogs that are called Pekinese. They said that was the finest kind of dog that any dog could be, and Prince Coco told me he and the others were very handsome and worth a great deal of money. (Money is what you give to people when you want to get something from them.) ”

“ Trained dogs act just like any other dogs. They sniff about and play together, only never fight. Mr. Bonelli wouldn’t allow any fighting.
The dog I liked best was a little black dog named Sambo. He was just about my size, and we played together a great deal. We were great friends.
[53] Besides Sambo there was a poodle named Punch, and a terrier named Frisco; then there were Ruby—he was a setter—and Snaps, and Diamond, and Sancho and Frolic. I don’t know what kinds of dogs they were. There was a long-legged greyhound, too, who could jump further than any dog I ever saw. His name was Graceful. ”

“ In the doorway stood a man, looking down at me. A boy was peeping around the door.
“There he is, father, down in the corner,” cried the boy.
The man stooped and picked me up by the scruff of the neck, and lifted me into the hall and shut the door. “The poor miserable little beast,” he said. I was so cold I could hardly stand.
The boy knelt down beside me and patted me. “He’s almost frozen,” he said.
“He would have been frozen by morning. Take him down and put him in the laundry, and tomorrow we’ll see what we can do with him.” ”

“ And then James came in, and the mistress said, “James, take that dog out and shut him up somewhere.”
James picked me up and carried me out, and he held me so tight I yelped. Out in the hall he dropped me and pushed me with his foot. “Go on upstairs!” he said in a low, fierce voice. “Go on!” And I ran up, and hid under the sofa in the nursery. I was so miserable I didn’t know what to do. I did hope the other dogs wouldn’t come up there. I was ashamed to see them. But it hadn’t been my [28] fault; it was Bijou’s. Only nobody seemed to think of that. If Tommy had been there he would have known. ”

“ The friendly puppy and I talked together a a long time. He told me his name was Fido. I told him my name was Muffins.
He said the shop was a place where people came when they wanted an animal. Some of the dogs there were very fine dogs. I told him about Fifine and Bijou and Prince Coco, and he said some of the dogs in the cages around us were just as fine as they were, if not finer. We weren’t, though. None of the dogs in our cage were worth much. He said there was a sign on the front of our cage. ”

“ It is a great big place where crowds of people come to see dogs act. There is always a stage in a theatre, and bright lights. There are queer places back of the stage, and men hurry about and drag things round. ”

“ Almost always when we had gone through our tricks once we had finished for the day; but that evening the men came to the house again, and Mr. Bonelli put collars and straps on us,—but he didn’t dress us in our fancy things this time. Mrs. Bonelli put the things in a big case and fastened it, and then we all set out, Mrs. Bonelli too.
We went the same way we had gone in the morning, and after we came to the theatre Mrs. Bonelli took us to a room downstairs, dressed us, and then upstairs again where the stage was. ”

“ All those clothes of Tommy’s were going, and if I were in the trunk I would go, too.
Right away I knew what to do. I jumped into the trunk and scratched up some of the clothes and got down in a corner and put my head down underneath them, and then I lay there and kept perfectly still.
Soon Mary came back into the room. She moved about and shut a bureau drawer, and then she came over to the trunk. I could hear her.
“Tsch!” she said. “Whoever has been at this trunk!” Then she lifted something off my head. “Well I never!” she cried. ”

“ The mistress wants you.”
The three little dogs jumped up and ran toward her, and I did, too. I thought maybe this time she would let me come along, but she just said, “Go back, Muffins! You can’t come. You’re not wanted”; and Prince Coco looked back and snarled, “I should think you would have learned by this time that you’re not a company dog.”
I didn’t say anything—just lay down again, but I thought, “I’ll show you in a little while whether I’m a company dog or not.” I’d made up my mind that I’d get into the drawing-room this time in spite of Mary.
[25] Tommy was away that afternoon. ”

“ I I AM a little white, rough-haired dog, with a black spot around one eye, and black ears and tail.
I am about the size of a terrier or a spaniel, but I’m not really either. At one time I thought I might be a poodle, but then it turned out I wasn’t. I’m just not any special kind of dog. My mother wasn’t any special kind either. She was a smooth-haired white dog. Fan was the only one of us puppies that looked like mother.
There were five of us. There were Rover and Fanny, and Jack and Snip, and then me. My name was Smarty, but it isn’t now.
[2] We belonged to a man named O’Grady. ”

“ A man came forward from the back of the shop, and William said, “This is the dog.”
[42] The man took me and looked at me. I didn’t like him. He scared me and I growled at him, but he didn’t pay any attention. “All right!” he said, and then he opened the door of one of the cages and put me in with a lot of other puppies.
He shut the door of the cage and fastened it, and then he gave William some money. ”

“ There was a raised part at one end that he called a stage, and we had to get up on the stage and go through our tricks every day. If any dog made a mistake he had to go through his tricks all over again. ”

“ A little [64] house would be brought on the stage, and Mr. Bonelli would pretend to set fire to it. It was fixed so it wouldn’t really burn, but the fire was inside and came out of the windows, so it looked as though it were burning.
Then Graceful and Ruby would come galloping in harnessed to a little fire engine, with Sancho sitting up in front with the reins in his paws. Diamond stood on the back of the fire engine and kept pushing a gong with his paw so it went “Jang! jang! jang! jang! jang!” ”

“ He would tie me in the factory yard and leave me there until the noon hour when he and the other men stopped working to eat their dinners. Then he would come for me and take me in where they were. The men used to throw me scraps from their dinner pails. ”