The Sense Of Boundary In Dogs
[March 14, 1885.]
I have been much interested in the communications which have appeared
from time to time in the Spectator in reference to "animal
intelligence." Recently my attention has been called to a somewhat
striking illustration of it, in the case of my own dog and his canine
neighbour next door. Wallace is an Irish staghound, and is about a year
old. My neighbour's dog is a pointer, and is conside
ably advanced in
life. There is no hedge nor fence separating the two estates. The
dividing line runs between two stone posts about a foot in height, and
more than two hundred feet from each other. The dogs have never been
friendly, the pointer having repeatedly driven Wallace back over the
boundary when he has caught him trespassing. Both dogs, even when going
at full speed, stop the moment my dog has crossed the line. How does
the pointer know where the line runs, and how does Wallace know when he
is safely across it?
F. TUCKERMAN.