Lad: A Dog

valley and the lake. The Place stood on the lake's edge, its meadows running back to the forest. There were few houses near

gs far better than he understood them. He made much of Lad, being loud-voiced in his admir

Madison Square, you know. It's booked for next month. Why not take a chance and exhibit him there? Think what it

dvance notice of the dog-show in his morning paper. He read the press-agent's quarter-column proclamation. Then he remember

and not one of them is half as wise or good or human as he is. And-a blue ribbon i

r to a friend who kept a show kennel

s a class for dogs that have never before been shown. It will cost you five dollars to enter him for a single class, like that. And in the Novice, he won't be up against any champions or other dogs that have already won prizes. That will make it easier. It isn't a grueling competition like the 'Open' or even the

e time word was returned to him that "Sunnybank Lad" was formally entered for the N

virulent type of the Show Germ. They talked of little else than the forthc

cifully ignorant of wh

, at ten A.M. Wednesday morning, until the hour of its close, at ten o'clock Saturday night. For twelve hours a day-for four consecutive days-every entrant must be there. By paying a forfe

fe!" exclaimed the Mistress in dismay. "He'll be horri

be aware that something unusual had crept into the atmosphere of The Place. It made him restless, bu

ths that made him as clean as any human. But never had he undergone such searching massage with comb and brush as was now

t all over him like the hair of a Circassian beauty in a dime museum. The white chest and fore

excitement which pervaded The Place. He loathed change of any sort-a thoroughbred collie being ever an ultra-conservative. This pa

every visible atom of it was washed away at once with warm water. But a human's sense of smell, compa

beholder is a delight-and which to many of the canine exhibits is a form of unremitting torture. To do justice to the Master and the Mistress,

which is an Airedale's chief natural beauty-and no hair of which must be seen in a show. "Plucking" a dog is

pipeclay into the tender skin. Sensitive tails and still more sensitive ears were sandpapered, fo

barber" natural furriness into painful and unnatural trimness. Ears were "scrunched" until their we

own form of torment; torments compared to which Lad's gen

the formula for raising and breeding prize hogs or chickens, and with little more of the individual element in it. The dogs

e kept in kennel-buildings and in wire "runs" like so many pedigreed cattle-looked after by paid attendants, and trained to do nothing but to

ng. Such traits do not win prizes at a bench-show. Therefore fanciers, whose sole aim is to win ribbons and cups, do not

he Master set forth for town with Lad. They went in their little

e ride; but now he crawled rather than sprang into the tonneau. All the way up the drive, his great mournful eyes were turned back toward the house in dumb appeal. Every atom of spirit and ga

le. To a chum-dog like Lad, it is heartbreaking. The big collie buried his head in

s was the hour when he was wont to make his stately morning rounds of The Place, at the heels of one of his two deities. And now, instead, these deities were carrying him away

ellowish building, arcaded and Diana-capped, which goes by the name of "Garden" and

and troublous odors. Now, as the car halted, these myriad strange smells were lost in one-an all-pervasive s

plangent roar of the city was painful to his ears, which had always been attuned to the deep silences of forest

e to Lad out in the street itself. And, as instinct or scent makes a hog flinch at going into a slaughterhouse

iosity. To such a man a bark is as expressive of meanings as are the inflections of a human voice. To another dog these meanings are far

. He had attacked tramps and peddlers and other stick-wielding invaders who had strayed i

whisper of her loved voice, he moved onward at her side with no further hesitation. If these, his gods, were l

ass. The vet' was paid to inspect all dogs as they entered the show. Perhaps some of them were turned back by him, perhaps not; but after this, as after many another show, scores of kennels were swept by distemper and by

e than two thousand of them, from Great Dane to toy terrier, benched in row after row throug

s volume of sound swelled to the Garden's vaulted roof and ech

red dog, while the Master went to make inquiries. Lad pressed his shagg

a table, a chair and a movable platform. The platform was some six inches high and four feet square. At co

carpeted with straw and were divided off by high wire partitions into compartments about three feet in area. Each compartment was to be the

of some of the compartments a wire barrier was fastened. This meant that the occupant was savage-in other words, that under the four

g thoroughbreds of all breeds, to a section at the Garden's northeast corner, above which, in large black lett

Mistress, touching th

very slowly climbed into the compartment he was already beginning to detest-the cell which was planned to be his only resting-spot for four interminable days. There

. She set before him the breakfast she had brough

was walking along the collie-section examining the dogs tied there. A dozen times had the Master

Lad. See-their noses are tapered like tooth-picks, and the span of their heads, between the ears, isn't as wide as my palm; and their eyes are little and they slant like a Chinam

east-is bred with a borzoi (wolfhound) head and with graceful, small bones. What's the use of his having brain a

agged the Master; "and again on a road where fifty people had walked

till care for sense in their dogs, and they make companions of them-Eileen Moretta, for instance, and Fred Leighton and

y toward Cell 658 they m

eat before we left home this morning, either. He drinks

ly a mouthful-most of the high-strung ones, but they drink quarts of

, as before. He did not so much as glance up at the stranger, but his great wistful eyes roved from t

ion' in them. Too much bone, too much bulk. Wonderful coat, though-glorious coat! Best coat I've seen this five years. Great brush, too! What's he entered for? Novice, hey? May get a third w

perfect as he is. You can't see that, though, because he isn't himself now. I've

minute of the time! And suppose about a hundred thousand people kept jostling past your cage night and day, rubbering at you and pointing at you and trying to feel your ears and mouth, and chirping at you to shake hands, would you feel very hungry or very chipper? A four-day show is the most

we'd known--" b

f so many journeys.) And he'll pay five dollars for every class the dog's entered in. Some exhibitors enter a single dog in five or six classes. The Association charges one dollar admission to the show. Crowds of people pay the price to come in. The exhibitor gets none of the gate-money. All he gets for his five dollars or his twenty-fi

oked in curiosity at a kennel man who was holding down a nearby collie while a second man was trimming the scared dog's feet

ur to make the coat fluffier. Elsewhere similar weird preparations were in progress. And

hing the fur the wrong way to fluff it) and to put other finishing to

esently," he told the Mistress. "Where's your exhibit

it for Lad yesterday, and this is his regular collar-though

ir dogs have choke-collars, why, then they've got to hold their heads high when the leash is pulled. They've got to, to keep from strangling. It gives them a fine, proud carriage of the head, that counts a lot wi

g on Lad for all the prizes on earth. When I read Davis' wonderful 'Bar Sinist

as you can. Lead him close to you with the chain as short as possible. Don't be scared if any of the

ept beside her, regardless of other collies moving in the same direction. The Garden had begun to fill with visitors, and the ring w

nnel men. At the table, behind a ledger flanked by piles of multicolored ribbons, sat the clerk. Beside the platform stood a wizened and elderly little man in t

d fast and carried their heads proudly aloft-the thin choke-collars cutting deep into their furry ne

splendid body showed his misery. The Mistress, too, glancing at the more spectacular dogs, wanted to cry-not because she was abo

he parade that circled around him. Presently he stepped up to the Mistress, chec

of the ring. Take him into the corner wher

s the ring, to the very farthest corner, she went-poor beautiful Lad beside her, disgraced, weeded out of the competition at the very star

e whined softly and licked her hand as if in encouragement. She ran her fingers a

heir heads between his hands. He "hefted" their hips. He ran his fingers through their coats. He pressed his palm upward against their underbodies

er Lad's presence, and, as though by way of earning his fee, he slouched acr

Apparently there was no need to look for the finer points in a disqualified collie. The sketchy examination did not last three seconds. At its en

now?" she asked, stil

judge, "and take t

red a little bunch of silk-dark

e Novice class! And this grouchy l

She saw it through a queer mist. Then, as she stooped to fasten it to Lad'

xclaimed joyously as she rejoined the delighted Master at the rin

chedly bad dog-show judge; as the Kennel Club, which-on the strength of his fame-had engaged his services for this single occasion, speedily learned.

so utterly departed from their ancestral standards. At one glimpse he had recognized Lad as a

the grand head, and the soul in the eyes. This was such a dog as McGilead's shepherd ancestors had admitted as an honored equal, at he

f his class, lest he be tempted to look too much at Lad and too little at

. His memory of the Guest-Law prevented him from showing his teeth when some of these passing humans paused in front of the compartment to

tress very, very proud of him. He did not know just why they should be for he had done nothing clever. In fact, he had be

ared at all; and two or three exhibitors came over for a special look at him. From one

contest whose entrants included every class-victor from Novice to Open. Briefly, this special competition was to determine which class-winner was the b

e show "for exhibition only." But the pick of the remaining leaders must compete i

e against a bunch of untried dogs, and quite another to compete

They can't take that away from him. There's a silver cup for the

time poor Lad plodded reluctantly into the ring with the Mistress. But

three days and nights to come-the nights when she and the Master could not be with him, when he must lie listening to the babel of yells and barks

sudden and highly uns

did not wave Lad to one side. The Mistress had noted, during the day, that McGilead had always made known

mpion Coldstream Guard. The Champion was a grand dog, gold-and-white of hue, perfect of coat and line, combining all that was best in the old a

the platform. Even the Mistress could not fail to contrast

slow intentness as McGilead compared the two.

rs squared. Up went his head and his ears. His dark eyes fairly glo

viewpoint. The Mistress could see he was. Even the new uptilt of Lad's ears co

his hand athwart Coldstream Guard's head. The

nderly. "You're second, anyway, R

snapped

ingers, falling on the dog's head in token of victory, had encountered an odd stiffness in the curve of the ear. No

plying of these strips had painfully imparted to the prick-ears (the dog's one flaw) the perfect tulip-shape so desirable as a show-quality. Champion Coldstream

ployed upon bull-terriers. A year or two ago a woman was ordered from the ring, at the Garden, when plaster was found inside

eld the Champion's leash-and who fidgeted grinningly under the judge's glare. Th

dge's duty to say so, I am heartily glad. I won't insult you by a

uptly gave the Mistress th

reds of hands were put out to pat h

the bench, the Mistress wen

present the cu

I believe," said the man. "

have to stay in this-this inferno

e. All th

stay, he won'

to the Reserve, I

he won't be defrauding anyone, and they can't r

n?" asked the pu

r understood-

ou, but I didn't have the nerve. Come around to the E

?" queried the colli

. Lad's coming home. He knows it, too. Just look at him. I promised him he should

you withdraw your dog like that, the Association wil

xhibiting him again-well, I wouldn't lose these two ribbons for a hundred dollars, but I wouldn't put my worst

wretched day. He broke it with a series of thunderously trumpeting barks that