Scottish Pet Portraits |
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| (1) A Working Colley |
| (2) Patsy Ann - 'Official Greeter of Juneau, Alaska' |
| (3) Beckett |
| (4) Eric Knight - creator of 'Lassie' |
| (5) Stickeen by John Muir 1909 |
| (6) Balto |
| (7) Old Yeller |
| (8) Old Shep |
| (9) Greyfriars Bobby |
| (10) A Little Hero |
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| A Good Worker It turned out that Adam, who was an old man and frail, and had made some money, was going at Whitsunday to leave, and live with his son in Glasgow. We had been admiring the beauty and gentleness and perfect shape of Wylie, the finest colley I ever saw and said, "What are you going to do with Wylie?" "Deed", says he, "I canna think o' selling her, though she's worth four pound, and she'll no like the toon". I said, "Would you let me have her?" and Adam, looking at her fondly - she came up instantly to him, and made much of him - said, "Ay, I wull, if ye'll be good to her", and it was settled that when Adam left for Glasgow she should be sent into Albany Street by the carrier. |
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| She came, and was at once taken to all our our hearts - even grandmother liked her; and though she was often pensive,as though thinking of her master and her work on the hills, she made herself at home, and behaved in all respects like a lady. When out with me, if she saw sheep in the streets or road, she got quite excited, and helped the work, and was curiously useful, the being so made her wonderfully happy. And so her little life went on, never doing wrong, always blythe and kind and beautiful. But some months after she came, there was a mystery about her; every Tuesday evening she disappeared; we tried to watch her, but in vain, she was always off by nine p.m., and was away all night, back next day wearied and all over mud, as if she had travelled far. She slept all next day. |
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| Well, one day I was walking across the Grassmarket, with Wylie at my heels, when two shepherds started, and looking at her, one said, "That's her; that's the wonderfu' wee bitch that naebody kens". I asked him what he meant, and he told me that for months past she had made her appearance by the first daylight at the 'buchts' or sheep-pens in the cattle-market, and worked incessantly, and to excellent purpose, in helping the shepherds to get their sheep and lambs in. |
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| The man said with a sort of transport, "She's a perfect meeracle; flees abouth like a speerit, and never gangs wrang; wears but never grups, and beats a'oor dowgs. She's a perfect meeracle, and as soople as a maukin". Then he related how they all knew her, and said, "There's that wee fell yin; we'll get them in noo". They tried to coax her to stop and be caught, but no, she was gentle, but off; and for many a day that 'wee fell yin' was spoken of by these rough fellows. She continued this amateur work till she died, which she did in peace. Our Dogs by Dr. John Brown First published in 1862 |
| True dog stories (2) Patsy Ann - 'Official Greeter of Juneau, Alaska' |
| True dog stories (3) Beckett |
| True dog stories (4) Eric Knight - creator of 'Lassie' |
| True dog stories (5) Stickeen by John Muir 1909 |
| True dog stories (6) Balto |
| True dog stories (7) Old Yeller |
| True dog stories (8) Old Shep |
| True dog stories (9) Greyfriars Bobby |
| True dog stories (10) A Little Hero |
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