Читать книгу The Story My Doggie Told to Me онлайн

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He was what the Family called a “bird dog.” When his Master went out with a gun to hunt partridges or grouse Jack would go ahead and scent the birds in the grass or bushes, and then he would stand very still, with his tail pointing straight out behind him and his nose pointing straight out in front of him, and his Master would know that there were partridges ahead and say “Hie on!” Then Jack would creep on very quietly and all of a sudden the birds would fly up in the air and his Master’s gun would go bang-bang! and then there would be partridges for dinner. I thought it was very clever of Jack and wondered why Father didn’t hunt birds too. I asked Mother about it once and she said:

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“Every dog to his trade, my dear. Jack is a pointer and pointers were made to hunt birds. Your father is a dachshund and dachshunds were made to hunt badgers and rabbits and animals that live underground. Jack is a very fine dog, but he couldn’t dig out a badger or a fox or even a rabbit.”

“Oh,” I said, “could Father do that?”