THE DOG
CLASS-ROOM LESSON
Use the conversation method, since this is an animal that is well known to all the pupils. By natural, easy conversation with the pupils, encourage them to tell what they know about the usefulness and the other qualities of their canine friends.
The pupils know that some dogs are useful for hunting wild animals, others for driving or herding cattle and sheep, others for guarding their master's property, others for hauling sleighs and wagons, while others are of use as pets or playfellows.
Discuss with the pupils the qualities that make the dog so generally useful to us. In this discussion, guide the thoughts of the pupils to the qualities of faithfulness, loyalty to his friends, and docility—few animals are so easily taught. Note his strength and swiftness—he can continue in a race until he catches almost any other animal. Note also his bravery—for he does not hesitate to attack an animal many times larger than himself.
Short stories of the following type may be told, to illustrate the chief qualities of the dog:
A dog was trained to guard any article that his master placed under his charge, and not to permit any one to touch it until his master gave his consent. One day, when returning from the mill, the master placed a sack of flour inside the gate for a neighbour who had asked him to do so, and then continued on his way without noticing that his dog had taken charge of the sack. All through the afternoon of that day and through the long, cold night that followed, the faithful animal remained at his post. When the owner of the sack came next morning to get it, the dog, although numb with cold and famished with hunger, would not permit him to take the flour. Nor could the stout-hearted creature be persuaded either by threats or by coaxing, until his master was brought, when, at his first word of command, the dog bounded joyfully toward him.
Conclude the lesson by a short discussion of the proper care and treatment that should be given to dogs. The dog requires a fairly warm but dry kennel, with a soft bed of straw or rugs. The food should consist chiefly of porridge, milk, bread, biscuit, and a little meat. Only dogs that are running a great deal out of doors should be given much meat. The dog should be given bones to pick; picking bones is as good for a dog's teeth as a tooth-brush is for a boy's.
OBSERVATION EXERCISES
By making observations upon your dog at home, find answers to these problems:
1. How does a dog hold a bone while he is picking it, and how does he get the meat off the bone?
2. Examine the dog's feet and find out:
(1) Why he does not slip while running.
(2) What protects the soles of his feet from injury as he bounds over rough ground.
3. Which is the sharper, a dog's eye or his nose? Watch how he finds his master in a crowd or finds an object that you have hidden.
CORRELATIONS
Language:
1. Require oral or written reproduction of the stories used in illustration in the lesson on The Dog.
2. Require the pupils to relate incidents from dog life that have come within their own experiences.
Art and Modelling:
1. A sleeping dog.
2. A dog waiting for his master.