It took Cutey’s owner three months to teach her how to say “I want my rights.” He got the idea from observing the dog trying to repeat things that were said to her. It was also asserted by neighbors that Cutey was able to say “I will not” and “Good night, everybody.”
A dog named Rolf attracted much attention in Berlin because of his power to utter sounds which could be distinguished as words. This dog not only could speak, but he could spell. In fact, he attracted so much attention that Professor Claparede, of the department of experimental psychology of the University of Geneva examined the dog and pronounced him a wonder.
The professor, in order to avoid collusion between the dog and his mistress, brought a set of pictures along with him which the dog had never seen. One of the pictures showed four mice nibbling at cheese. Without any hesitation the dog spelled out words which convinced Professor Claparede that Rolf knew what the picture was.
Not long ago the police of Philadelphia made what they considered an important capture in the form of a dog who was in league with a band of thieves. While this animal did some petty thieving on his own account, he was valuable to the thieves because of his ability to “talk” to them whenever he saw policemen approaching. His “talk” consisted of short barks, which the thieves understood perfectly.
Although the police were suspicious of the owners of the dog, they could never catch them in the act. Finally it dawned on them that the dog had been trained to run up and down before places which were being robbed. The police then decided to watch the dog, and, swooping down suddenly one night on the four-footed “lookout,” they caught the thieves at work.
There lived in Cranford, N. J., a dog which could not only “talk” but read a newspaper as well. The dog, whose name was Throgs, was the property of Miss Alice Lakey, of the New Jersey State Food Commission, and had the regular job of going to the newspaper store every morning for the family paper. He carried the coin wrapped up in a paper, gave it to the news dealer, got his paper, and returned home with it in his mouth.
One morning the regular news dealer was not present at the stand, but another person in the store slipped a paper into Throgs’ mouth. The dog walked slowly out of the store to the other side of the street, where he dropped the paper and then thoroughly scrutinized it. Convinced that it was not the paper he was in the habit of getting, he sat down and waited until the news dealer returned. Then he walked back to the store, got his regular paper, and trotted home with it.