He then acts as if another dog were chasing him.
This curious kind of play, which must be familiar to every one
who has attended to dogs, is particularly apt to be excited,
after the animal has been a little startled or frightened,
as by his master suddenly jumping out on him in the dusk.
In this case, as well as when two young dogs are chasing each
other in play, it appears as if the one that runs away was afraid
of the other catching him by the tail; but as far as I can
find out, dogs very rarely catch each other in this manner.
I asked a gentleman, who had kept foxhounds all his life,
and be applied to other experienced sportsmen, whether they
had ever seen hounds thus seize a fox; but they never had.
It appears that when a dog is chased, or when in danger
of being struck behind, or of anything falling on him, in all
these cases he wishes to withdraw as quickly as possible his
whole hind-quarters, and that from some sympathy or connection
between the muscles, the tail is then drawn closely inwards.
A similarly connected movement between the hind- quarters and
the tail may be observed in the hyaena. Mr. Bartlett informs
me that when two of these animals fight together, they are
mutually conscious of the wonderful power of each other's jaws,
and are extremely cautious.
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