One of the cleverest and most amusing of dogs was Pincher, a rough
Scotch terrier, belonging to Mrs Lee's brother. [See Mrs Lee's
"Anecdotes of Animals."] The boy had a great fancy to be a doctor.
Having manufactured a variety of surgical instruments out of flint
stones, he pretended to perform with them operations on Pincher, who
would lie perfectly still while his teeth were drawn, his limbs set, his
veins opened, or his wounds bandaged.
The pretended doctor, finally copying the process practised on pigs,
used to cut up his favourite entirely. The dog was laid on the table,
when he stuck out his legs as stiffly as possible. Preparations were
first made for cutting off his head; and immediately the flint was
passed across the throat it fell on one side, and remained so completely
without motion that it might have been thought the dog fancied it was
really off. Each leg in succession was then operated on, and as the
instrument passed round them the dog made them fall, putting them as
close as possible to the body. When the operation was concluded, the
boy used to exclaim, "Jump up, good dog;" and Pincher, bounding off the
table, would shake himself to life again.