Funny dog stories by Darwin

Darwin’s dry sense of humor is captivating.  Consider the following entry (Darwin 1897, 191)  :  “We see him (the dog) on bare pavements scratching backwards as if to throw earth over his excrement, although, as I believe, this is never effected even when there is earth.”

Heh!  The picture of it!

Check out this passage as Darwin quotes Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (Darwin 1897, 25):

“Jackals, when tamed and called by their master, wag their tails, lick his hands, crouch and throw themselves on their backs;  they smell at the tails of other dogs, and void their urine sideways;  they roll on carrion or on animals which they have killed;  and lastly, when in high spirits, they run round in circles or in a figure eight, with their tails between their legs.”

Bibliography:

Darwin, Charles.  The variation of animals and plants under domestication, Volume I.  New York:  D. Appleton and Company, 1897.

Resources:

Attack of the Pomeranian! (videos)

Darrell Barnes Science and Nature YouTube Channel