The Dog Who Wouldn't Be by Farley Mowat Page B

those dogs, and we lowered our spears to the “ready” position, undecided whether to attempt Mutt’s rescue or not. In the event, we were not needed.
    Mutt remained unperturbed, although this may have been only an illusion, resulting from the fact that he was concentrating so hard on his balancing act that he could spare no attention for his assailants. He moved along at a slow but steady pace, and having safely navigated the Huskies’ fence, he jumped up to the slightly higher fence next door and stepped along it until he came to a garage. With a graceful leap he gained the garage roof, where he lay down for a few moments, ostensibly to rest, but actually – I am certain – to enjoy his triumph.
    Below him there was pandemonium. I have never seen a dog so angry as that bull terrier was. Although the garage wall facing on the alley was a good eight feet high, the terrier kept hurling himself impotently against it until he must have been one large quivering bruise.
    Mutt watched the performance for two or three minutes; then he stood up and with one insolent backward glance jumped down to the dividingfence between two houses, and ambled along it to the street front beyond.
    The tumult in the alley subsided and the pack began to disperse. Most of the dogs must have realized that they would have to run halfway around the block to regain Mutt’s trail, and by then he might be far away. Dispiritedly they began to drift off, until finally only the bull terrier remained. He was still hurling himself at the garage wall in a paroxysm of fury when I took myself home to tell of the wonders I had seen.
    From that day forth the dogs of the neighborhood gave up their attempts against Mutt and came to a tacit acceptance of him – all, that is, save the bull terrier. Perhaps his handball game against the fence had addled his brain, or it may be that he was just too stubborn to give up. At any rate he continued to lurk in ambush for Mutt, and Mutt continued to avoid him easily enough, until the early winter when the terrier – by now completely unbalanced – one day attempted to cross the street in pursuit of his enemy and without bothering to look for traffic. He was run over by an old Model T.
    Mutt’s remarkable skill as a fence walker could have led to the leadership of the neighborhood dogs, had that been what he desired, for his uniquetalent gave him a considerable edge in the popular game of catch-cat; but Mutt remained a lone walker, content to be left to his own devices.
    He did not give up fence walking even when the original need had passed. He took a deep pride in his accomplishment, and he kept in practice. I used to show him off to my friends, and I was not above making small bets with strange boys about the abilities of my acrobatic dog. When I won, as I always did, I would reward Mutt with candy-coated gum. This was one of his favorite confections and he would chew away at a wad of it until the last vestige of mint flavor had vanished, whereupon he would swallow the tasteless remnant. Mother thought that this was bad for him, but as far as I know, it never had any adverse effect upon his digestive system, which could absorb most things with impunity.

8
CATS AND LADDERS
    utt had always disliked cats, but until he became an expert fence walker, he had never been able to demonstrate his feelings in a truly efficient manner. The fenced-in back yards of Saskatoon might have been built to order for the cats, and specifically designed to thwart all dogs. Perhaps as a result of this favorable environment the cat population was large, and the cats themselves had grown careless and arrogant. It was understandable that they should feel this way, after many years of security; but it was a foolhardy attitude, as Mutt soon demonstrated.
    Once he had perfected the art of fence walking, he became the scourge and often the nemesis of the cats on our block. When the surviving local catsbecame few in