When my wife was growing up in Scotland, her father's Alsatian, Major, used to escort her and her four older sisters to their primary school every morning, unaccompanied by an adult. At a word of command in the afternoon, he would trot off on his own to the school and wait at the gates to escort the five of them home. I often think of Major, that model of intelligence, loyalty and obedience, when I try to persuade our own dog, Minnie, to obey the simplest instruction, such as 'sit', 'heel' or 'stop begging those poor picnickers for a morsel of sausage roll'. I then marvel anew at the thought that she belongs to the same species (though not the same breed) as the late Major.
