Boxer, feeling that his attentions were due to the family in general, and must be impartially distributed, dashed in and out with bewildering inconstancy; now, describing a circle of short barks round the horse, where he was being rubbed down at the stable-door; now feigning to make savage rushes at his mistress, and facetiously bringing himself to sudden stops; now, eliciting a shriek from Tilly Slowboy, in the low nursing-chair near the fire, by the unexpected application of his moist nose to her countenance; now, exhibiting an obtrusive interest in the baby; now, going round and round upon the hearth, and lying down as if he had established himself for the night; now, getting up again, and taking that nothing of a fag-end of a tail of his, out into the weather, as if he had just remembered an appointment, and was off, at a round trot, to keep it.
Courtesy of Project Gutenberg where
this novella is available free in a variety of formats
Chances are that the Boxers of Dickens' day didn't look precisely like those we have today, but they surely acted like them!
This article shows several breeds past and present, among which is the Boxer.
Long ago and far away, as a student, I didn't appreciate Dickens. I mean, that is *one sentence*! Now, as an old lady, I see his brilliance. Thanks for encouraging us (me) to look again.
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