Otis The Wolf, parts 1190 - 1193

1190. Then he had an inspiration; an idea which he knew was a complete falsehood, and yet, in actual fact was so close to the truth that it was terribly convincing. He decided to suggest that the dog, according to his observations, was actually a wolf, or, if not a complete wolf was the product of the mating of a village dog with a wild animal. He made this all up on the spur of the moment, perhaps unconsciously inspired  by the actual truth.

1191. His real desire was to sow fear of the dog into the heart of the Boy and so he gave him this little warning as if he was only concerned for safety, and was speaking in a professional capacity. "Your dog," he said, "is a very remarkable creature, but I am afraid he is also a very dangerous one. He obviously has a good percentage of wolf blood in his veins; do you know what that means?"

1192. "It means that if you should accidentally cut yourself, or happen into a situation where a chicken is being butchered, your beautiful dog will have his instincts triggered, and turn into a killer. The smell of blood acts on a wolf's system just like on a shark or a tiger. There is only one thing to do with this sort of animal, he needs to be adopted by some farmer who could use him strictly as a guard animal. Under no circumstances should this creature be a house pet.

1193. Now here is the curious thing about what the vet said about Otis. It was the absolute truth, even though the vet assumed it was a complete lie. Since he though it was a lie, he could hardly elaborate the idea in a convincing way. Nevertheless he was very successful at first for a few reasons, first because the Boy had no idea where his dog came from, and secondly, because we can't ever forget, underneath the Boys love of his dog, was a profound fear of him.