第7章 用鼻子寻找失物

Rolf， the Dog Who Finds Things

佚名/Anonymous

在丹麦的富南岛上，每天都能看见一辆小巧的蓝色敞篷车沿着小路奔驰着。一条黑色的大狗坐在司机的旁边，仿佛在听司机的指令似的。无论何时，只要这辆敞篷车开过来，富南岛上的居民都会转过身盯着看，有一些好奇，也有一些羡慕。因为车上写着：“寻物狗罗尔夫”和一个电话号码。

是的，那辆蓝色敞篷车里的乘客就是罗尔夫，他是一只帮人们寻找失物的狗。7年间，罗尔夫和他的主人已经寻找到价值400000美元的失物了，包括手表、珠宝、工具、钱、母牛、白鹅、猪和其他的狗。那么罗尔夫的秘密武器是什么呢？就是他那个灵敏的鼻子！

拥有这样鼻子的主人是一只10岁大的德国牧羊犬。这只德国牧羊犬的主人是斯文·安德森。他们每年都会接到六百到七百个这样的求援电话。他们平均5次中有4次能够顺利地按照失主的要求找到失物。

每当安德森家的电话一响，罗尔夫就立刻提高警惕，猛冲到车上，迫切地出发去寻找失物。

一路上，斯文一遍又一遍地重复着他们即将寻找的失物的名字。因此，当他们到达事发地的时候，罗尔夫就可以马上进入工作状态。他围着事发地点打着转，又原路返回，再不停地转着。直到他在现场嗅出失物微弱的气味为止。

一年春天，我去了富南岛，打算去证实罗尔夫的侦探工作并不是某种神话。喝过咖啡，吃了些点心之后，斯文和我一边交谈一边注视着罗尔夫。那只狗看起来有些神秘，既机警又不失平静。电话铃响了，然后我就听到斯文说道：“一个钱包？我不能保证，但是我们会尽全力帮您的。”

一个小时之后我们到达了公园，与阿克塞尔·詹森一起在树下徘徊。电话就是他打的，他的钱包丢了。

大约半个小时，罗尔夫一直在漫无目的地走着“之”字路。斯文偶尔会将他叫回来或是再告诉他一些事情让他继续寻找。钱包还是没有找到。

我们来到森林的另一处。罗尔夫再一次漫步在湿软的地上，用鼻子嗅来嗅去。斯文一次又一次地鼓励他。不知道过了多长时间，我注意到罗尔夫绕的圈子在变小。斯文现在站在沟渠的边上，神情紧张，好像是在下达命令，而这只有罗尔夫能够听到。

突然，罗尔夫开始在松软的地上刨着。他停了下来，四处看看，又在几步远的地方刨起来。然后他又改变主意，向右边挖去。突然，他高昂着头跑出那片沼泽地。他的嘴里叼着一个黑色的东西。那是一个钱包！詹森惊奇而又快乐地大声叫着。

“告诉我吧，斯文，”过了一会儿，我说道，“一只狗是怎样在一个灌木丛生的大森林里，找到那个只有5英寸宽7英寸长的钱包呢？”

斯文笑着回答道：“我知道在最初的那75英亩地中什么也没有，因为罗尔夫对那里一点兴趣都没有。但是在沼泽地中我可以从罗尔夫的表现中看出他已经寻找到一些蛛丝马迹了。在10天前钱包丢失的地方，罗尔夫在空气中嗅出了它的气味。”

斯文是怎样得到这样一只有着侦探般鼻子的狗呢？他是从一窝小狗中挑出罗尔夫的，因为罗尔夫的脑袋最大，而且急切地在地上嗅来嗅去。

当罗尔夫只有5个月大的时候，第一次找到了一件失物。那是邻居家的手表。经过一年的细心培训，罗尔夫成为了一只职业寻物狗，时刻准备工作。

有一次，斯文接到了一个不同寻常的电话。有人在一场家畜展览上打了一个很大的喷嚏，以至于掉了一个金币。罗尔夫能够找得到吗？当然可以了！那枚金币离他打喷嚏的地方只有几尺远。

还有一次就是罗尔夫救了一个11岁的小女孩，使她免遭苛责。那个小女孩拿着祖母的手表玩，但是不小心把手表掉到了一个干草堆中。大约有50个孩子加入到寻表的活动中，却没有找到。第二天，警察带着两只警犬过来，也以失败告终。

9天之后，罗尔夫被派去寻找。不过他对干草堆没有兴趣，却在旁边的小坑里嗅了起来。几分钟后，他就找到了那只手表。原来是有人将一堆干草推到那个坑里了。

罗尔夫也并非一直很成功，但是每次他都很尽力，有的时候又太尽力了。斯文曾经因为罗尔夫没有找到一只手表而训斥了他。罗尔夫走了，不一会儿他就衔着那只丢失的手表凯旋而归。而在他的后面跟着一个怒气冲冲、半裸着身体的男人。那个人嚷嚷道：“我正在穿衣服，这只狗就用他的脑袋戳门，从桌子上衔起我的手表就跑，他是个贼！”

安德森的房间里从未丢失过任何东西。罗尔夫会从地上捡起硬币、钉子、扣子。斯文将一个勺子放在地板上，然后将在隔壁的罗尔夫叫过来，他命令罗尔夫躺下。我们继续交谈，罗尔夫不理解我们在说什么。几分钟之后他站了起来，衔着勺子来到主人的身边。

毋庸置疑，安德森与罗尔夫是一对很好的搭档，并且互相理解。当罗尔夫在一次工作中失败了，斯文就会整晚不眠，脑子里反复思考着他们在事发现场的搜寻工作。他经常起床带着罗尔夫再次回到失败地，凭借手电筒的微光在那里寻找。

“夜晚很安静，”他说道，“那是寻找东西的最佳时刻。”而且通常他们都能成功。“当我们找到失物的时候，”他说，“再也没有比这更开心的事情了。我不知道罗尔夫和我谁更高兴，之后我会放松自己，直到电话再一次响起！”

Day after day， a small blue truck speeds along the roads of Denmark's island of Funen. A big dark dog sits beside the driver， looking at him as if listening to his instructions. Whenever the truck goes by， the people of Funen turn and stare， some in wonder， others in recognition. For on its side are printed the words Sporhunden Rolf (Rolf， the Tracking Dog) and a telephone number.

Yes， the passenger in the blue truck is Rolf， a dog that is hired to find things people have lost. Within seven years， Rolf and his owner have found close to $400，000 worth of missing items. Among them are watches， Jewelry， tools， money， cows， geese， pigs and other dogs. And what is Rolf's secret？ His sensitive nose？

The owner of that nose is a ten-year-old German Shepherd. And the owner of the German Shepherd is Svend Anderson. Together they answer the 600 to 700 calls for help that they get each year. Four out of five times they find what they are asked to look for.

Whenever the telephone rings in Anderson's house， Rolf is instantly alert. He dashes to the truck， eager to be off.

On the way， Svend repeats again and again the name of what they are going to look for. So， by the time they arrive， Rolf is ready to get to work. He circles， backtracks and circles again. This he continues until he picks up the faint scent of an object lying in a spot where it doesn't belong.

One spring I went to Funen to make sure that Rolf's detective work was not some kind of fairy story. Over coffee and cakes Svend and I talked and watched Rolf. The dog's stare was mysterious. He seemed alert yet calm. The telephone rang， and then I heard Svend saying， "A wallet？ I can't promise， but we'll do our best."

An hour later we were in a park， tramping among the trees with Axel Jensen， the man who had phoned. Jensen had lost his wallet.

For half an hour Rolf roamed in wide， broken zigzags. Occasionally， Svend would call him back or tell him to keep looking. No wallet was found.

We drove to another part of the forest. Again Rolf roamed with his nose to the boggy earth. Svend encourage him from time to time. I don't know at what moment we began to notice that Rolf was padding about in small circles. Svend was now standing at the edge of a ditch. He was tense， as if giving orders that only Rolf could hear.

Suddenly， Rolf began to paw the soft earth. He stopped， looked about and scratched again a few feet away. Then he changed his mind and began to dig further to the right. All at once he trotted out of the bog， head high. He was holding something dark in his mouth. It was the wallet？ Jensen roared with surprise and joy.

"Tell me， Svend，" I said later， "how on earth does a dog go about finding a wallet five by seven inches in a huge forest covered with undergrowth？"

Svend smiled as he replied， "I knew there was nothing in the first 75 acres because of Rolf's lack of interest. But in the swamp I could tell from the way Rolf acted that he had picked up a trail. The scent had reached him through the air from the spot where the wallet was dropped ten days ago."

How did Svend come to own this dog with a detective's nose？ He picked Rolf from a litter of seven pups because Rolf had the biggest head and snuffled more eagerly along the ground.

When he was only five months old， Rolf found his first missing object. It was a neighbor's watch. After a year's careful training， Rolf became a professional， ready for work.

One time Svend had an unusual call. A visitor to a cattle show sneezed so hard that he lost a gold falling. Did Rolf find it？ Of course？ And the speck of gold lay several yards from the place of the sneeze， in ground that had been trampled by hundreds of feet.

Another time Rolf saved an 11-year-old girl from a stern scolding. She was playing with her grandmother's fine watch when she lost it in a haystack. About 50 children were turned loose to look for it. No luck. Next day the police came with two dogs； both failed.

Nine days later， Rolf was sent for. Paying no attention to the haystack， Rolf began to nose about in a pit some distance away. He found the watch in a matter of minutes. Someone had dumped a forkful of hay from the stack into the pit.

Rolf does not always meet with success， but he tries very hard. Sometimes he tries too hard. Once when Svend scolded him sharply for failing to find a lost watch， Rolf crept away. He returned a little later in triumph with a watch in his mouth. Close behind him was an angry， half naked man. He shouted："I was getting dressed when this dog poked his head in the door and lifed my watch from the table. He's a thief？"

Nothing ever gets lost in the Andersen house. Rolf picks up coins， nails， buttons， all without being told. To show me this， Svend put a spoon on the floor and then called Rolf in from the next room. The dog was ordered to lie down. We went on talking. Rolf couldn't stand it. In a few minutes he got up， seized the spoon in his mouth and brought it to his master.

Andersen and Rolf definitely are partners. Between them there is a deep understanding. When Rolf fails on a job， Svend lies awake that night. In his mind he goes over and over the ground they searched. Often he gets out of bed and drivers with Rolf to the scene of their failure. There they go hunting again by flashlight.

"The night is quiet，" he says， "It's a good time to hunt a thing that is lost." Often they find it. "When we find something，" says Andersen， "there's no feeling like it. I don't know who is happier， Rolf or me. Then I can just relax—until the telephone rings again？"