Rolf， the Dog Who Finds Things

佚名/Anonymous

在丹麥的富南島上，每天都能看見一輛小巧的藍色敞篷車沿著小路奔馳著。一條黑色的大狗坐在司機的旁邊，仿佛在聽司機的指令似的。無論何時，只要這輛敞篷車開過來，富南島上的居民都會轉過身盯著看，有一些好奇，也有一些羨慕。因為車上寫著：“尋物狗羅爾夫”和一個電話號碼。

是的，那輛藍色敞篷車里的乘客就是羅爾夫，他是一只幫人們尋找失物的狗。7年間，羅爾夫和他的主人已經尋找到價值400000美元的失物了，包括手表、珠寶、工具、錢、母牛、白鵝、豬和其他的狗。那么羅爾夫的秘密武器是什么呢？就是他那個靈敏的鼻子！

擁有這樣鼻子的主人是一只10歲大的德國牧羊犬。這只德國牧羊犬的主人是斯文·安德森。他們每年都會接到六百到七百個這樣的求援電話。他們平均5次中有4次能夠順利地按照失主的要求找到失物。

每當安德森家的電話一響，羅爾夫就立刻提高警惕，猛沖到車上，迫切地出發去尋找失物。

一路上，斯文一遍又一遍地重復著他們即將尋找的失物的名字。因此，當他們到達事發地的時候，羅爾夫就可以馬上進入工作狀態。他圍著事發地點打著轉，又原路返回，再不停地轉著。直到他在現場嗅出失物微弱的氣味為止。

一年春天，我去了富南島，打算去證實羅爾夫的偵探工作并不是某種神話。喝過咖啡，吃了些點心之后，斯文和我一邊交談一邊注視著羅爾夫。那只狗看起來有些神秘，既機警又不失平靜。電話鈴響了，然后我就聽到斯文說道：“一個錢包？我不能保證，但是我們會盡全力幫您的。”

一個小時之后我們到達了公園，與阿克塞爾·詹森一起在樹下徘徊。電話就是他打的，他的錢包丟了。

大約半個小時，羅爾夫一直在漫無目的地走著“之”字路。斯文偶爾會將他叫回來或是再告訴他一些事情讓他繼續尋找。錢包還是沒有找到。

我們來到森林的另一處。羅爾夫再一次漫步在濕軟的地上，用鼻子嗅來嗅去。斯文一次又一次地鼓勵他。不知道過了多長時間，我注意到羅爾夫繞的圈子在變小。斯文現在站在溝渠的邊上，神情緊張，好像是在下達命令，而這只有羅爾夫能夠聽到。

突然，羅爾夫開始在松軟的地上刨著。他停了下來，四處看看，又在幾步遠的地方刨起來。然后他又改變主意，向右邊挖去。突然，他高昂著頭跑出那片沼澤地。他的嘴里叼著一個黑色的東西。那是一個錢包！詹森驚奇而又快樂地大聲叫著。

“告訴我吧，斯文，”過了一會兒，我說道，“一只狗是怎樣在一個灌木叢生的大森林里，找到那個只有5英寸寬7英寸長的錢包呢？”

斯文笑著回答道：“我知道在最初的那75英畝地中什么也沒有，因為羅爾夫對那里一點興趣都沒有。但是在沼澤地中我可以從羅爾夫的表現中看出他已經尋找到一些蛛絲馬跡了。在10天前錢包丟失的地方，羅爾夫在空氣中嗅出了它的氣味。”

斯文是怎樣得到這樣一只有著偵探般鼻子的狗呢？他是從一窩小狗中挑出羅爾夫的，因為羅爾夫的腦袋最大，而且急切地在地上嗅來嗅去。

當羅爾夫只有5個月大的時候，第一次找到了一件失物。那是鄰居家的手表。經過一年的細心培訓，羅爾夫成為了一只職業尋物狗，時刻準備工作。

有一次，斯文接到了一個不同尋常的電話。有人在一場家畜展覽上打了一個很大的噴嚏，以至于掉了一個金幣。羅爾夫能夠找得到嗎？當然可以了！那枚金幣離他打噴嚏的地方只有幾尺遠。

還有一次就是羅爾夫救了一個11歲的小女孩，使她免遭苛責。那個小女孩拿著祖母的手表玩，但是不小心把手表掉到了一個干草堆中。大約有50個孩子加入到尋表的活動中，卻沒有找到。第二天，警察帶著兩只警犬過來，也以失敗告終。

9天之后，羅爾夫被派去尋找。不過他對干草堆沒有興趣，卻在旁邊的小坑里嗅了起來。幾分鐘后，他就找到了那只手表。原來是有人將一堆干草推到那個坑里了。

羅爾夫也并非一直很成功，但是每次他都很盡力，有的時候又太盡力了。斯文曾經因為羅爾夫沒有找到一只手表而訓斥了他。羅爾夫走了，不一會兒他就銜著那只丟失的手表凱旋而歸。而在他的后面跟著一個怒氣沖沖、半裸著身體的男人。那個人嚷嚷道：“我正在穿衣服，這只狗就用他的腦袋戳門，從桌子上銜起我的手表就跑，他是個賊！”

安德森的房間里從未丟失過任何東西。羅爾夫會從地上撿起硬幣、釘子、扣子。斯文將一個勺子放在地板上，然后將在隔壁的羅爾夫叫過來，他命令羅爾夫躺下。我們繼續交談，羅爾夫不理解我們在說什么。幾分鐘之后他站了起來，銜著勺子來到主人的身邊。

毋庸置疑，安德森與羅爾夫是一對很好的搭檔，并且互相理解。當羅爾夫在一次工作中失敗了，斯文就會整晚不眠，腦子里反復思考著他們在事發現場的搜尋工作。他經常起床帶著羅爾夫再次回到失敗地，憑借手電筒的微光在那里尋找。

“夜晚很安靜，”他說道，“那是尋找東西的最佳時刻。”而且通常他們都能成功。“當我們找到失物的時候，”他說，“再也沒有比這更開心的事情了。我不知道羅爾夫和我誰更高興，之后我會放松自己，直到電話再一次響起！”

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？"