Answer:
Stealthy as a shadow in the dead of night, cunning but affectionate if given a bite. Never owned but often loved. At my sport considered cruel, but that's because you never know me at all.
A tiny bead, like fragile glass, strung along a cord of grass.
A skin have I, more eyes than one. I can be very nice when I am done.
What has a head, a tail, is brown, and has no legs?
When the horse strokes the cat, the wood begins to sing.
It rows quickly with four oars but never comes out from under his own roof. What is it?