38 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



sion of dogs, for dogs are so common that it is inconceivable 

 for anybody sustaining a flock of sheep in Connecticut for 

 more than a week or so before being discovered by some dog 

 or other. This dog, wherever or whoever it might be, upon 

 beholding sheep would simply recognize therein the discovery 

 of some new creature, and would proceed to exercise its abili- 

 ties to demonstrate whether sheep were to be classed as game 

 and sport for it, or whether they were animals endowed with 

 equal or superior qualities to those possessed by itself. We 

 all know what the result has been, and invariably must be as 

 long as two such opposing forces as exist in sheep and dogs 

 are brought together. However, the importance of the dog 

 question has obtained undue prominence by reason of the opin- 

 ion that the decline in the sheep industry was occasioned by the 

 ravages of dogs. This is perhaps a pardonable view for judg- 

 ment, limited to and based upon present occurrences, but, as has 

 been indicated, it is nevertheless erroneous. The most practi- 

 cal solution of the dog phase of this problem rests upon proper 

 fencing. Here again economical changes come to the shep- 

 herd's aid by the great reduction which has taken place within 

 recent years in the cost of fencing material. Moreover, much 

 assistance may be had to encourage the reestablishment of the 

 sheep industry by the attitude assumed by town officials in the 

 adjustment which has taken place over the question of damages 

 occasioned by dogs. In the past the action of the average 

 selectmen in settling damages, as required by our statutes, for 

 losses occasioned by dogs, has been controlled by one motive 

 only, namely, to adjust the damages upon as low a basis as pos- 

 sible — upon as low a basis as he could possibly force the sheep 

 owners to accept without seeking to obtain greater and more 

 just compensation before the courts. The selectmen, as a rule, 

 were perhaps justified in this attitude, because of the shrinkage 

 of agricultural land values, and because the towns where this 

 has been most extensive must have suffered materially from the 

 diminishment of their grand lists, which, in turn, diminished 

 the resources of the town. 



Moreover, the time has arrived when it appears that it would 

 be better policy for town officials to assume as liberal a course 

 as possible in the adjustment of these claims for damages to 

 sheep, caused by dogs, for in so doing sheep husbandry will be 

 encouraged, and that encouragement will result in the reestab- 



