SHEPHERD'S DOG.—Canis familiaris 
creature inherits much of the sporting predilections of its ancestry, and is capable of 
being trained into a capital sporting Dog. 
Many of these animals are sad double-dealers in their characters, being by day most 
respectable Sheep-dogs, and by night most disreputable poachers. The mixed offspring 
of a Sheep-dog and a setter is as silently successful in discovermg and marking game 
by night as he is openly useful in managing the flocks by day. As he spends the whole 
of his time in the society of his master, and learns from long companionship to compre- 
hend the least gesture of hand or tone of voice, he is far better adapted for nocturnal 
poaching than the more legitimate setter or retriever, and causes far more deadly havoe 
among the furred and feathered game. Moreover, he often escapes the suspicion of the 
gamekeeper by his quiet and honourable demeanour during the daytime, and his devotion 
to his arduous task of guarding the fold, and reclaiming its wandering members. It 
seems hardly possible that an animal which works so hard during the day should be able 
to pass the night in beating for game. 
Sometimes there is an infusion of the bulldog blood into the Sheep-dog, but this 
mixture is thought to be unadvisable, as such Dogs are too apt to bite their charge, and 
so to alienate from themselves the confidence of the helpless creatures whom they are 
intended to protect, and not to injure. Unless the sheep can feel that the Dog is, next to 
the shepherd, their best friend, the chief value of the animal is lost. 
It is well observed by Mr. Youatt, in his valuable work on these Dogs, that if the 
sheep do not crowd round the Dog when they are alarmed, and place themselves under his 
protection, there is something radically wrong in the management of the flock. He 
