20 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 



tasted blood and which show no disposition to attack the 

 other animals of the barn-yard, cannot be trusted alone with 

 sheep. When two or more of them are together the old 

 instincts of the wild pack return, and they will slay with 

 insensate brutality until they are fairly exhausted with their 

 fury. Their behavior on such occasions reminds one of the 

 actions of their masters when possessed with the blind rage 

 of a mob. Yet in the shepherd-dog we find this ancestral 

 motive, once a large part of the life of the creature, so over- 

 come by education and selection that they will not only care 

 for a flock with all the devotion which self-interest can lead 

 the master to give to the task, but they will cheerfully 

 undergo almost any measure of privation in order to protect 

 their charges from harm. The annals of shepherd districts, 

 especially those where winter snows fall deeply, as in Scot- 

 land, abound in anecdotes of a well-attested nature which 

 show how profoundly the dogs which tend the flocks are 

 imbued with the love of the animals committed to their care. 

 This affection is more curious for the reason that it is never 

 in any measure returned by the sheep. To them the cus- 

 todian is ever a dreaded overseer. He seems to bring to 

 them nothing but the memories of danger derived from the 

 experience which their species acquired in far-away times. 



It is very interesting to note the behavior of a young 

 shepherd-dog when he is first brought in contact with a flock. 

 It is easy to see that he has an amazingly keen interest in 

 the sheep. He regards them with an attention which he 

 gives to no other living things, except perhaps his^master. 

 Out of a litter of well-bred pups belonging to this variety, 

 the greater part will at once assume a curatorial attitude 

 toward a flock. They will show a disposition to keep them 



