THE OLD ENGLISH SHEEP DOG. 519 



sition that makes him by far the best companion among 

 dogs, and has stimulated his wits under the incentive of 

 constant praise and affection. 



No dog can have a stronger instinctive disposition for 

 work than the Bobtail, and none can do his work with less 

 training. Queen Vick at six months old would bring up 

 the cows to be milked half a dozen times a day, being too 

 impatient to work to wait for the proper time. When the 

 mare is plowing, Vick keeps a sharp watch on the colt, and 

 will not let it stray a dozen yards from the mare's side. 

 Dame Bruin at nine months old, never having been worked 

 on sheep, met a bunch of lambs stuck where a small stream 

 crossed the road; without an order from her master (the 

 lambs did not belong to him), she tried to force them across, 

 and failing, grabbed one and tugged it over. Dropping it, 

 she served another the same way. Agricola had not seen 

 stock for a year (other than horses on the streets of Bos- 

 ton), yet the second day he was on a farm near here, he 

 took a walk with his master, and on seeing a dozen cows 

 turned out of a field half a mile from home, took charge of 

 them without a word of instruction, taking them straight 

 home without any assistance. Bob stopped fights between 

 rams, and drove the hogs away from the corn thrown down 

 to the chickens, entirely on his own notion, and so I might 

 go on ad infinitum. 



No dog is possessed of higher courage than the Bobtail, 

 and none is less quarrelsome. They go their way, molest- 

 ing no dog and tolerating meddling from nothing that 

 wears hair. Agricola bristled up as quickly at my Mastiff 

 Baldur as he would at the merest cur; and when a Bobtail 

 fights, it is not for fun; it is serious business, and the busi- 

 ness is to kill the other dog in the shortest possible time. 

 With their powerful jaws and strong teeth, they must be 

 heavily overmatched if they do not come off victorious. 



The picture of Gwen shows the crack specimen of the 

 English show benches, and certainly shows a capitally strong, 

 cobby, well-made animal, while the one copied from Stone- 

 henge is the best illustration of a Bobtail in action that can 



