SHEEP, SWIXE, AND OTHER DOMESTIC ANIMALS 465 



doors. And the bulldogs and other watch dogs are among the 

 most destructive when they once get into the sheep pasture. 

 The full blooded Newfoundland and St. Bernard, or a cross 

 between the two, may be made of great service to the farmer, 

 and seldonr. of themselves attack sheep, but as soon as you begin 

 to cross them with any thing else, unless it be the shepherd 

 dog, you spoil them entirely. We would not have a cross 

 from a Newfoundland, St. Bernard, or shepherd dog and a 

 bulldog, about our premises much more than we would a 

 rattlesnake. The Shepherd dog is the most valuable of the 

 whole family of dogs. A writer in the Western Rural thus 

 describes them : 



" The Spanish shepherd dog is said to belong to the same 

 family as the St. Bernard spaniel. Like the dogs of this breed, 

 he possesses great intelligence and sagacity, combined with 

 courage and endurance, properties that are invaluable in a 

 country infested by thieves and wolves. 



" The Hungarian, French, and Mexican shepherd dogs are 

 evidently of Spanish origin. In Mexico the pups are suckled 

 by ewes, and become so much attached to the flock that they 

 never leave them, except when compelled by hunger to visit 

 the ranche. In the sheep districts of New Mexico the shep- 

 herd's dog not only defends the flocks from the attacks of 

 wolves and other beasts of prey, but contends to the death with 

 the Indian marauders who endeavor to take the sheep by 

 stealth or force; 



"The Scotch shepherd dog or colley is a light, active animal, 

 of great sagacity and of incalculable use to the shepherds in the 

 Highlands of Scotland and other mountainous pastures. Mr. 

 James Hogg, the ' Ettrick Shepherd,' says that a single shep- 

 herd and his dog will accomplish more in gathering a flock of 

 sheep from a Highland farm than twenty shepherds could do 



