Bad Habits. 131 



had one that walked on a barrel and across a so-called 

 tight rope ; the latter feat achieved with the addition 

 of a monkey being carried on the dog's back. About 

 the same time a Mr. Harris, connected with a large 

 exhibition at Olympia, London, had a collie which usually 

 gave its performances privately. These, which consisted of 

 selecting named cards from a pack, and other tricks, were so 

 extraordinary that the daily papers announced that a 

 special performance was given before H.R.H. the Prince 

 of Wales. 



There is no doubt that the collie can be trained to any 

 purpose whatever ; he at times makes a fair retriever, and 

 the best all-round dog for shooting over I ever owned was 

 a collie with a slight dash of retriever blood in him. As 

 already stated, his intelligence can be turned to bad account, 

 and sometimes this is done of his own free will, when he 

 becomes a confirmed sheep worrier. This evil is often 

 brought about by the custom of shepherds allowing the dead 

 lambs to remain unburied ; and the same is often done with 

 the sheep themselves. Indeed, I have seen a farmer's son 

 go into the fields and find a sheep that has not long been 

 dead, take it on his back down to the homestead, and there 

 skin and " butch " it, all in the presence of the dog, who 

 now and then is thrown a bit of the defunct sheep. From 

 this he speedily gets a taste for raw flesh, and if he cannot 

 find a dead sheep upon which to satisfy his craving, comes 

 to kill one for himself. The farmer's household salt the 

 " found dead," hang it up, make it into a " ham," and eat it 

 themselves. This meat in Scotland and the north of 

 England, and, perhaps, elsewhere, is known as "braxy," in 

 the south of England as " dropped mutton." One authority 

 says that those shepherd's dogs that are adepts at marking 



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