DOGS. 83 



tliose who would offer them an injury. At night he 

 guides them to their fold ; and if this should be in an 

 exposed situation, he throws himself across the entrance, 

 so that the intruding enemy will have to pass over his 

 body to commence his work of destruction. 



A ludicrous instance of the promptitude with which 

 he punishes offenders is related by Colonel Smith, in the 

 following manner : * We have witnessed the care they 

 take of their charge, and with what readiness they 

 chastise those that molest them, in the case of a cur 

 biting a sheep in the rear of the flock, and unseen by 

 the shepherd. This assault was committed by a tailor's 

 dog, but not unmarked by the other, who immediately 

 seized him, and dragging the delinquent into a puddle 

 while holding his ear, kept dabbling him in the mud 

 with exemplary gravity ; the cur yelled ; the tailor came 

 slipshod with his goose to the rescue, and having flung 

 it at the sheep-dog and missed him, stood by gaping, 

 not venturing to fetch it back until the castigation was 

 over and the dog had followed the flock.' 



As a proof of the comprehension of the shepherd's 

 dog, I quote the description of Mr. St John, in his 

 Highland Sports: 'A shepherd once, to prove the 

 quickness of his dog, who was lying before the fire in 

 the house where we were talking, said to me, in the 

 middle of a sentence concerning something else, " I'm 

 thinking, sir, the cow is in the potatoes." Though he 

 purposely laid no stress on these words, and said them 

 in a quiet, unconcerned tone of voice, the dog, who 

 appeared to be asleep, immediately jumped up, and 

 leaping through the open window, scrambled up the 

 turf roof of the house, from which he could see the 

 potato field. He then (not seeing the cow there) ran 



