D 



and in many parts of England, the drover's dog, which 

 is chiefly used in driving sheep, is without any tail : 

 this, however, is not the natural form of the animal ; 

 for the tail is destroyed when very young, not by 

 cutting off, but. by extracting the bone, which is tech- 

 nically called " stringing," and is generally performed 

 by pulling out that part with the teeth. After this the 

 fleshy part of the tail contracts to a mere tubercle, 

 and is wholly concealed among the shaggy hair of the 

 animal. Dogs which are treated in this manner are said 

 to endure much more exertion with less fatigue than 

 those in which the tail is entire ; and whether this be 

 the fact or not, the degree of fatigue which those dogs 

 can undergo is truly astonishing. Nor is their sagacity 

 less wonderful, for they can divide the drove into any 

 sections that may be required, drive one section one 

 way, and another another way, whatever may be the 

 number, and after the sections are once parcelled off' 

 to the purchasers, they can bring back again with 

 the most unerring certainty any individual which has 

 left its section, and joined another. Those offices 

 are generally performed bv barking and manoeuvring 

 alone, without touching the sheep with the mouth ; 

 or if thut operation be necessary, the dogs merely lay 

 hold of the sheep, and force them into the intended 

 direction, by holding the wool without biting the skin 

 or even separating that portion of the wool of which 

 they take hold. 



Indeed, in all situations, the shepherd's dog con- 

 ducts matters chiefly by his voice, or what may be 

 called the word of command ; and he is not more skil- 

 ful in giving his own commands than he is apt in 

 receiving the commands of his master, hi which way 

 those commands arc understood, is no easy matter of 

 explanation ; but the fact is certain, that a skilful 

 shepherd can send his dog, if a thorough bred one, to 

 the flock, a mile distant, on the opposite hill, and 

 make him separate from the rest, and bring any num- 

 ber, and, as it is said, any particular individuals that 

 he may be directed to bring. The matter is entirely 

 above our comprehension ; but the fact is certain, that 

 these dogs know and can distinguish every individual 

 sheep of the flock, to the charge of which they are 

 appointed ; and in situations where sheep are folded 

 for the night, if even one sheep is missing, the dog 

 will, without being instructed, return and beat the 

 pasture for it ; and if he finds that it has stuck in the 

 rnire, or otherwise got into any situation from which 

 it cannot extricate itself, he returns to the shepherd, 

 and, by the style of his barking, indicates that assist- 

 ance is required, and leads the way to the place where 

 the distressed sheep is, with as much certainty as any 

 pilot or other human guide. This peculiarity is" not 

 confined to the shepherd's dog ; but belongs to it in 

 common with various others of the more social dogs, 

 or those which are more closely attached to mankind ; 

 and there are innumerable instances of dogs, when 

 they themselves have failed in rescuing persons from 

 perilous situations, going in quest of human assistance, 

 and indicating by the earnestness of their cries, that 

 that, assistance was immediately and urgently required. 

 The case of the London firemen's dog, Billy, may be 

 mentioned as a very remarkable one. That animal 

 was the first to find out any fire that occurred ; he 

 collected persons to assist ; 'and though he of course 

 could not actually put his paw to the engines, yet he 

 was so full of bustle and activity, and so encouraged 

 every one who was working by the earnestness of his 

 commendations, that there is no question but that he 

 was the means of saving a great deal of property ; for 



OG. 3J7 



even a dog doing his duty in so disinterested, devoted, 

 and hearty a manner as it was done by honest Billy, 

 was enough to put to shame any one who refused to 

 lend a helping hand. We mention the case of this 

 dog, because it shows that those animals might be 

 trained to far more useful purposes than any to which 

 they are usually applied, valuable as many of these 

 are, and those of sheep-tending, and sheep-driving 

 dosjs in an especial manner. When we consider that 

 one good shepherd's dog performs services which 

 could riot be performed by twenty shepherds in a 

 flock, which one shepherd can easily manage with 

 the assistance of the dog ; and, when we farther con- 

 sider that without the dogs, it would require many 

 times the number of men which are now employed to 

 bring sheep to the markets, and divide tnern off to 

 their respective purchasers, we are within the mark 

 when we say that we eat our mutton full twenty per 

 cent, cheaper in consequence of the labours of the 

 shepherds' and drovers' dogs. 



THE CUR. This dog's name is rather at a dis- 

 count, and he is considered a snarling and ignoble 

 animal ; but still he is a very useful and very faithful 

 creature. He is the watch-dog of the cottager, the 

 playmate of cottage children, and the associate and 

 defendant of labouring people and their property ; 

 and while the man is stripped and at work, if his 

 faithful cur, or colly, as he is called in some places, 

 takes post upon his coat, that coat is as safe as if it 

 were under lock and key. There is also a softening 

 of the heart produced in the labourer when he shares 

 his lonely meal with his little dog ; and, as the dog 

 is in the tield with him in all weathers, wet and dry, 

 it is not easy to say to what extent he cheers and 

 encourages the man, and promotes as well as lightens 

 his labour. 



But it is not in such situations alone that this dog 

 is valuable ; for he is in an especial manner the 

 caltle dog, and of the utmost value in all tho>e places 

 where the country is grazed in breadth, because there 

 he brings in the stray cattle with the same certainty 

 and the same success as the shepherd's dog brings in 

 the stray sheep. It is worthy of remark, that thosi; 

 dogs which are useful in the management of domestic 

 animals never attempt to make tneir attacks on a 

 vital part, or on any part where a bite would be of 

 serious injury. The mastiff flies at the throats of 

 cattle, and the bull-dog attempts to seize them by the 

 nose, and suffocate them, something in the same way 

 as the jaguar is said to do with the wild cattle in 

 South America ; but the curs, and other true cattle 

 dogs, never attack any beast in front. They inva- 

 riably snap at the heels, and pinch that part which 

 answers to what is called the "funny bone "in the 

 human elbow, and upon which even a moderate 

 pressure with the fingers causes an acute momentary 

 pain. One might very easily suppose that there is 

 an original instinct for driving cattle without biting 

 them in these dogs. When they snap at the heels, 

 they seldom if ever draw blood ; and they snap at 

 the one heel or the other, according to the direction 

 in which they wish to turn the animal. Any one who 

 has attended to the habits of animals must have 

 observed that they always run upon that which gives 

 them pain. If a 'horse 'in battle is slightly wounded 

 by a bayonet, he will run upon it to his certain 

 destruction ; and man himself is not exempted from 

 this propensity ; for, if a bayonet once wounds a man 

 in battle, so tar as to give him pain, he is almost 

 certain of running himself through upon it. 



