[151] 



For the first few days they are allowed to suck only twice- 

 a day, morning and evening. After she becomes accus- 

 tomed to them, they may be allowed to run together in a 

 small enclosure. Finally, they are turned in with the 

 whole flock, that they may get accustomed to them also,, 

 for no sheep will take to a strange dog at first, not even the 

 finest- bred shepherd dogs. After the pups are weaned,, 

 they will never leave the particular flock they were raised 

 among. No other dogs dare approach the flock, not even a 

 strange person. If a pack of wolves come around the 

 camp at night, the dogs keep up a continual barking, which 

 frightens them off, so that a sheep is seldom destroyed by 

 wolves. Three or four dogs are kept with a flock of 800 

 or 1,000 sheep. These dogs are much stronger and fiercer 

 than the Scotch colley, and can be trained to the care and 

 management of the sheep with equal skill and fidelity,, 

 while the cost is nothing but the time and trouble of rear- 

 ing them. They will not require to be fed on meat; corn- 

 dodgers and milk are quite sufficient for them. 



This is a certain and most excellent way to break a shep- 

 herd dog; but one equally as effective for Tennessee breed- 

 ers, and less troublesome, is to have the puppy accompany 

 the flock-master whenever he goes about his sheep, say 

 twice or thrice a day. The pup will soon become accus- 

 tomed to them, and, with a little practice each time, the 

 flock- master can soon make him drive a flock in any direc- 

 tion. These dogs have a natural instinct to drive stock of 

 all kinds. This is as marked in the shepherd dog as hunt- 

 ing or standing birds is to the setter or pointer, and it only 

 requires a little patience and care to make a pretty fair dog 

 out of any thoroughbred puppy of this breed. 



After all, if the sheep-raiser gives the proper care and 

 attention to his sh< op which they ought to have and if he 

 does not do so, he ught not to embark in the business 

 there is no necessity of his losing his sheep by dogs. Mr. 

 Cockrill, who has ;i large flock within three or four miles 



