606 SKEEP HUSBANDRY. 



very active horse, saved the rider's throat and his life — but so naiTowly 

 had he escaped, that he felt the gnashing teeth of the frenzied brute 

 scrape doion his dress, where they came in contact with and ch:)sed upon 

 his watch, tearing it away with the adjacent clothing. The horseman fled 

 for his life, while the bafiled dog vented his rage on the gold watch 

 which he had captured, by chewing it into atoms ! The cause of this ter- 

 rible onset not being disclosed at the time, Mr. R., though convinced from 

 the character of the dog that he had not been the aggressor, felt constrain- 

 ed to give orders to have him shot. 



The Hungarian Sheep-Dog. — The following description of the Hunga- 

 rian Sheep-Dog, occurs in Paget's " Hungary and Transylvania :"* 



" It -would be unjust to quit the subject of the Piiszta Shepherd without making due and 

 honorable mention of his constant companion and friend, the juhdsz-hiitya — the Hungarian 

 shepherd dog. The shepherd dog is connnonly white, sometimes inclined to a reddish 

 brown, and about the size of our Newtbiindland dog. His sharp nose, sliort erect ears, 

 shaggy^;oat, and bushy tail give him much the ap[)earanceof a wolf ; indeed, so great is the 

 resemblance, that 1 have known a Hung^inan gentleman mistake a wolf for one of his own 

 dogs. Except to their masters, they ai-e so savage that it is unsafe for a stranger to enter tlie 

 court-yard of a Hungarian cottage, without arms. 1 speak from experience ; for as I was walk- 

 ing through the yard of a post-house, where some of these dogs were lying about, apparently 

 asleep, one of them crept after me, and inflicted a severe wound on my leg, of which I still 

 bear the marks. Befoie I could turn round, the dog was already far oft" ; for, like the wolf, 

 they bite by snapping, but never hang to the object like the bull-dog or mastift'. Their saga- 

 city in driving and guarding the sheeji and cattle, and their courage in protecting them from 

 wolves and robbers, are highly praised ; and the shepherd is so well aware of the value of a 

 good one, that it is difficult to induce him to part with it." 



I have little doubt that the Hungarian dogs above described are the 

 descendants of the Spanish ones, introduced into Hungary with the Meri- 

 no sheep, though possibly they may be somewhat crossed by interbreeding 

 v/ith the dogs of the country. 



The Mexican Sheep-Dog. — The following acccount of these noble dogs 

 appears as a communication from Mr. J. H. Lyman, in the third volume of 

 the American Agriculturist :t 



•'Although Mr. Kendall and some other writers have described this wonderfid animal as 

 a cross of the Newfoundland dog, such, I think, caimot be the fact; on the contrary, I have 

 no doubt he is a genuine descendant of the Alpine mastift", or more properly, Spanish shep- 

 herd dog introduced by tliem at the time of the Conquest. He is only to be found in the 

 sheep-raising districts of New Mexico. The other Mexican dogs, which nunil)cr mm-e than 

 a thousand to one of these noble animals, are the results of a cross of everything under the 

 suu having any afiiuity to the canine race, and even of a still nobler class of animals if Mexi- 

 can stories are to be credited. It is believed in Mexico, that the countless mongrels of that 

 country owe their origin to the assistance of the various kinds of wolves, mountain cats, 

 lynxet.', and to almost if not every class of four-footed carnivorous animals. Bo this as it may, 

 those who have not seen them can believe as much as they like ; but eye-witnesses can assert, 

 that there never was a country blessed with a greater and more abundant variety of nusera- 

 rable, snarling, cowardly packs, than the mongrel dogs of Mexico. That country of a surety 

 would be the plagLie-si)ot of this beautiful world, were it not ibr the redeeming character of 

 the truly noble shepherd dog, endowed as it is with almost human intellect. I have often 

 thought, when observing the sagacity of this animal, that if very many of the human race 

 possessed one half of the power of inductive reasoning which seems to be the giit of this 

 •animal, that it would be far better for themselves and fijr their fellow-creatures. 



The peculiar education of these dogs is one of the most important and interesting steps 

 pursued by the shepherd. His method is to select from a multitude of pups a few of the 

 healthiest and finest-looking, and to put them to a sucking ewe, first depriving her of her 

 own lamb. By force, as well as from a natural desire she has to be reheved of the con- 

 tents of her udder, she soon learns to look upon the litUe interlopers with all the affection 

 she would manifest for her own natural oflspring. For the first few days the pups are kept 

 in the hut, the ewe suckling them morning and evening only ; but gradually, as she be- 



* Hungary and Transvlvania, by John Paget, Eeq., vol. ii., p. 12, cl supra. t Page 241. 



