226 AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES 



greyhound, and the watch- dog, viz., a good nose, wind, and 

 speed, plenty jaw-power, and, if properly trained, pluck and 

 bottom to boot, in addition to these recommendations displays, 

 as a characteristic of its breed, a spirit of devotional attachment 

 to its master and his interests, so strong as almost to induce a 

 belief in the Pythagorean doctrine of transmigration. 



Applied to the colley, the word cur is certainly unreasonable, 

 and to rank the shepherd's dog with mongrel breeds is to do it 

 the grossest injustice. Sneaking or cowardly habits, no doubt, 

 have often been ascribed, with some show of truth, to the race 

 or caste, but I am satisfied, for my part, that such habits are 

 quite at variance with the natural dispositions of the dog. The 

 reproach, at one time proverbial, is to be traced to the first im- 

 pressions received by strangers in passing across a pastoral line 

 of country. The sudden bolting out of the dogs, their noisy 

 salutations, mistaken for expressions of rage, or dislike and pro- 

 vocation, in consequence of aggressive measures on the part of 

 the passer-by, which are met with, it must be allowed, often in 

 an abject fashion, have been construed, hastily and unwarrant- 

 ably, into acts of offence, followed up by craven and irresolute 

 conduct. A further acquaintance with the colley will show that 

 such demonstrations are complimentary, not hostile, and that the 

 misconstruction put upon them leads to those manifestations of 

 deference and contrition on the part of the unwitting offender, 

 which have been attributed to want of proper pluck and canine 

 spirit. To the usual training of the shepherd's dog is owing a 

 great deal of what has been placed to its discredit. This may 

 be tested, as it often has been, simply by transferring it to a 

 different scene of action, and submitting it to a different course 

 of discipline. But, judging of the colley in its own proper sphere, 

 with all the failings incident to its treatment and education, I 

 feel justified in asserting that there is no animal in the world, 

 which, at so small a cost and so little trouble, serveth the human 



