6 FARMERS ' BULLETIN 935. 



The farmer who does not object to placing his flock in a corral each 

 night may eliminate the expense of building dog-proof fences around 

 his entire farm by inclosing a small area with such a fence and 

 making a practice of placing his flock therein at night. For such a 

 purpose a 6-foot woven-wire fence such as that shown in figure 2 is 

 suitable, but the coyote-proof fence constructed partly of barbed wire 

 (fig. 1) is more efficient. Both dogs and coyotes are very shy of 



barbed wire. 



DOG LAWS. 



The desirability of a maximum increase in the number of sheep is 

 generally admitted, and steps are being taken at the present time 

 toward a rehabilitation of the sheep industry. It is recognized that 



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FIG. 1. A dog-proof fence. 



one of the most effective means of insuring the farmer a profit on 

 sheep is to make and enforce laws against the sheep-killing dog. Sev- 

 eral States have recently passed laws which adequately protect the 

 farmer's flock, but in most of the States the present dog laws fail in 

 their purpose. Failure may also be caused by the nonenforcement of 

 a good law already in existence, but more often it is caused by the 

 nonexistence of a good law. 



The following general discussion of those phases in the present dog 

 laws of the farm States which should aid in the solution of the dog 

 problem as related to the sheep industry will suffice to give an idea 

 of the text of such laws. 



Many of the States now levy dog taxes directly through the legis- 

 lature, but there are still a number which empower cities and towns 

 to tax dogs at their discretion. A State law which provides com- 

 pensation for damages done by dogs has an advantage over municipal 



