14 ON SHEPHERDS' DOGS. 



A. To learn a dog to go round, a stone must be 

 thrown before him, and then successively from place 

 to place, until he shall have gone round the flock, al- 

 ways repeating the word turn, by throwing a stone 

 before, and then behind him ; he is trained to run on 

 the side of a flock, by pronouncing the words, on the 

 sides ; they say, go, to make him go before ; return, 

 to make him return ; stop, to continue in place ; other 

 words may be substituted, in places where shepherds 

 have another language. 



Q. How is a dog learnt to seize a sheep by the 

 ear to bring him back when he wanders, or to stop him 

 in the middle of the flock, to wait for the shepherd ? 



A. A dog is made to go round a single sheep in 

 an enclosure : the ear of the sheep is put to the 

 dog's mouth, to accustom him to seize the sheep 

 thereby : or a piece of bread is tied to the ear of a 

 sheep in the middle of a flock, when the dog is excited 

 to aim thereat, and is thus habituated to seize the ear. 

 In this manner a dog is taught to stop such sheep as 

 the shepherd may shew him in the flock. Dogs may 

 also be taught to stop sheep, by seizing them by the 

 leg, before or behind, or above the fetlock : but this 

 practice has its inconveniencies ; the fetlock is often 

 swelled by it, and the sheep made lame for some time. 



Q. How does a dog make a flock obey him ? 



A. He makes the first sheep fly before him, by run- 

 ning at him, and then one after the other, the whole 

 flock takes the same course, if the dog continues to 

 press forward : when a sheep is not ready enough to 

 obey him, he approaches and threatens him by barking. 



