VARIETIES OF THE DOG. 61 



the sheep-dog is larger than the British drover's dog, and not far inferior 

 in size to the mastiff. The strength and ferocity which qualify him to 

 combat with the wolf, would occasionally be injurious or fatal to those 

 who somewhat obstinately opposed his direction ; therefore, in Denmark 

 and in Spain, the dog is rarely employed to drive the flock. It is the 

 office of the shepherd, to know every individual under his charge, to, as in 

 olden times, " call them all by their names," and have always some docile 

 and tamed wether who will take the lead, almost as subservient to his 

 voice as is the dog himself, and whom the flock will immediately follow. 



In whatever other country the dog is used, partly or principally to pro- 

 tect the flock from the ravages of the wolf, he is as gentle as a lamb, ex- 

 cept when opposed to his natural enemy ; and it is only in England that 

 the guardian of the sheep occasionally injures and worries them, and that 

 many can be found bearing the mark of the tooth. This may be some- 

 what excusable (although it is often carried to a barbarous extent) in the 

 drover's dog ; but it will admit of no apology in the shepherd's dog. It is 

 the result of the idleness of the boy, or the mingled brutality and idleness 

 of the shepherd, who is attempting to make the dog do his own work and 

 that of his master too. We have admired the Prussian sheep-dog in the 

 discharge of his duty, and have seen him pick out the marked sheep, or 

 stop and turn the flock, as cleverly as any Highland colley, but he never 

 bit them. He is a shorter, stronger, and more compact dog than ours. 

 He pushes against them and forces them along. If they rebel against this 

 mild treatment, the shepherd is at hand to enforce obedience ; and the 

 flock is as easily and perfectly managed as any English or Highland one, 

 and a great deal more so than the majority that we have seen. 



Mr. Trimmer, in his work on the Merinos, speaking of the Spanish 

 flocks, says : " There is no driving of the flock ; that is a practice en- 

 tirely unknown ; but the shepherd, when he wishes to remove his sheep, 

 calls to him a tame wether accustomed to feed from his hands. The 

 favourite, however distant, obeys his call, and the rest follow. One or 

 more of the dogs, with large collars armed with spikes, in order to pro- 

 tect them from the wolves, precede the flock, others skirt it on each side, 

 and some bring up the rear. If a sheep be ill or lame, or lag behind un- 

 observed by the shepherds, they stay with it and defend it until some one 

 return in search of it. With us, dogs are too often used for other and 

 worse purposes. In open, unenclosed districts, they are indispensable ; but 

 in others I wish them, I confess, either managed, or encouraged less. If 

 a sheep commits a fault in the sight of an intemperate shepherd, or acci- 

 dentally offends him, it is dogged into obedience : the signal is given, the 

 dog obeys the mandate, and the poor sheep flies round the field to escape 

 from the fangs of him who should be his protector, until it becomes half 

 dead with fright and exhaustion, while the trembling flock crowd together 

 dreading the same fate, and the churl exults in this cowardly victory over 

 a weak and defenceless animal." a 



If the farmer will seriously calculate the number of ewes that have 

 yeaned before their time, and of the lambs that he has lost, and the 

 accidents that have occurred from the sheep pressing upon one another in 

 order to escape from the dog, and if he will also take into account the 

 continual disturbance of the sheep while grazing, by the approach of 



a Trimmer on the Merinos, p, 50. See also the Society's work on Sheep. 



