THE SHEPHERD'S DOG. 



Many of these animals are sad double-dealers in their characters, being by day most 

 respectable Sheep-dogs, and by night most disreputable poachers. The mixed offspring 

 of a Sheep-dog and a setter is as silently successful in discovering and marking game 

 by night as he is openly useful in managing the flocks by day. As he spends the whole 

 of his time in the society of his master, and learns from long companionship to compre- 

 hend the least gesture of hand or tone of voice, he is far better adapted for nocturnal 

 poaching than the more legitimate setter or retriever, and causes far more deadly havoc 

 among the furred and feathered game. Moreover, he often escapes the suspicion of the 

 gamekeeper by his quiet and honorable demeanor during the daytime, and his devotion 

 to his arduous task of guarding the fold, and reclaiming its wandering members. It 



SHEPHERD'S DOG.Caais familiaris. 



seems hardly possible that an animal which works so hard during the day should be 

 able to pass the night in beating for game. 



Sometimes there is an infusion of the bull-dog blood into the Sheep-dog, but this 

 mixture is thought to be unadvisable, as such Dogs are too apt to bite their charge, and 

 so to alienate from themselves the confidence of the helpless creatures whom they are 

 intended to protect, and not to injure. Unless the sheep can feel that the Dog is, next 

 to the shepherd, their best friend, the chief value of the animal is lost. 



It is well observed by Mr. Youatt, in his valuable work on these Dogs, that if the 

 sheep do not crowd round the Dog when they are alarmed, and place themselves under 

 his protection, there is something radically wrong in the management of the flock. 

 He remarks that the Dog will seldom, if ever, bite a sheep, unless incited to do so by 



