368 MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF SHEEP 



difference shown by legislators to these losses is not cred- 

 itable to their manhood; that legislatures have so fre- 

 quently trifled with the remedial measures proposed is not 

 creditable to their patriotism. 



How dogs worry sheep — The night season is the time 

 usually chosen by dogs for worrying sheep, but in some 

 instances they will not refrain from attacking them in the 

 day. The problem of devising means that will enable the 

 farmers who keep sheep to receive compensation for the 

 loss sustained is much complicated by this habit in the 

 dogs to make their attacks in the night season. It makes 

 it practically impossible to know whose dogs did the mis- 

 chief. But even though this could be known, and though 

 the law made provision that the owners of the sheep 

 should be given full compensation by the owners of the 

 dogs, in very many instances the owners of the latter 

 would be unable to make payment. More commonly the 

 slaughtering of the sheep is done by vagrant dogs owned 

 by people who are too poor and frequently too negligent 

 also to provide proper food for them. The exceptions, 

 however, are not few, for dogs that are well fed will some- 

 times worry sheep. It has even been claimed that shep- 

 herd dogs have been known to worry sheep, but such 

 instances, if they happened, are extremely rare. 



In some instances dogs will worry sheep though 

 alone. More commonly, however, they make the attack 

 when in pairs or trios. They sometimes go for a con- 

 siderable distance in search of a flock. They will not only 

 attack sheep in the open field, but will also attack them 

 when yarded, if the yard or corral is accessible. When 

 attacked in the yard or corral the slaughter is usually 

 very great. But the same is true in some instances in 

 the open field, as the surrounding fence makes it impossi- 

 ble for them to get away. 



The power of dogs to worry sheep is very great. In 

 some instances, more especially when the attack is made 

 by a single dog, it is confined to a single sheep from the 



