16 The Dog Book 
“Whoever shall smite a shepherd-dog, or a house-dog, or a Vohunazgar 
dog, or a trained dog [probably a hunting dog], his soul shall fly amid 
louder howlings and fiercer pursuing than the sheep does when the wolf 
rushes upon it in the lofty forest.” 
Penalties are set forth in detail for injuries to dogs. In the case of a 
shepherd’s dog the man committing the injury must pay for any lost sheep, 
also for the wounding of the dog. If a house-dog was killed, the killer had 
to pay for any lost goods and for the dog. In addition to which for killing 
a sheep-dog he received eight hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, and 
the same with the Srashé-carana. For killing a house-dog seven hundred 
of each. 
“O Maker of the Material World, thou Holy One, which is the dog that 
must be called a shepherd’s dog? 
“Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the dog who goes a Yugyesta round 
about the fold, watching for the thief and the wolf.’” 
Other questions are then answered as follows: 
“Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the dog that goes a Hathra round 
about the house, watching for the thief and the wolf.’ 
“Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the dog who claims none of these 
talents, and only seeks for his subsistence.’’’ 
No reference is made in this special part as to the trained dog previously 
mentioned, and we have in this last dog what may either be the vagrant 
or the house pet. If the former, it shows that even they were not outcasts. 
Penalties were prescribed as follows for giving bad food to a dog: If toa 
sheep-dog, a punishment similar to that imposed if such food had been 
given to a noble; if to a watch-dog, the same as in the case of a middle- 
class citizen; the third section was placed as equal to a priest—not a very 
high placing of the priest, and this is taken by some to indicate that these 
dogs were wanderers and had no settled abode, the priests being of that 
class. 
The section containing the foregoing extracts concludes as follows: 
For it is the dog, of all creatures of the good spirit, that most quickly decays 
into age, while not eating near eating people, and watching goods none of 
which he receives. Bring ye unto him milk and fat with meat; that is the 
food for a dog.” Elsewhere we read: ‘‘ Whenever one eats bread one must 
put aside three mouthfuls and give them to the dog . . . for among 
all the poor there is none poorer than the dog.” 
