October, 1911 
TWO ALL-ROUND DOGS FOR THE 
FARM OR COUNTRY PLACE 
By T. C. TURNER 
VERYONE who has lived on a farm— 
E; I mean by this a real farm, where 
the owner or occupant is making 
his living from its products—is familiar 
with the havoc that rats and many other 
vermin play in the poultry yard, the stable 
and the barnyard. hey rob the henhouses, 
kill the young chicks, destroy the cattle 
feed, and house themselves in the winter in 
the corncrib. Indeed, they are a menace 
in so many ways that the farmer is continu- 
ally striving to get rid of them. The safest 
and best method of keeping away such 
pests is the introduction on the farm of a 
dog of the right sort. Most every farmer 
keeps one or more dogs, either for protec- 
tion or, if he can spare the time, for a little 
shooting in the fall and winter, a dog such 
as the pointer, setter, or spaniel, one that 
can accompany him and be of service when 
he sets forth for recreation with a gun. 
But none of these dogs has the instinct or 
ability to hunt vermin. For such a purpose 
nothing will do but the terrier, and of his 
various types, the best I know of is the 
bull-terrier, for in him we have the master 
of rat-catchers. He has been bred for gen- 
erations for this work, and his lines betoken 
a dog keen to the scent as edge to the razor, 
and a dog combining with his small size 
unusual strength. To be of good type, the 
bull-terrier should have a long head, strong 
level jaws, black eyes and nose, his skull 
should be wide between the ears, which 
should be small, a long neck, straight fore 
legs, moderately small feet, close toes, some- 
what narrow chest, long body, powerful 
loins, and muscular thighs, a tail not too 
long and well tapered, and a fine coat. His 
color should be white, but a small splash of 
yellow or black on the head will indicate no 
detriment to his general utility, and would 
only count against him on the show bench. 
Such a dog could be purchased at a lower 
price from many breeders and would be 
none the less active for his work on the 
farm or country place with such markings. 
He should be left to roam at large among 
the stables, barns and outhouses, and when 
he has cleared them of their undesirable 
tenants, the few that escape his powerful 
jaw will warn the rest that it is no good 
district to visit. In addition to his special 
ability as a rat and vermin killer, the bull- 
terrier is an excellent watch dog, but in the 
country where areas are nearly unlimited, 
a larger dog may be kept to fill this partic- 
ular requirement—a setter or pointer, for 
instance. The watch dog question is an 
important one where a farm or country 
place is in an outlying district, as many of 
them are, perhaps two or three miles from 
a neighbor, and five or six from a village, 
which must, from time to time, be visited, 
and in consequence the farm be left, often 
entirely alone. I know of a farm in the foot- 
hills of the Catskills where a half-bred 
collie has been trained to be one of the 
most perfect watch dogs I ever saw. When 
his master and mistress are at home he 
takes his leisure, but so soon as the horses 
are harnessed and the carriage leaves the 
place he goes directly to the house, takes 
up his position on the porch, and never 
leaves that spot until the horses drive up 
the home road; then he is half-way down 
the drive to meet them before you hardly 
notice him, for he knows their footsteps 
as distinguished from any strange horses. 
This same dog, with the true instinct of 
bis collie parent, will fetch in the cows 
when they are wanted; all that is necessary 
is for him to receive orders from head- 
quarters, and the cows are soon at home. 
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