"SHEEP-DOGS" IN INDIA.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 148, 23 June 1906, Page 15

"SHEEP-DOGS" IN INDIA.

In some parts of Northern India, (says an exchange) the native shepherds employ large and fierce dogs for the protection of their sheep. These dogs, to which their owners attach great value, are reared in a peculiar way. A male pup is taken from the litter of the largest and heaviest to be found as soon as it can see, and is given to some ewe which has lost her lamb, to be suckled by her. At first the ewe pro- ; tests against this foster-child, and must be held down to give suck ; but in about three weeks she grows accustomed to it. As soon as the pup is old enough, it is allowed to run in tho jungle with its foster-mother, who nurses it much longer than she would be allowed to nurse a lamb. Thus reared, the pup, which ia castrated when six weeks old, grows into a much heavier and stronger animal than it would do otherwise, and, thus reared, takes upon itself • instinctively the duty of protecting the sheep from wolves. > Six or eight dogs are wanted for the protection of a flock of I any size. These accompany the sheep to the jungle pastures daily, and the weaker ones, 01 their own accord, post themselves round the feeding sheep, the stronger dogs remaining with the shepherd. If one of the sentinels gives the alarm, the dogs with the shepherd instantly rush to the cry, to reinforce their companions, the remaining centinsls keeping^ their places. This method of working is instructive, as the natives give the dogs no teaching whatever. A singular feature in their character is that, though these dogs are utterly fearless when with the flock, attacking man or wolf without hesitation, they are, when away from the sheep, as cowardly as the most cowardly of pariah dogs.