SOUTH AMERICAN SHEPHERD DOGS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1715, 11 January 1905, Page 69

SOUTH AMERICAN SHEPHERD DOGS

The shepherd dogs on the South American estancias are unusually intelligent. It is a common thing to meet a. large flock of sheep guarded by one of two dogs some miles distant from any house or human being. These dogs are educated in the following manner :—The puppy, while very young, is separated from the hitch. A ewe is held three or four times a day for the little thing to suck, and a nest of wool is made for it in the sheep pen. It is not allowed to associate with other dogs or with the children of the family, but everything is done to accustom it to its future companions, and from this education it has no wish to leave the flock. When a stranger approaches the flock the dog immediately advances barking, and the sheep all close in his rear, as though round the oldest ram. The dogs are also taught to bring home the flock at a certain hour in the evening. These shepherd dogs come to the house every day for food, but as soon as they receive it they skulk av r ay as if ashamed of themselves. The house dogs are very tyrannical to* them, and the smallest of them will attack the shepherd dog on small provocation. It has been noticed, however, that the minute the shepherd dog joins his friends the sheep he wall turn round and bark defiance, and then the house dogs very quickly beat a retreat. It is said that a whole pack of wild dogs will never attack a flock that is guarded by even one of these faithful shepherds. In this case the shepherd dog considers the sheep as its fellow-brethren, and thus gains confidence from numbers; and the wild dogs, although they know that the individual sheep are not dogs, but are good to eat, yet partly agree with the sheep dog’s view when they see him at the head of a flock.