The Star. THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 1869.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 395, 19 August 1869, Page 2

The Star. THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 1869.

- - ♦ . ■" Love me love ray dog " is an adage as old the hills. And no one who is capable of admiring the highest type of intelligence and beauty to be found in the brute creation, can wonder that i;be love of dogs is so wide-spread among men. So warm, as well as general, is this, love, that men, as a -rule, are aa ready to resent any injury offered to their dogs as to themselves-. It is owing probably to this warm affection tbat Councillor Sheppard appears to have got into hot water for " moving that the police should be called upon to summons the owners of dogs that are guilty of habitually running after horses in the streets. More than one letter has already appeared in the public prints anent this proceeding. The curious part of it is that the writers make no objection to the terms of the motion, but only to the fact that Mr Sheppard was moved to abate the nuisance from his own personal experience of the danger of having half-a-dozen curs in full cry at his horse's heels. If Councillors in passing through the streets are to be strictly prohibited from taking notice of nuisances which attract their various senses, the city will certainly be loser. We should have thought this to be one of their principal duties. Moreover, we believe that a mnjority of the useful reforms which have been made by the Council have originated in this very manner. So far from agreeing with the objectors on this occasion, we think Mr Sheppavd is entitled to the thanks of the community. No one can have ridden much about the neighbourhood of the city without having been made aware of this dangerous dog nuisance. large number of dogs kept about Christchurch is in itself a subject for curious speculation. What possible use or amusement can be derived from them is certainly a mystery. With that, however, the public can have no concern. If people choose to keep a dozen dogs they have a perfect right, provided they pay the tax, and do not

allow them to become a nuisance. But dogs, like children, require education. If they are allowed to ruu wild aud do as they like, they soon become a public nuisance. Tbere are many dogs about the place which have acquired such a habifc of rushing after a horse's heels, that nothing but a dose of strychnine will ever cure fchena of it. The habit is a catching one. Every cur within reach follows the leader, till, in certain quarters, a horseman is almost sure to have a pack in full cry at his heel&l This is not only a nuisance, bui>-**dangerou9 nuisance. Another evil, and perhaps a worse one, is the habit of letting dogs loose at night. There are parts of Chrisbchurch where it is dangerous to be out after midnight for fear of the dogMfe We hope, now that the attentton^M the police has been drawn to the subject, that the dog nuisance will be kept within bounds.