As regards training heifers, a Pennsylvania farmer who has trained and milked heifers for more than fifty years, and never has any trouble about their jumping, kicking, or running, gives the following as his secret: “When I intend to raise a heifer calf for a milch cow, I always raise it by hand, and when feeding, frequently handle it by rubbing it gently over the head and neck until it becomes tame and gentle. The rubbing is begun at the first feeding with milk, and continued until I quit feeding it; I never afterward have any trouble about milking them.”
CHAPTER VIII.
DOGS IN GENERAL—WATCH DOGS—THE SHEPHERD’S DOG.
Among all the animals the dog seems preëminently intended by nature for the companion and friend of man. Even the instinctive passions all animals have for their own kind appear to be in a measure sacrificed to human influence, for the dogs often care more for the society of man than for that of their own kind. Not only is the dog a trusty and valuable friend and associate of man, but the companionship between the human and the canine races developes in the latter many of those noble qualities not possessed under other circumstances. The Turks look upon the dog with abhorrence, and almost universally in the East he is an outcast from human society. The consequence is that all his good qualities are lost; he is no longer the faithful companion, ready to defend his master with his life, but on the contrary, he is deceitful, bloodthirsty, and as unlike the more favored dog of other countries as it is possible to imagine.
WATCH DOGS.
Many kinds of dogs are used as watch dogs, and where all that is required of them is a notification of nightly intruders, and the awakening of the household, perhaps the species used is of comparatively little consequence. Where the dog is intended to act as a defender as well as a sentinel, strength and courage are important requisites. With many the bull dog is a favorite for this purpose. Though the least intelligent of his species his unflinching and unconquerable courage renders him a terrible opponent. So utterly without intellect is his courage, however, that no consideration of his foe’s powers deters him from attacking the most formidable thing that gives offense. Striking examples of this quality are displayed in England in what are termed “bull baits,” exhibitions whose cruelty and brutality are scarcely excelled in the customs of any other country. In these bull baits the dog, while fastened to the nose of some unfortunate bull, has had one leg after another cut off with a knife to test his courage. So persistent is the dog in maintaining his hold that the most frightful mutilation will not compel him to relinquish it until his strength is exhausted from loss of blood; he has been known to die from this inhuman hacking with his death grip firmly holding the bull.
Probably the best watch dog is the mastiff. Capable of great attachment to his master, he unites strength with intelligence, and, while implacable toward intruders, toward members of his master’s family he is docile and gentle. His hearing is remarkably acute, for he can detect the difference between a familiar and a strange footstep, however light it may be.
THE SHEPHERD’S DOG.
The rapid increase in the importance of sheep husbandry in this country will soon direct attention to the value of proper dogs for assisting in their management and protection. There are several different breeds used for this purpose, varying in different countries with their several local requirements. In Spain the Pyrenean, or St. Bernard’s dogs, are found valuable to accompany the large merino flocks on their annual migrations to the mountains, as a protection against the wolves infesting the Pyrenees. In Spain, too, the mastiff is highly prized, an improved, large breed, with strong feet, short hair and slightly pointed nose, being much in use.
A gentleman of Delaware gave, some years ago, the following account of a shepherd’s dog of the Spanish breed in his possession:
“The dog is three times as large as the shepherd’s dog described by Buffon, but is endowed with the same good qualities: immense strength and great mildness in his usual deportment, though ferocious toward other dogs. I can say, without exaggeration, that at least twenty dogs have been killed in my barnyard, or on my farm, by my dog Montague. His dimensions are three feet eleven inches from his eyes to the root of his tail, and two feet eight inches high over the shoulders. He is a fine animal, entirely white. I prefer that color in recollection of the story of old Jacob. In fact, I had formerly a black dog, and many of my lambs were born black. Since I have had Montague and his mother I have very few black lambs. The natural instinct of this animal is to guard your sheep against wolves and dogs. No other training is required, but to keep them constantly with your flock, the moment they are from the litter, until they are grown.”