four times a day for the little thing to suck, and a nest of wool is
made for it in the sheep-pen; at no time is it allowed to associate
with other dogs, or with the children of the family. The puppy is,
moreover, generally castrated; so that, when grown up, it can scarcely
have any feelings in common with the rest of its kind. From this
education it has no wish to leave the flock, and just as another dog
will defend its master, man, so will these the sheep. It is amusing to
observe, when approaching a flock, how the dog immediately advances
barking, and the sheep all close in his rear, as if round the oldest
ram. These dogs are also easily taught to bring home the flock, at a
certain hour in the evening. Their most troublesome fault, when young,
is their desire of playing with the sheep; for in their sport they
sometimes gallop their poor subjects most unmercifully.
The shepherd-dog comes to the house every day for some meat, and as
soon as it is given him, he skulks away as if ashamed of himself. On
these occasions the house-dogs are very tyrannical, and the least of
them will attack and pursue the stranger. The minute, however, the
latter has reached the flock, he turns round and begins to bark, and
then all the house-dogs take very quickly to their heels. In a similar
manner a whole pack of the hungry wild dogs will scarcely ever (and I
was told by some never) venture to attack a flock guarded by even one
of these faithful shepherds. The whole account appears to me a curious
instance of the pliability of the affections in the dog; and yet,
whether wild or however educated, he has a feeling of respect or fear
for those that are fulfilling their instinct of association. For we
can understand on no principle the wild dogs being driven away by the
single one with its flock, except that they consider, from some
confused notion, that the one thus associated gains power, as if in
company with its own kind. F. Cuvier has observed that all animals that
readily enter into domestication, consider man as a member of their own
society, and thus fulfil their instinct of association. In the above
case the shepherd-dog ranks the sheep as its fellow-brethren, and thus
gains confidence; and the wild dogs, though knowing that the individual
sheep are not dogs, but are good to eat, yet partly consent to this
view when seeing them in a flock with a shepherd-dog at their head.
One evening a "domidor" (a subduer of horses) came for the purpose of
breaking-in some colts. I will describe the preparatory steps, for I
believe they have not been mentioned by other travellers. A troop of
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