The Shepherd and His Dog

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 123, 31 October 1941, Page 5

The Shepherd and His Dog

You can picture how very close is the bond ‘" between shepherd and dogs. They are his one essential-just as necessary to him as his instruments to the surgeon or his clues to a detective-at any rate a detective in novels. They are the standing topic in the cookhouse — shepherds talk far more

about them than they do about girls, whatever people may_ say. For girls come and go-but dogs live and die with the same master. They cause a good deal of trouble, too. Many a bet has been lost and many a fight started by these amiable animals. And-if the station owner happens to be mean about dog-tucker-well, he pays in the end. The meat. safe has been known

to open mysteriously in the night and, when the cook comes to get the chops for breakfast, there is much cursing in the cookhouse-but you'll notice that the dogs wear a smug look this morning and there are a lot of chop bones round the kennels. The shepherd must have his wages and the dog his meat — for those are his only pay. And he earns it. Dawn has not broken very often when the shepherd yawns his way out to the kennels. The dogs are all on the watch. Which will he take to-day? Two or three are chosen; the rest subside sadly in their kennels watching the lucky ones go leaping after the master. They lie there sulking and planning the unpleasant things they will do to those favoured dogs when they come home to-night — for work is the sheep-dog’s whole life. It may be a hard one, but he enjoys it and at least he knows that he is an essential worker -and never more so than to-day.-(" Our Animal Friends-The Shepherd’s Dog." Mrs. Mary Scott, 2YA, Octoker 18.)