ock what a man can not do. But for this
labor, he requires training, and a strict, thorough education, by those
who know how to do it. He is a peaceable, quiet creature; good for
little else than driving, and on a stock farm will save fifty times his
cost and keeping, every year. He is a reasonably good watch-dog, also;
but he has neither the instinct, nor sagacity of the terrier, in that
duty. To keep him in his best estate, for his own peculiar work, he
should not be troubled with other labors, as it distracts his attention
from his peculiar duties. We had a remarkably good dog, of this kind, a
few years since. He was worth the services of a stout boy, in bringing
up the cattle, and sheep, until an idle boy or two, in the neighborhood,
decoyed him out in "_cooning_," a few nights during one autumn--in which
he proved a most capital hunter; and after that, he became worthless, as
a cattle dog. He was always rummaging around among the trees, barking at
birds, squirrels, or any live thing that he could find; and no man could
coax him back to the dull routine of his duty. A shepherd dog should
never go a-hunting.

We would not be understood as condemning everything else, excepting the
dogs we have named, for farm use. The Newfoundland, and the mastiff, are
enormously large dogs, and possessed of some noble qualities. They have
performed feats of sagacity and fidelity which have attracted universal
admiration; but, three to one, if you have them on your farm, they will
kill every sheep upon it; and their watchfulness is no greater than that
of the shepherd dog, or the terrier. We have spoken of such as we have
entire confidence in, and such as we consider the best for useful
service. There are some kinds of cur dog that are useful. They are of no
_breed_ at all, to be sure; but have, now and then, good qualities; and
when nothing better can be got, they will do for a make-shift. But as a
rule, we would be equally particular in the _breed_ of our dog, as we
would in the breed of our cattle, or sheep. There are altogether too
many dogs kept, in the country, and most usually by a class of people
who have no need of them, and which prove only a nuisance to the
neighborhood, and a destruction to the goods of others. Thousands of
useful sheep are annually destroyed by them; and in some regions of the
country, they can not be kept, by reason of their destruction by
worthless dogs, which are owned by the disorderly people about the