Dogs have an amazing sense of responsibility. Sometimes,
when there are sheep to be worked, an old slut who has young puppies
may be greatly exercised in her mind whether she should go out or not.
On the one hand, she does not care about leaving the puppies, on the other,
she feels that she really ought to go rather than allow the sheep
to be knocked about by those learners. Hesitatingly, with many a look
behind her, she trots out after the horses and the other dogs.
An impassioned appeal from the head boundary rider,
"Go back home, will yer!" is treated with the contempt it deserves.
She goes out to the yards, works, perhaps half the day,
and then slips quietly under the fences and trots off home, contented.




The Dog -- as a Sportsman



The sheep-dog and the cattle-dog are the workmen of the animal kingdom;
sporting and fighting dogs are the professionals and artists.

A house-dog or a working-dog will only work for his master;
a professional or artistic dog will work for anybody, so long as he
is treated like an artist. A man going away for a week's shooting
can borrow a dog, and the dog will work for him loyally, just as
a good musician will do his best, though the conductor is strange to him,
and the other members of the band are not up to the mark.
The musician's art is sacred to him, and that is the case with the dog --