Shepherd Dog
As I went along the footpath, I over-looked the rickyard, and noticed a collie pup trotting around a chicken coop in a very deliberate way. I stopped and watched him. A long-legged, miserable-looking fowl was his quarry. The bird sought to escape him, but he cut it off, penned it between a bale of wire-netting and the coop, and when he had done this he lay down with his head on his paws, watching the fowl. Soon there was activity again. The bird made a run for it. The pup rose and went softly after it to pen it again, this time between some wood and the side of a rick. Again the dog rested, and the bird looked about nervously. The herding instinct is strong in the collie breed, and this pup was enjoying himself. There was nothing vicious about it at all. In fact the cutting-off and penning were most gently done; and once he had achieved his object he was content. Apparently the dog's sole purpose was to satisfy a desire to shepherd his victim. No wonder the fowl was so thin and scrawny. The game was still going on when 1 left. It might well have been going on tor days.
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