Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1880-08-13
A Pensioned Dog.

In the Territory of New Mexico the
Legislature, by joint action, recently PEN
stoned a dog for noble services. In that
country there are many sheep farms, and
shepherd dogs are SO well trained in caring
for the flocks of their masters that it is
their daily practice to take out the flocks
in the morning to pasture, guard them all
day and at night return them to the fold
or corral. This work of the Mexican dogs
is so common and SO faithfully performed
that it is looked upon as matter of course
and nothing more than should be expected
from well trained dog. This being the
case, it would appear that the dog worthy
of a pension in that Territory must have
performed some very marvellous feat in
deed and something out of the common
line of canine achievement, and he did.
He did not save his mistress life from the
murderous fury Of the savage, nor her
child from being Drained against door
post or being choked by huge black
snake, for his master was not married, and
had no wife or babe, but led solitary life
in his solitary ranch in very solitary part
of New Mexico. It CHANGED that the dog
in question, on returning of an evening
with his sheep to the fold, discovered that
his master was not stirring about, but re-
manned inside the shanty and kept very
quite. The next evening it was the same.
The dog, when he penned up the sheep,
repaired to the shanty, smelled through
the crack in the door his masters presence
but the man was still quiet and did not
breathe. The dog scratched, barked and
even howled, but no response came from
within. The door remained closed; no
smoke rose from the chimney to greet the
early morn. But the dog, true to his ap-
pointed duty, went out with the sheep on
the third day and cared for them while
they cropped the heritage on the hillsides.
But he was getting hungry, and that
night when he drove the flock into their
pen the last one to attempt to get in be-
came the victim Of his appetite. This
method Of providing for his own wants
became portion of the faithful dogs dali
ly duty. Every evening the last sheep to
try to enter the fold was seized by him
and served for supper and breakfast and
for dinner the following day. AS stated
before, the ranch to which the dog belong
ed was in solitary part of the Territory
and out of track of travel and social inter-
course or visitation. For two years from
the time of the masters death-as ascer-
tanned by data left by the letter.-the faith
full dog tended the flock committed to his
charge, and had fresh mutton for supper
every night, The flock was not decima-
ted by this steady drain upon it's resources.
On.the contrary. it increased in numbers,
and when at the end Of two years from the
time of the death Of the proprietor, the
ranch was visited, and the remains of the
poor fellow found, the dog was still at his
post of duty, jealousy guarding his flock,
and driving them to the best pastures
every day, and to the fold at night, before
which he slept, to keep the wild sheep
eaters Of the plains at a civil distance.
Such fidelity excited admiration wherever
the story was told, and the Arcadian legis-
lators of the. Territory, in a fit of generosi-
ty and enthusiasm, at their session two
years ago (they have biennial sessions in
that happy country, granted a pension for
life to that dog, to be paid from the State
treasury, as reward for his fidelity, and
no doubt as an encouragement to all other
shepherd dogs in that Territory to be good
dogs and faithful Boston Globe.