The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1880-08-05
A PENsIoyED DOG.


= - e
s In the Territory Of New Mexico the
Legislature, - by Joint action, recently
ipensioned IA dog for noble services. In
that country there are many sheep farms,
and shepherd dogs are SO well trained in
caring fol. the focks of their masters that
it is their daily practice to take out the
7flocks In the mefning to pasture, guard
them all day, and at night return them
to the fold or coral. This work of the
Mexican dogs is so common and SO faith
fully performed that it is looked upon as
a matter Of course, and nothing more
than should be expected from q we'll
trained dog Sz This being the case, 1t
would appear that the dog worthy of g
pension in that Territory must have per, !,
formed some very marvellous feat indeed,
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 a huge black
snake, for his master was not married,
and had no wife or babe, but led q soli-
tary Life in his solitary ranch in q very
solitary part of New Mexico. i a...!e
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 remained IN
side the shanty and kept very quiet
The next evening it was the same. The
dog, when he penned in the sheep, re-
paired to the shanty, snelled through q
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
appointed duty, went out with the sheep
on the third day, and cared for them
| while they cropped the herbage on the
hillsides. But he was getting hungry.
and that night when he drove the sheep
into their pen, the last one to attempt to
go in became the victim of his appetite.
This method of providing for his own
wants became a portion of the faithful
dogs daily duty. Every evening the
last sheep to try to enter the fold was
seized by him and served for supper and
for breakfast and dinner the following
day. As stated before, the ranch to
which the dog belonged was in q solitary
part of the territory, and out of the track
Of travel and social intercourse or vista
ton. Ei7ss~ F-@ a3at 'ss+'f-'''S'''sf'''1' '''-@
For two years from the time Of the
masters .death-as ascertained by data
left by the latter-the faithful dog
tended the flock committed to his
charge, and had fresh mutton for supper
| every night. The flock was not deci-
mated by this steady drain upon its re-
sources 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 pasture every day, and to the
fold at night, before which he slept, to
keep the wild sheep-eaters of the plains
| a civil distance Such fidelity excited
admiration wherever the story was told,
| and the Arcadian Legislators of the Ter
| ritory, ;, in fit of generosity and enthu-
sias1n, 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 q, reward for, his
| fidelity, and no doubt as an encourage
ment to all other shepherd dogs in that
| Territory to be good dogs and faithful.