Truth. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1901-1908, 1906-12-29
THE SHEEP DOG OF THE WEST.
(Alice p. Bishop.)

pasture can hardly realize what an
important factor the shepherd dog has
been in the development of the west
ern states, where many men, starting
on their forty dollars per month sala-
ries as herders, have built up fortunes
ranging all the way from modest liv-
ings to the ownership of immense
tracts of land, upon which are feeding
heir own herds with tens and hun
dreds of thousands of dollars.
Nearly every one of these men would
ell you, if you asked him, Il could not
have begun, gone on or accomplished
his had it not been for the faithful
ness of those best dumb friends t,
NANNY dogs"
The average story of these cases
would read something like this ]
came out west and hired out as
herder. A cattle man gave me fe-
male shepherd pup and | invested five
dollars in another promising pup and
.ook both of them with me, and found
hem very easily trained with the hell
of my employers already trained dogs
or of all animals, it seems as if the
shepherd dog understands quickes
what is expected of him. and in two OF
.hree years he can almost talk-ir
act he does talk to his master and the
herd with every wag of his tail, every
curve of his body, every separate
sound of his bark. Almost all herders
love their dogs, and are skilled in dog
language; understanding perfect,
nearly everything their dogs try to tel
them.
saved my money for two years and
then bought a small band of sheep and
secondhand camp outfit consisting
of lumber wagon, covered with can
vas, and a team. In the wagon wa
stored my housekeeping utensils and
provisions to last for three months. AS
soon as the snow was well off the
mountains, ! took my two dogs, my
loaded wagon, and my sheep up to a
| high good range and staid there, occa
sionally moving to better range un-
| til snow came again. Except for a
| few calls from passing herders, | had
no other company during all these
months than that of my faithful Eide
| and BeSS.
Many herders go crazy from this iso-
lation and. in one such case. where
| The herder had wandered off, the dogs
watched and guarded the sheep by
day and gathered them in every night
until the owner of the herd came and
discovered what he owed to the sane
dogs of his insane herder.
| did not feel afraid of losing my
mind, for | famed my hopeful spirits
by thinking of the good time coming
when should be Independent, and my
dogs seemed to understand me as |
told them, over and over of my plans
when my fortune had been made, OF
going back east for Susie; of the
house | was going to build.
OF the old fashioned hollyhocks, cab
bage roses. which should grow by our
own cottage door, as my closed eyes
revealed again and again the scenes of
my childhood, about my old fashioned
mothers home In the back yard, in
my castle building, / always built
tasteful deg house, where Fido and
Bess, grown old. could finish their
days in peace and plenty.
When snow came we started TOWARD
civilization, with our outfit, and as
the dogs and sheep knew each other
so well, the former were worth more
to me than any number of strange men
and all their work was done for no
other return than my approval.
At night Fido and Bess would find
all thn cbppn and lripo tbar, cIoco tn