The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-04-12

owners while others permit the sheep men to recover damages, from the dog owners and two offer them no re- course whatsoever Dogs, however, killing sheep It is always difficult to deterMine their owners and where the damages arc paid by the state directly from the dog-tax funds the money very frequently is far from sufficient to meet all the claims.
 remedy tEsAt IS suggested for this situation is uniform state dog law euabody1ng the principle of a tax up on dogs srf7c 7ctentIy heavy 10 discour- age those who are not willing to take care of their pets from keeping thakn. Under this plan all dogs over six months of ase must be Icensed each year. the tax paid at the time or license number attached to the dogss collar. Any dog found without this tags unattended and off its owners premises, may be killed When found unattended on a farm where sheep are kept the dog may be killed whether it has the tag or not, and under any circumstances a dog caught chasing or killing sheep may be kill ed. All dogs which can be proved to be sheep killers must be killed whether caught in the act or not. and a reward of $15 should be offered for any one Identifying a sheep-k111ing dog. The money received from dog taxes should be devoted to retrp bs1rs5-. ing sheep owners for their lost stock and the county should in turn recov-- CT this money whenever possible from the dogs oHners- A special license should be issued for kennels where large numbers of dogs are maintain ed under such conditions that they cannot possibly do any harm to neigh boring hockA
 While some such plan as this is probably Indispensable to the full de-. ye1opment of the sheep Industry in the United States. there are eases where the flock master will. find in it's absence the use of dog-proof fences very desirable The grazing Of sheep upon comparatively small areas of. upon permanent pastures in larger fields, materially reduces the area to be fenced and makes this a practice bIe precaution. In the west fences have been built which prove satis-' factory defence against coyotes, and the fence that will turn aside a coy- ote will turn a dog $ fence of this character can be built as follows:
 Posts 1-2 feet in length, set 2 1-2 feet in the ground and 16 feet apart; a baEbed wire stretched flat to the surface of che ground; inches high- CT 36-iuch Woyen-wire fence having a 4-inch triangular mesh; 5 inches higher barbed wire: s inches high CT a second barbed wires 2 inches above this a third barbed wire To- taFeheight 57 inches
 It is important to remem Der, h oNv- ever. that the bottom strand of barb cd wire must be stretched flat on the surface of the ground at all points. If necessary the ground should be grad ed before the fence is built Thereaf- ter such small holes as appear may be filled in. It is not always neces- sary to fence the entire pasture. for dogs usually attack sheep at night only. IT sufficient area can be fenc- cd to give the nock protection during the night therefore, they may be safely left in un1nclosed pastures through the day. This method i11- wolves a certain loss Of time in drtv- ing the sheep to and from the in- closure, but in many cases will be preferred to the expense of fencing on a large scale.