National Geographic: Those Wonderful Dogs Page #2

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'Right hand' (he whistles)

'Stop' (he whistles)"

"When he's finished the job,

you have two commands to call him off

One's 'Well a go' and the

other one is (he whistles). Well a go"

"It's hard to believe

how tough dogs are

And on this property they work

in extreme conditions in

all types of weather

Even with a dog in those

sort of conditions

everything might be against him

He might have cut feet, he might

have snowballs built up on him

They will always try and run

they will always try their

best to do and complete

the job that you've

put in front of them"

Like army sergeants on alert,

the dogs keep the flock moving

In one week's time

the remarkable team of two people

and their

ten steadfast dogs have completed

the roundup

"A dog's work is never done

And when he finishes on the hill

he comes into the real hard work

of slogging in the hot yards

The hotter it gets, the more the sheep

put their heads down and won't go

And we tend to only work

with one or two dogs in the yards

so that we can alternate them

so that each dog gets a turn

because it is hot and dry

dusty, dirty work"

Because of the intense heat

the tired sheep often

don't want to move

creating traffic jams

in the tight confines of the pen

To find the offenders the dogs

simply make

a sidewalk out of the backs of

the sheep

After a chemical dip for protection

against external parasites

the sheep will be set free to wander up

to the

high country again

to graze until the next roundup

And then, once more,

when the shepherds head for the hills

their canine partners

will be by their sides

"For us to spend a day

on the hill

horse and dogs

the companionship and love

and hard work that they give to us

you could never receive from

any other animal in the world"

The New Zealand

farmer and his dog

have become

a world-famous partnership

Today, more than

are on the job

across the country

Probably the most

photographed is this one

a public tribute

to the dogs that help

keep the economy

so vital and alive

The origins

of the domesticated dog

lie shrouded

in the distant past

but it is generally

agreed that the dog evolved from

the wolf or that both share

a common ancestor

Wolves and dogs have

the same basic anatomy

physiology, and

patterns of behavior

and underneath the dog's

domestic facade

lie the instincts

of a predatory hunter

Wolves live and hunt in packs

Unlike other meat-eaters

such as members of the cat family

that ambush their prey

wolves stalk chase

after, and run down prey

However

as the wolf quickly learns

even with the

cooperation of the pack

he is no match for

an animal as large as a bison

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