Shep's Hobby

       
                                                                                    James Herriot, UK, (1916 – 1995)
Summary in English

'Shep's Hobby' by James Herriot is an animal story tries to defend the rights and freedom of animals. This story tries to advocate that animal rights should not be interfered. Since the writer is animal lover, he suggests us not to suppress the feeling, joys, hobbies, likes, dislikes, emotions, etc. of the animals. All creatures have hobby and fun. If such hobby and fun are deprived of, the creature's life becomes useless.
Herriot often went to Mr. Bailes's farm. Mr. Bailes had kept a big dog named 'Shep.'  Shep is a bigger than collie, black and white in color with massive limbs, brown head with upright ears. He was very strange and playful creature. He used to frighten passersby violently but without any harm to them. The stranger would be frightened and would jump several inches in the air. Then, Shep would be happy and wait for another victim.
One day, James Herriot was invited by Mr. Bailes to see his sick cow named 'Rose'. The cow was suffering from an unknown illness. Herriot was walking between the walls when Shep barked so loudly into his right ear that he was frightened. He jumped several inches in the air. Anyway, the doctor checked the cow for a long time since Rose did not improve her condition. Every time, he was frightened by the dog. The writer could not understand whether the dog wanted to bite him or he only played for fun. He thought Shep was a dangerous dog so he decided to punish him. For that, he caught the chain and dragged the dog nearby his feet. Shep wagged his tail and asked for pardon looking at the eyes of the writer.
After a month, the writer was again invited by Mr. Bailes. This time dog 'Shep' did not bark since he understood that writer did not like such behavior. In fact, Shep used to enjoy by frightening people with his loud barking having no evil plan of biting them. Therefore, the writer felt guilty for breaking the hobby of Shep.
After few weeks, the writer saw a potter who was walking through Mr. Bailes's farm. It was Shep who jumped and barked loudly at him. Having frightened, the potter ran away leaving his all pots and Shep felt happy. The writer also felt happy realizing that Shep's hobby was still alive.