The Old English Sheepdog - A Complete Anthology of the Dog

By Read Books Ltd.

The Old English Sheepdog - A Complete Anthology of the Dog gathers together all the best early writing on the breed from our library of scarce, out-of-print antiquarian books and documents and reprints it in a quality, modern edition. This anthology includes chapters taken from a comprehensive range of books, many of them now rare and much sought-after works, all of them written by renowned breed experts of their day. These books are treasure troves of information about the breed - The physical points, temperaments, and special abilities are given; celebrated dogs are discussed and pictured; and the history of the breed and pedigrees of famous champions are also provided. The contents were well illustrated with numerous photographs of leading and famous dogs of that era and these are all reproduced to the highest quality. Books used include: My Dog And I by H. W. Huntington (1897), Dogs Of The World by Arthur Craven (1931), The Book Of Dogs by Stanley West (1935) and many others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Nov 15, 2011
• ISBN: 9781447491552

Book preview

THE ENGLISH SHEEP-DOG.

THIS dog has a longish head, with a sharp muzzle, and a good breadth over the forehead. His ears are slightly raised; his coat coarse and woolly. The tail is long and bushy, but is generally cut off even now, when the Excise Laws no longer require it, and this gives the dog an awkward, clumsy appearance. His size varies greatly.

The English Sheep-dog does not possess all the fidelity and sagacity of the Colley, but he is a teachable and intelligent animal, as any one may satisfy himself of by watching his manœuvres in driving sheep. In temper he is treacherous and savage, but not by any means courageous, and I have seen a little Scotch Terrier put one to an ignominious flight.

Wilford Kennels, Cohoes, N. Y.

BOXER III.

THE SHEEP-DOG (OLD ENGLISH OR BOBTAIL).

ORIGIN.—It is claimed by the Welsh that this is purely a breed belonging to their own country.

USES.—Same as the rough and smooth varieties of collie.

* SCALE OF POINTS, ETC.

GENERAL APPEARANCE.—Strong, compact, cobby dog, profusely coated all over; moves bear-like.

HEAD.—Skull capacious, rather square; parts over eyes well arched; the whole well covered with hair. Jaw fairly long and square. Stop slightly defined. Eyes in dark blue should be dark brown; in lighter colors they will follow them, and where white predominates a wall eye is typical. Nose black and fairly large. Teeth strong, firm, and even. Ears medium, heavy, and carried close.

NECK AND SHOULDERS.—Neck long, arched, graceful, well coated; shoulders sloping, so that the dog is lower here than at hind quarters.

FORE LEGS.—Straight, plenty of bone, not leggy, well coated.

FEET.—Round, large, toes arched, pads hard.

TAIL.—All other points being equal, the tailless specimen wins over the one with a tail; the less he has of it, the better.

BODY.—Rather short, very compact; ribs well sprung; brisket deep; loins very stout, arched; hind quarters bulky.

COAT.—Profuse, fairly hard and strong; double-coated, as in the rough collie.

COLOR.—Dark, light, or pigeon blue, and steel gray, generally mixed with white; white collars, legs, chest, and face greatly desired.

HEIGHT.—Twenty inches and upward.

Stonehenge says: Usually these ‘bobs’ are strongly made and symmetrical dogs, but without any definite type; they have frequently a tendency to the brindle in color. In awarding prizes, the premier honors seem generally to go to the homeliest specimens.

THE OLD ENGLISH (BOB-TAILED) SHEEP DOG.

OF late years there has been a strong and successful attempt to re-popularise this quaint and representative creature, a dog that always reminds me of one of our shaggy ancient British forefathers as we see him in picture books. The collie clubs refused to acknowledge the old English sheep dog as one of their special race, so it has the honour of having a club of its own formed by the ardent admirers of the variety who believe there is no other dog in existence with even half the good qualities possessed by their special fancy.

A useful animal in his way, with a certain amount of rugged, unpolished beauty, his disposition is often surly, he frequently prefers a fight to his ordinary agricultural duties, and although a faithful companion to his master, is likely to be ill-tempered with strangers, and will not stand quietly and be rebuked by others. Still, like the ordinary collie he appears to have been amenable to discipline and to improve in society, for I fancy that since his popularity his disposition is better than it was, and he is peculiarly kind and amiable, especially to those he knows.

Possibly he is an older dog than the ordinary collie, nor has modern fashion as yet changed him so much as it has other dogs. Reinagle’s picture in the Sportsman’s Cabinet published very early in the present century, is a capital example of what the dog is to-day, and such a one as there pour-trayed, would now, if alive and in the flesh, take the highest honour at any of our leading shows.

In Scotland there is an old-fashioned sheep dog of the same sort called the Highland or Bearded Collie, and although he is by no means common, classes are sometimes provided for him at local shows, and they usually attract a considerable entry. I certainly agree with the author of the Dogs of Scotland, when he says that the two varieties as found in Scotland and England are identical, and if the former is usually seen with a long tail, it is only because his owners have refused to amputate it in order that it might have a so-called bob-tail.

It has been said that the variety of old English sheep dog was originally of Welsh extraction; wherein the principality he was known as the Welsh heeler, obtaining this name by the habit common to him of attacking the heels of the obstreperous cattle he may be driving. However, the indigenous Welsh dog is a little smooth-coated, mirled or tortoiseshell-coloured, wall-eyed creature, smart and active for the work on the hills, where the heavy, cumbersome, bob-tail would be out of place. As proof of the alleged Welsh origin of the bob-tail, it has been adduced that Mr. R. J. Lloyd Price, at Rhiwlas, Bala, has had a strain on his estates for some generations. So he had, but unfortunately for the argument of those who say the true Bob-tail is Welsh bred, such dogs were originally brought from the Southdowns, in Sussex, by Mr. Edward Lloyd, grandfather to the present Rhiwlas squire.

As a fact, the old English sheep dog is pretty common in almost every county in England, though it is oftenest found as the dog of the farm in the Midland and Southern counties, and as assistant to the drover in the Metropolitan and other cattle markets of our large centres. He is an excellent cow dog—not so good for sheep, and were the latter to turn and face him and stamp their little feet in anger at his shaggy face, as the Welsh and Scotch sheep often will do, quite as likely as not the bob-tail would use his teeth on the foolish creatures. In no degree has he the patience of the true collie, an attribute in which the latter excels above all others of the canine race.

One of the peculiarities of these dogs is that many of them are bred either without tails at all or with very short tails—tails ready docked in order to save them from the pain of the mutilating process which their owners would have to undergo. It has been considered that these puppies born without tails are the purest bred, but this is another fallacy, for both puppies with tails and puppies without tails are usually produced in the same litter. Then other admirers of the race say that they can tell a natural bob-tailed dog from one that has been curtailed, by the manner in which