nose, and must not show weakness or be snipy or lippy. Whatever the colour of the dog may be, the nose must be black. THE TEETH should be of good size, sound and level; very slight unevenness is permissible. THE JAWS—Clean cut and powerful. THE EYES are a very important feature, and give expression to the dog; they should be of medium size, set somewhat obliquely, of almond shape, and of a brown colour except in the case of merles, when the eyes are frequently (one or both) blue and white or china; expression full of intelligence, with a quick alert look when listening. THE EARS should be small and moderately wide at the base, and placed not too close together but on the top of the skull and not on the side of the head. When in repose they should be usually carried thrown back, but when on the alert brought forward and carried semi-erect, with tips slightly drooping in attitude of listening. THE NECK should be muscular, powerful and of fair length, and somewhat arched. THE BODY should be strong, with well sprung ribs, chest deep, fairly broad behind the shoulders, which should be sloped, loins very powerful. The dog should be straight in front. THE FORE-LEGS should be straight and muscular, neither in nor out at elbows, with a fair amount of bone; the forearm somewhat fleshy, the pasterns showing flexibility without weakness. THE HIND-LEGS should be muscular at the thighs, clean and sinewy below the hocks, with well bent stifles. THE FEET should be oval in shape, soles well padded, and the toes arched and close together. The hind feet less arched, the hocks well let down and powerful. THE BRUSH should be moderately long carried low when the dog is quiet, with a slight upward "swirl" at the end, and may be gaily carried when the dog is excited, but not over the back. THE COAT should be very dense, the outer coat harsh to the touch, the inner or under coat soft, furry, and very close, so close as almost to hide the skin. The mane and frill should be very abundant, the mask or face smooth, as also the ears at the tips, but they should carry more hair towards the base; the fore-legs well feathered, the hind-legs above the hocks profusely so; but below the hocks fairly smooth, although all heavily coated Collies are liable to grow a slight feathering. Hair on the brush very profuse. COLOUR in the Collie is immaterial. IN GENERAL CHARACTER he is a lithe active dog, his deep chest showing lung power, his neck strength, his sloping shoulders and well bent hocks indicating speed, and his expression high intelligence. He should be a fair length on the leg, giving him more of a racy than a cloddy appearance. In a few words, a Collie should show endurance, activity, and intelligence, with free and true action. In height dogs should be 22 ins. to 24 ins. at the shoulders, bitches 20 ins. to 22 ins. The weight for dogs is 45 to 65 lbs., bitches 40 to 55 lbs. THE SMOOTH COLLIE only differs from the rough in its coat, which should be hard, dense and quite smooth. THE MAIN FAULTS to be avoided are a domed skull, high peaked occipital bone, heavy, pendulous or pricked ears, weak jaws, snipy muzzle, full staring or light eyes, crooked legs, large, flat or hare feet, curly or soft coat, cow hocks, and brush twisted or carried right over the back, under or overshot mouth.
CHAPTER IX
THE OLD ENGLISH SHEEPDOG
Intelligent and picturesque, workmanlike and affectionate, the Old English Sheepdog combines, in his shaggy person, the attributes at once of a drover's drudge and of an ideal companion. Although the modern dog is seen less often than of old performing his legitimate duties as a shepherd dog, there is no ground whatever for supposing that he is a whit less sagacious than the mongrels which have largely supplanted him. The instincts of the race remain unchanged; but the mongrel certainly comes cheaper.
Carefully handled in his youth, the bob-tail is unequalled as a stock dog, and he is equally at home and efficient in charge of sheep, of cattle, and of New Forest ponies. So deep-rooted is the natural herding instinct of the breed that it is a thousand pities that the modern shepherd so frequently puts up with an inferior animal in place of the genuine article.
Nor is it as a shepherd dog alone that the bob-tail shines in the field. His qualifications as a sporting dog are excellent, and he makes a capital retriever, being usually under excellent control, generally light-mouthed, and taking very readily to water. His natural inclination to remain at his master's heel and his exceptional sagacity and quickness of perception will speedily develop him, in a sportsman's hands, into a first-rate dog to shoot over.
These points in his favour should never be lost sight of, because his increasing popularity on the show bench is apt to mislead many of his admirers into the belief that he is an ornamental rather than a utility dog. Nothing could be further from the fact. Nevertheless, he has few equals as a house dog, being naturally cleanly in his habits, affectionate in his disposition, an admirable watch, and an extraordinarily adaptable companion.
As to his origin, there is considerable conflict of opinion, owing to the natural difficulty of tracing him back to that period when the dog-fancier, as he flourishes to-day, was all unknown, and the voluminous records of a watchful Kennel Club were still undreamed of. From time immemorial a sheepdog, of one kind or another, has presided over the welfare of flocks and herds in every land. Probably, in an age less peaceable than ours, this canine guardian was called upon, in addition to his other duties, to protect his charges from wolves and bears and other marauders. In that case it is very possible that the early progenitors of the breed were built upon a larger and more massive scale than is the sheepdog of to-day.
The herd dogs of foreign countries, such as the Calabrian of the Pyrenees, the Himalayan drover's dog, and the Russian Owtchah, are all of them massive and powerful animals, far larger and fiercer than our own, though each of them, and notably the Owtchah, has many points in common with the English bob-tail. It is quite possible that all of them may trace their origin, at some remote period, to the same ancestral strain. Indeed, it is quite open to argument that the founders of our breed, as it exists to-day, were imported into England at some far-off date when the duties of a sheepdog demanded of him fighting qualities no longer necessary.
Throughout the nineteenth century, one finds conclusive evidence that the breed was very fairly represented in many parts of England, notably in Suffolk, Hampshire, and Dorsetshire, and also in Wales. Youatt writes of it in 1845, Richardson in 1847, and "Stonehenge" in 1859. Their descriptions vary a little, though the leading characteristics are much the same, but each writer specially notes the exceptional sagacity of the breed.
The dog was well known in Scotland, too, under the title of the Bearded Collie, for there is little doubt that this last is merely a variant of the breed. He differs, in point of fact, chiefly by reason of possessing a tail, the amputation of which is a recognised custom in England.
With regard to this custom, it is said that the drovers originated it. Their dogs, kept for working purposes, were immune from taxation, and they adopted this method of distinguishing the animals thus exempted. It has been argued, by disciples of the Darwinian theory of inherited effects from continued mutilations, that a long process of breeding from tailless animals has resulted in producing puppies naturally bob-tailed, and it is difficult, on any other hypothesis, to account for the fact that many puppies are so born. It is certainly a fact that one or two natural bob-tails are frequently found in a litter of which the remainder are duly furnished with well-developed tails.
From careful consideration of the weight of evidence, it seems unlikely that the breed was originally a tailless one, but the modern custom undoubtedly accentuates its picturesqueness by bringing into special prominence the rounded shaggy quarters and the characteristic bear-like gait which distinguish the Old English Sheepdog.
Somewhere about the 'sixties there would appear to have been a revival of interest in the bob-tail's welfare, and attempts were made to bring him into prominence. In 1873 his admirers succeeded in obtaining for him a separate classification at a recognised show, and at the Curzon Hall, at Birmingham, in that year three temerarious competitors appeared to undergo the ordeal of expert judgment. It was an unpromising beginning, for Mr. M. B. Wynn, who officiated found their quality so inferior that he contented himself with awarding a second prize.
But from this small beginning important results were to spring, and the Old English Sheepdog has made great strides in popularity since then. At Clerkenwell, in 1905, the entries in his classes reached a total of over one hundred,