28 The Collie or Sheep Dog. 



they remain so now, though their popularity with the masses 

 and the procedure of dog show business has certainly not 

 improved the collie from an intellectual point of view. The 

 exhibitions have improved his coat in profuseness, have 

 caused the head to lengthen abnormally, and produced him 

 prettier in colour and handsomer in his markings. He is more 

 pampered and petted than he used to be, but to a great extent 

 any advancement in his really legitimate calling has been 

 sadly neglected. For here again we find that a dog, to be 

 in good, hard, working condition, is not in that form of long, 

 flossy coat likely to prove attractive to the judge in the 

 show ring. And in the latter position his progress has 

 within the most recent two decades been extraordinary. 



From the beginning of the present century to past its 

 middle appears a long gap, but, during that period little 

 appears to have been heard of the collie dog outside the 

 farm on which he was employed. He was found useful, 

 and kept for the purpose of attending to the cattle and 

 sheep, as the case might be. 



Allusion might be made here to the custom that once 

 prevailed of cutting the tails of farmers' dogs, in order, 

 either that they could be better distinguished from those 

 kept for sporting purposes by the man whose social 

 position and wealth allowed him to do so, or to prevent 

 them becoming adepts at coursing hares, foxes, and 

 rabbits ; as the removal of the caudal appendage pre- 

 vented the creature from turning so well when running as 

 he would do were he in his natural condition. When the 

 dog taxes were first introduced in 1796 the custom was 

 almost entirely abolished, although here and there it died 

 a somewhat lingering death. With it expired the last of 

 the relics of the feudal times and the old Forest Laws, 



