Size of the "Bob-Tail." 91 



Mr. Edmund Tye, of The Moat Farm, Dallinghoo, Suffolk, 

 who was my informant. 



"With regard to the size of the original breed, I cannot 

 help thinking he was a much larger dog than is seen now- 

 adays. They have a dwarfed appearance ; they are all 

 1 little big'uns/ and to obtain that characteristic there must 

 have been the size sometime or other. And I confess I 

 prefer the big ones, they have a grander appearance, a 

 big blue and white dog of twenty-five inches catches the 

 eye, and he can carry a heavy coat without looking like 

 a smothered Yorkshire terrier or a door-mat-like Isle of 

 Skye. Shepherds prefer the little ones, why? because 

 they do not eat so much, and can dodge in and out of the 

 furze bushes after rabbits. These men do not want sheep- 

 dogs nowadays, they prefer whippets. The well-known 

 dog, Sir Guy, who in his day was almost invincible on 

 the show-bench, was once sold for two shillings because he 

 fell head over heels over a rabbit : and to my idea that old 

 dog, when in full coat, was the grandest sheep-dog in 

 existence. Look at his mighty frame, active as a kitten ; 

 his massive head with the truncated muzzle so rarely 

 seen, the tiny ears, the hard coat, and, above all things, 

 the utter absence of ' poodleness/ The fashion in bob- 

 tailed sheep-dogs is becoming poodle-like ! but it is very, 

 very wrong. 



" I admire a heavy coat on the show-bench, for there 

 ought to be a superabundance of jacket to allow for wear and 

 tear in the bushes when at work, but let us carefully avoid 

 anything that approaches the curliness of the poodle. A 

 beautiful and picturesque dog was Mr. Wilke's Watchman ; 

 but he was not a sheep-dog, his coat was in ringlets, and 

 his ears ' as big as a blacksmith's apron.' Steer clear of 



