94 The Collie or Sheep Dog. 



from either straightness or curl. It is 1 1 in. long upon 

 his loins and hind-quarter, whilst his face and legs are 

 evenly and equally clothed with hair, the front of the 

 legs carrying as much coat as the back part of the same. 

 His tail is a very short, natural stump, and when he " wags " 

 it, he does so vertically, not horizontally, which his owner 

 says is a peculiarity he has looked for in vain in any other 

 strain. His sire, Sir Caradoc, is well known as a very large 

 pigeon-blue and white dog, rather soft in coat, but showing 

 remarkable character ; these two inheriting their beautiful 

 colour and sheep-dog characteristics from old Dame 

 Margery, who was also a " natural bob." Her strain is 

 remarkable for possessing double dewclaws upon one or 

 both hind legs. Dame Ruth, the dam of the subject of our 

 illustration, was a small bitch of great character, by Jockey, 

 half-brother to Sir Guy out of Bess, by Sir Guy out of 

 Dame Margery ; and it is interesting to know that, 

 although Sir Guy has never sired anything up to bench 

 form, still there is a concentration of his blood in very 

 many of our best specimens. 



One other interesting fact remains to be told with 

 regard to the way their breeder, Dr. Ker, hit off the 

 pigeon-blue colour. He had been breeding blue grizzle 

 with blue grizzle for several years, hoping to produce the 

 coveted pigeon-blue, but to his chagrin the puppies came 

 darker with each succeeding generation, and smaller like- 

 wise. The thought then struck him of Jockey to get the 

 size back never dreaming about colour. Jockey was then 

 mated to Dame Margery, and she bred two dog puppies at 

 fourteen years old. One of these was of the long-coveted 

 colour he became Sir Caradoc ; whilst the other was 

 nearly white, with blue ears and a tan cheek. 



