122 The Collie or Sheep Dog. 



away from the fact that, at its last show, there were more 

 really first-rate young dogs shown than have been previously 

 seen at any exhibition, and there was scarcely a bad one 

 benched. 



More might undoubtedly have been done with regard to 

 the improvement of, and encouragement in the working of, 

 the variety, but the first attempt in this direction under the 

 auspices of the Club those trials at the Alexandra Palace 

 already alluded to was by no means a success. How 

 could it be, with such surroundings ? A lot of wild 

 Welsh sheep turned down amongst the laurel bushes and 

 shrubs of a suburban pleasure ground ! Everything was 

 strange, even to the working of the dogs and to the awards 

 of the prizes. Still the experiment might have been 

 repeated amid more suitable surroundings, and any reproach 

 that may rest on the Club, as to the improvement in the 

 beauty of its favourite dog at the expense of its intellectual 

 capacity, would have been removed. 



Of course the Club has given us its description of the 

 true type of collie, which is as follows : 



" The skull of the collie should be quite flat and rather 

 broad, with fine tapering muzzle of fair length, and mouth 

 the least bit overshot, the eyes widely apart, almond shaped 

 and obliquely set in the head ; the skin of the head tightly 

 drawn, with no folds at the corners of the mouth ; the 

 ears as small as possible, semi-erect, when surprised 

 or listening, at other times thrown back and buried in 

 the ' ruff.' 



"The neck should be long, arched, and muscular, the 

 shoulders also long, sloping and fine at the withers ; the 

 chest to be deep and narrow in front, but of fair breadth 

 behind the shoulders. 



