16 THE OLD ENGLISH SHEEP DOG 



From this most excellent description terse, yet prac- 

 tical and comprehensive I have built up for myself a 

 mental picture of the ideal bob-tail as he exists in my 

 imagination. Alas ! I have not seen him in the flesh, 

 much less owned or bred him ; and artist and modeller 

 alike have failed to reproduce him to my satisfaction. 

 They hold that I am unnecessarily exacting, hinting, 

 moreover, that it is easier to preach than to practise.. 



" Breed one," laughs the artist. " I'll paint him for you." 



" Show me your ideal," says the sculptor, " and I'll 

 model him." 



Some day, perchance, if the gods be very good, I may. 

 Meanwhile I must content myself, perforce, with a mere 

 word portrait. 



Picture to yourself, then, a big, shaggy skull, with 

 plenty of width between the small, close-hanging ears ; 

 neither too flat nor yet too dome-shaped, but gently 

 rounded, capacious, and rather squarely formed. It sur- 

 mounts a pair of intelligent eyes of the deepest shade 

 of brown, set well apart, and is divided by a clearly 

 defined stop from the strong square muzzle, ending in a 

 big black nose, beneath which a set of large, white, even 

 teeth are placed with mathematical precision one above 

 the other. Shade it outwards from white to richest blue, 

 and add a stiff, strong beard of grizzled grey. Now set 

 this head upon a longish, heavy-coated neck which arches 

 gracefully into the sloping shoulders, with just a hint of 

 narrowness at their points. 



