THE OLD ENGLISH SHEEPDOG. 



"3 



records of a watchful Kennel Club were still 

 undreamed of. From time immemorial 

 a Sheepdog, of one kind or another, has 

 presided over the welfare of flocks and 

 herds in every land. Probably, in an age 

 less peaceable than ours, this canine guardian 

 was called upon, in addition to his other 

 duties, to protect his charges from wolves 

 and bears and other marauders. In that 

 case it is very possible that the early pro- 

 genitors of the breed were built upon a 

 larger and more massive scale than is the 

 Sheepdog of to-day. 



The herd dogs of foreign countries, such 

 as the Calabrian of the Pyrenees, the Hima- 

 layan drover's dog, and the Russian Owt- 

 chah, are all of them massive and powerful 

 animals, far larger and fiercer than our own, 

 though each of them has many points in 

 common with the English bob-tail ; and it 

 is quite possible that all of them may trace 

 their origin, at some remote period, to the 

 same ancestral strain. Indeed, it is quite 

 open to argument that the founders of our 

 breed, as it exists to-day, were imported 

 into England at some far-off date when the 

 duties of a Sheepdog demanded of him 

 fighting qualities no longer necessary. 



Notably in the case of the Owtchah, or 

 Russian Sheepdog, is there evidence of 

 this common origin, and an interesting com- 

 munication in this connection has reached 

 me recently from the President of the New- 

 foundland Club. 



" I remember," he writes, " that about the 

 year 1857 a police-sergeant at Kirkham re- 

 ceived a present of a so-called Russian terrier. 

 This dog, which was a constant playmate 

 of mine, was, of course, no terrier at all. 

 To all intents and purposes, he was a very 

 fine Sheepdog indeed, with all his tail on, 

 big and blocky, with massive bone and full, 

 correct coat, white with merle markings, 

 strong, active, and good-natured, in general 

 conduct staid and dignified." 



Evidently, in his leading characteristics, 

 this animal had very much in common 

 with our own. 



Turning now from matters of possibility 

 to those of fact, we come to the first authen- 

 ticated picture of a Sheepdog with which 



I am acquainted, painted by Gainsborough, 

 and engraved by John Dixon as long ago 

 as 1771. The original, which is in the 

 possession of the Buccleuch family, is a 

 portrait of the third Duke, with his arms 

 clasped about the neck of an extremely 

 typical specimen of the breed. Exhibited 



HENRY. THIRD DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH WITH 

 AN OLD ENGLISH SHEEPDOG. 



some years ago at the South Kensington 

 Museum, the picture was officially described 

 as a portrait of " Henry, Duke of Buccleuch, 

 witli Sheepdog." 



An American writer on canine matters, 

 who recently treated of the breed with 

 somewhat scant courtesy, claims to have 

 proved, by means of photographs and 

 measurements, that the dog in question 

 was not a Sheepdog at all, but simply a 

 rough terrier. To test the matter fairly, 

 I had myself photographed in a similar 

 pose with a well-known prize-winner from 

 my kennel. The result was satisfactory 

 beyond dispute, for the relative proportions 

 of man and dog came out exactly. I don't 

 look in the least like the Duke, but the 



