Old English (Bob-tailed) Sheep Dog. 151 



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. 



"An old English sheep-dog's coat should be 

 shaggy, and all I can liken it to, is to that peculiar 

 style of growth of hair frequently seen on a clod- 

 hopping countryman's head in a word, shock- 

 headed : one lock growing this way, and another 

 that way ; no curl, but a sort of head you could 

 wipe your boots on ! 



" Suffolk has produced most of the best show 

 specimens of late years to wit, Sir Guy, Sir 

 Lucifer, Sir Lancelot, Mayor of Newport, Blue 

 Ruin, Welsh Sensation, Welsh Marvel, Dame 



