British Sheep Dogs 



PUBLIC trials of working sheep dogs were first introduced by Mr. Lloyd Price, 

 of Rhiwlas, Bala, North Wales, in 1873. The object for which they were 

 originally instituted was to promote a better training of sheep dogs amongst 

 the Welsh farmers. 



Strange as it may seem, though the mountainous districts of Wales have been 

 devoted from time immemorial almost exclusively to sheep rearing, the old-time 

 farmers took little trouble in the training of dogs to collect and work their sheep. In 

 fact, previous to the inauguration of the competitions, the duties of the Welsh sheep 

 dog were confined principally to the taste of hunting and chasing sheep back again up 

 the mountains whenever they strayed down to graze upon the more fertile pastures in 

 the valley which the farmers reserved for their cattle. This was well enough so long as 

 the sheep were roaming at will among their native haunts and feeding grounds, but 

 whenever it was necessary for the farmer to gather his flock together the trouble 

 began. The hardy little animals are wild and timid creatures that are not easily 

 induced to leave their mountain, home; moreover, when at liberty they are scattered 

 in small lots over immense tracts of country. 



To gather sheep from the mountains with the aid of dogs alone was in those days, 

 with few exceptions, an utter impossibility, consequently as many as ten or twelve 

 men had to be employed tq scour the mountains, and even then many stragglers were 

 inevitably left behind. Nowadays all that is changed, one man can with the assist- 

 ance of a good sheep dog do the same work much more thoroughly and satisfactorily, 

 and without hustling or distressing the sheep (themselves. 



The systematic training of sheep dogs has indeed accomplished for the sheep- 

 rearing hill farmer almost as much in the way of labor-saving as the adoption of agri- 

 cultural machinery has done for the farmer who cultivates the lowlands. 



The sagacity displayed by a really good sheep-dog gathering sheep upon a moMii- 

 tain side, often a mile or more away from his master, must be seen to be believed. 

 When the farmer goes out to gather his flock for shearing or other purposes, far away 

 upon the bleak hillside, little clusters of white spots are all that are to be seen. The 

 farmer takes up a position upon some point of vantage, gives a word or whistle or 

 instruction to his four-footed companion, and the dog bounds away in response till he 

 seems no more than a tiny moving speck occasionally visible in the distance. Sharp 

 and shrill the farmer's whistle pierces the keen mountain air, and ever and anon, as 

 though by magic, the little white dots begin to move and converge towards a common 

 center. In response to one signal the sound of the dog's answering bark can be heard ; 

 another signal and he drops as though shot, and is as/ silent as the grave. In the dim 

 distance a few small dots can be seen; they are some stragglers that have been over- 

 looked ; a whistle galvanizes them also into motion, but in the wrong direction ; a 

 moment later and they are merged into one motionless white blot upon the dark 

 mountain side. The blot moves again, not quite in the desired direction ; whistle suc- 

 ceeds whistle in quick succession, and at each one the little moving blot alters its 

 course, zig-zagging this way and that, until it finally becomes merged in the large 

 white patch that marks the remainder of the flock, which keeps on the move, drawing 

 nearer and nearer until the sheep take shape and can be seen coming down steadily 

 with the dog dodging in their rear, till they are rounded up and brought to a standstill 

 within reach of the farmer's; stick. Such a sight is common today upon the Welsh 

 mountain or in the Scottish Highlands, though it is not given to every man to acquire 

 perfect mastery over his animal ; so much depends upon both man and dog. A dog 

 belonging to a man who takes no interest, or has not the knadk 1 and patience necessary 

 to teach him is worse than useless. The dog often reflects to a great extent his 

 master's character. An excitable, hasty-tempered man generally has a headstrong, 

 willful dog that is hard to control. Some dogs, born of a long line of carefully- 

 trained sheep dogs, take to working sheep as ducks do to water; a savage, uncon- 

 trollable brute, whose only ambition seems to be to worry and abuse the sheep, and 

 there are hundreds of such animals, is simply a hindrance and a source of trouble to 

 its owner, as anyone who is acquainted with sheep and their ways knows full well. 



The sheep dog proper must above all things be gentle and patient with its often 

 cantankerous charges, yet firm and masterful enough to inspire the timid sheep .with 

 sufficient sense of fear to cause them to move away in another direction at its appear- 

 ance and approach without creating such a panic-stricken stampede. Such strains of 

 dogs are scarce and highly-prized by their owners, though from the show-bench 

 fancier's point of view their often nondescript exterior cannot be classified into those 

 niceties of shape and color in which the judge of show dogs delight. Many a sheep 

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