THE OLD ENGLISH SHEEPDOG 61 



further from the fact. Nevertheless, he has few equals as a 

 house dog, being naturally cleanly in his habits, affectionate 

 in his disposition, an admirable watch, and an extraordinarily 

 adaptable companion. 



As to his origin, there is considerable conflict of opinion, 

 owing to the natural difficulty of tracing him back to that 

 period when the dog-fancier, as he flourishes to-day, was all 

 unknown, and the voluminous 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 progenitors 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 Himalayan drover's dog, and the Russian 

 Owtchah, are all of them massive and powerful animals, far 

 larger and fiercer than our own, though each of them, and 

 notably the Owtchah, has many points in common with the 

 English bob-tail. 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. 



Throughout the nineteenth century, one finds conclusive 

 evidence that the breed was very fairly represented in many 

 parts of England, notably in Suffolk, Hampshire, and Dorset- 

 shire, and also in Wales. Youatt writes of it in 1845, Richard- 

 son in 1847, and " Stonehenge " in 1859. Their descriptions 

 vary a little, though the leading characteristics are much the 

 same, but each writer specially notes the exceptional sagacity 

 of the breed. 



