114 



THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



likeness between the two animals depicted 

 is really startling. 



And though I am not sanguine enough 

 to suppose that my American critic is open 

 to conviction, I submit that his attempt 

 to make a terrier of a Sheepdog, by means 

 of measurements, is scarcely less futile 

 than to argue, on the same grounds, that 

 the animal's owner was not really a Duke ! 



Gainsborougli, one imagines, knew his 



century, one finds conclusive evidence that 

 the breed was very fairly represented 

 in many parts of England, notably in 

 Suffolk, Hampshire, and Dorsetshire, and 

 also in Wales. Youatt writes of it in 1845, 

 Richardson 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 sagacitv of the breed. 



THE SHEPHERD'S DOG. 



F:vm ■■ The Spoilimim'i CnHmt" (ifo3). By P. Rcinaglc, R.A. 



business, and painted what he saw, and I pin 

 my faith to his picture of 1771 as the earliest 

 likeness extant of an Old Enghsh Sheepdog. 



A hundred and thirty-five years ago, 

 then, our bob-tail flourished, to all outward 

 appearance, exactly as he does to-day. 

 And surely, in that pregnant interval, few 

 breeds have changed so little. 



Some thirty years later there was pub- 

 lished, in "The Sportsman's Cabinet," the 

 reproduction of a painting by Philip 

 Reinagle of a Shepherd's Dog. This was a 

 far less typical animal than Gainsborough's, 

 long-backed and bushy-tailed, apparently 

 wall-eyed, and closely resembling the Hima- 

 layan dog. 



Thereafter, throughout the nincteentli 



Tlie dog was well known in Scotland, too, 

 under the title of the Bearded Collie, for 

 there is little doubt that this last is merely 

 a variant of the breed. He differs, in point 

 of fact, chiefly by reason of possessing a tail, 

 the amputation of which is a recognised 

 custom in England. 



With regard to this custom, it is said 

 that the drovers originated it. Their dogs, 

 kejit for working purposes, were immune 

 from taxation, and they adopted this method 

 of distinguishing the animals thus exempted. 

 It has been argued, by disciples of the 

 Darwinian theory of inherited effects from 

 continued mutilations, that a long process 

 of breeding from tailless animals has resulted 

 in producing puppies naturally bob-tailed, 



