CHAPTER XXII 
Roucu-Coatep CoLLiE 
[25 SS GEN Buffon stated that the shepherd dog was the original 
j| dog from which all others had descended, he was a good 
deal nearer the truth than in a number of his theoretical 
assertions, many of which have been proved erroneous. 
One of the earliest dogs man must have had was that which 
took care of his property and protected his flocks from wild animals. The 
mistake all are likely to make in considering this claim of Buffon’s is to 
assume that the particular sheep dog with. which each one is most familiar 
was the one Buffon meant, whereas every nation has its sheep dog, England 
alone having three, and by England we mean, of course, the British King- 
dom. Buffon could have known little or nothing about the sheep dogs of 
England, and much less of that of Scotland, hence neither of the three is a 
competitor for the right to be considered the most ancient of all breeds of 
dogs. But no matter what the age of the breed may be, there is no question 
as to the high rank in popularity enjoyed by the rough or Scotch collie at 
the present day. 
If we are to take the records of the American Kennel Club as. an in- 
fallible guide, he is beyond question the dog of the day, Volume XX, of the 
“Stud Book” showing that 267 pages were required for the record of 
collies, while 140 pages sufficed for setters, 172 for Boston terriers and 106 
for pointers. The whole of the spaniels. were put on seventy-two pages, 
and the one-time leader in popularity, the fox terrier, filled the same number 
of pages as the spaniels. While not absolutely correct as a guide’ to. the 
number of setters, so many being bred for use only and never registered, 
yet there is no throwing out the evidence of the grat ipopulanty of the 
Scotch collie in this country as well as in England. » 
Where the ‘collie came from is and always will be a mystery. He 
could not have gone north from England without also’ having gone into 
Wales or Ireland, and every vestige of the breed. could hardly have dis- 
appeared from England had it once been in use there. They ask us to 
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