The Newcastle Show, 1908. 
171 
of witnessing what an able and well-trained collie is capable 
of doing, and every clever point and display on the part of 
those agile workers was loudly applauded. As far as the limits 
of the Large Parade Ring would allow, the dogs were tested on 
work which they were accustomed to do, or should be able to 
do, in the daily routine at home, so that the work assigned to 
each dog was thoroughly practical. What was aimed at was 
to afford each dog an opportunity of giving an exhibition of 
its best form of work, and to exclude from the course every 
device for puzzling the dogs, so as to prevent, as far as possible, 
the element of chance coming in. Scotland sent only five 
dogs, and three of these were in the short-leet, one of which 
eventually got second place in the prize list. Northumberland, 
however, gave by far the best display, both as to numbers and 
style of work. Of the thirteen dogs that were selected for a 
second trial, eleven of them were of the same strain, several 
being closely related. The first and second prize winners, though 
not from Northumberland, were of the same lineage, the “ Old 
Hemp ” and “ Kep ” progeny. This strain excel in attention 
to work, eye, and action, and their cowering style is most 
fascinating and cannot be surpassed anywhere. The English 
dogs from further south than Northumberland made rather a 
poor display as compared with the Northumbrians. They 
have neither the size, action, nor attention to work of the 
Border dogs, and are far behind them in practical work, but 
for doing puzzles and trick work, the guiding of sheep through 
a labyrinth of flags and poles and other intricacies, they are 
certainly well qualified. To sum up, the first prize winner 
gave almost a faultless performance, being gentle, obedient, 
and possessed of a certain freeness of movement not often met 
with. His performance might have been improved with the 
introduction of a little more fire. The second prize winner 
goes well to and round her sheep, brings straight and steadily, 
has good style, and in excellent command. She marred the 
beauty of her performance, however, by “ turning tail ” in 
wearing single sheep. The third prize winner runs with great 
eagerness and power and his style all over is superb. In his 
second trial, however, he got a little out of command. The 
fourth prize winner goes free and fast, is wonderful in 
obedience, but the crowd appeared to bewilder him a little. 
The fifth prize winner is stylish, obedient, and brings his 
sheep beautifully, but is rather loose in his running at close 
quarters. The Judge congratulates the Council in being the 
first to introduce before the Grand Stand such an excellent 
demonstration of canine sagacity, an exhibition which is at 
once the most interesting and instructive of all open air 
sport. 
