On the Brookhaven College trail today, I saw a man walking a beautiful collie.
Humble Origins in the Scottish Highlands
According to Old-Time Farm Shepherd, Scotland was subject to conquest, invasion and immigration from various peoples in the centuries before the collie appears in written history. Notable among these people who came to live in Scotland — no doubt bringing their dogs with them — were Celts, Romans, Norse, Irish and English. Dogs from all these peoples no doubt contributed genetic material to the dogs of Great Britain as a whole. Incidentally, Scotland is home to a range of dog breeds many of them quite different one from another. Some of the more common Scottish dog breeds include:
- Collie.
- Golden retriever.
- Gordon setter.
- Scottish terrier.
- Scottish deerhound.
- Sleuth hound.
By the 1700s, all this canine genetic material had settled into pockets where it was most useful for different jobs. For example, the Scottish deerhound was used for hunting deer and running down stags; the Scottish terrier was used to hunt smaller animals like badgers and foxes. The Gordon setter was used for hunting birds, and the collie was used for herding sheep.
The Highland clearances (1760 – 1860) represented the eviction of many of the Highland’s tenant farmers, forcing them to move and start new lives elsewhere. Some of them went to the New World and others to Lowland Scotland and England; some of these displaced Highland shepherds brought their dogs with them. This was the first major wave of collies to arrive in England and America, and it corresponds to their first mentions in literature and their rise in popularity in England.
The collie’s first confirmed appearance in literature is when Scottish poet Robert Burns mentions the collie in his poem The Twa Dogs in 1786.
The tither was a ploughman’s collie A rhyming, ranting, raving billie Wha for his friend an’ comrade had him, And in his freaks had Luath ca’d him, After some dog in Highland sang, Was made lang syne—Lord knows how lang.
The next reference to the collie in history was English author Thomas Bewick’s A General History of Quadrupeds in 1790. His description is a bit vague, but his illustrations leave no doubt that it is the Highland collie he is describing.
Collies Get Noticed in England
Written references to collies in England increased greatly as the 19th century progressed. The word collie — or often colley — increased in use and was added to dictionaries of the time. The 1874 book Dogs: Their Origin and Varieties by H.D. Richardson gives a description of the collie that could be used today — with the exception of the color, as black and tan collies have almost completely disappeared:
The genuine original Shepherd’s dog is now nearly altogether confined to Scotland, where he is called the “Colley.” He stands about twenty-one inches in height at the shoulder; is very gracefully shaped; muzzle pointed; ears half erect; coat long, but fine and silky; tail and hams fringed with hair; colour usually black and tan, or sandy yellow.
Written accounts of collies in the early 19th century usually describe the breed’s intelligence and devotion in glowing terms. The breed was highly regarded in England at this time, and it was becoming more common in England. It is in this era that the name Scotch Collie is first applied to the breed.
Collies Get Fancy
In the year 1859 in Newcastle, England, the first recorded dog show in history took place with only pointers and setters participating. In the Birmingham show the next year, classes were first provided for sheep dogs, although records do not indicate if any were actually exhibited at that time. By the Birmingham show of 1863 though, six collies were shown.
It was around this time that Queen Victoria got her first collie to keep her company after her husband Prince Albert died in 1861. She had many dogs — including some Highland collies — but her favorites were collies from Lowland Scotland, the forerunners of modern Border collies. Queen Victoria obtained these dogs from one Thomas Elliot, the father of the man who was important in the foundation of the Border collie breed a generation later.
Breeding for Shows and Conformation
The Kennel Club was founded in 1873 by S.E. Shirley — an early collie breeder and 12 other men to ensure fair and consistent dog show rules and to register dogs and track pedigrees.
Per Charles H. Wheeler’s The Dog Book, Volume 1, 1906:
The next important dog to make history was Metchley Wonder, a nicely marked sable-and-white. Just a nice-sized dog, not too big nor yet a little one, excelling in body, legs and feet; he possessed a beautiful coat and frill, and a typical head, set off with good ears. He was born in March, 1886, and was without doubt the best all-round show collie produced up to the date of his initiation to the show ring.
Metchley Wonder was a grandson of Charlamagne and another one found in many pedigrees today. He still had that old-fashioned look, born only about 10 years after collies began to be bred for dog shows.
As the new century approached, some accused breeders of crossing Borzoi blood into the collie breed. There is no conclusive evidence whether it ever happened, but some very knowledgeable people on this subject are convinced that it did happen; the truth may never be known.
Per The World Today, 1908:
The showmen have been breeding a head of peculiar shape, and this, with a few other obvious parts, which contribute to the new type, makes the modern collie. His obscure type parts that are of practical importance get scant recognition from the collie judge. The intelligent collie of other days will soon be in a separate group. The show collie will form another variety, useful only as a show dog.
Border Collies
Old Hemp was a Lowland Collie born in Northumbria, England in 1893. He was an excellent sheep herder and won many awards at sheepdog trials, a new sport at the time. He had a way of working sheep in a low crouching style that was new and desired by others, so he was bred far and wide. The Border collie breed grew out of two things — the landrace collies indigenous to Lowland Scotland and efforts to perpetuate that intense crouching style of herding. Every Border collie today can trace its lineage back to Old Hemp. The breed was first called “Border collie” in 1915 to differentiate it from the Scotch collie and to highlight its origin in the Scottish/English border region.
Lassie Come-Home
The popularity of the collie got a huge boost in 1940 when Eric Knight’s book Lassie Come-Home was first published to critical and commercial success. Three years later the book was made into a major motion picture which was followed up with six more Lassie movies, a radio series and a TV show, as well as books, comics, toys and other merchandise. All this caused the popularity of the collie to skyrocket like never before. Knight had a smart, devoted old-fashioned collie named Toots that was the inspiration for Lassie.
The 1940s and 1950s were a heyday for the Rough collie thanks to Lassie. After the popularity of the movie, breeders and dogs proliferated, the American Kennel Club recorded a 40% increase in collie registrations in the years following.
What I remember most is the “Lassie” TV show:
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