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Border Collies Throughout History
- Dorsey the Mail Carrying Dog
“Let us go back to California,” said Mr. Bush, “and I’ll tell you about a dog in that state that is a regular mail-carrier. His name is Dorsey, and he carries the mail between Calico and Bismarck in San Bernardino county. His official wages are small, and through the proper authorities he has made application to have them increased. At present he gets two beefsteaks a week. He wants his salary raised to seven steaks a week; his constituents have signed a petition to that effect, and the dog looks anxiously forward to the day when the Postmaster-General shall grant his appeal.
“Before Dorsey was appointed regular mail-carrier between Calico and Bismarck, his reputation was not the best. He was said to be lazy and would rather loaf away the summer days in a shady spot than work for a living. He is a black and white collie with sharp nose, bright, quick eyes, and the usual shaggy coat. The way he came to be installed as a government employe was this: The postmaster at Calico had a brother in the mines at Bismarck to whom he wanted to send word one day. The place was three miles up the mountain, along a bare, stony road, burning with heat. It was a hot, toilsome tramp, and no one in the village offered to go. So the postmaster thought he would send Dorsey, just to see how it would work. The letter was written and tied around the dog’s neck, his head was pointed up the Bismarck road and he was told to ‘git out fur Bismarck.’ He started, ran a few rods and stopped. But a shower of stones started him again, and that was the last seen of him in Calico that day.
“The next day he returned from Bismarck with an answering letter tied around his neck. He had been well treated at the mining camp, was fed well and petted on his return, and seemed very proud of his achievement. After this, other letters were sent in the same way, and by-and-by the miners asked that all their mail be sent up by the dog route. There were more than he could carry, so a little mail bag with brass trimmings was purchased and fitted to Dorsey’s back. The bag is fastened by two straps, one around his chest and the other around his fore-legs. When the bag was first strapped on his back a grand ceremony was held by the miners and the postmaster, and Dorsey was formally and officially installed as carrier with a salary of two beefsteaks a week, and promise of increased pay if he behaved himself. Now, residents of San Bernardino county have grown to look upon the dog as a regular institution quite in the ordinary run of affairs.“Dorsey knows when the stage that brings the mail is due, and on those occasions he sticks closely to the post-office. When the letters and papers have been sorted out the postmaster says, ‘Dorsey, the mail is ready,’ and the dog stands soberly to have the bag strapped on. Then, with a sharp bark of farewell, he trots over the hills on a little trail that he has worn himself. If he meets a stranger he makes a wide detour to avoid him, and when other dogs try to be friendly he gravely declines and goes on his way. He will not run any risk of losing the mail. Arriving at Bismarck he stops at six or seven of the principal houses in town, and standing at the front door barks until some one comes out, examines the mail and takes what belongs to him. Then Dorsey trots on to the next house and so on throughout his route. Only a few known friends are permitted by him to open the bag. Then at night the miners give him a big supper and the next day he starts back for his office at Calico with letters bound for the post-office.
“Dorsey has been photographed repeatedly,” continued Mr. Bush.” The miners who live in the dog’s district feel so kindly toward the novel carrier that no cabin is considered complete without a picture of their pet hung in the most conspicuous place. Once a month or so, whenever a traveling photographer strikes the town, Dorsey has to submit to be photographed. He has grown to like the process now, and seems to understand what it is all about. Whenever one of these traveling artists appears, the dog is the first to scent him out and to pilot him to the country store that serves as post-office. Here he waits to have his mail-bag strapped on, and, when all is properly adjusted, he poses in full uniform as patiently as a society actress the day before her debut. The New York World and Harper’s Young People have published portraits of Dorsey and given sketches of his life, and think there’s no doubt of the truth of the story I’ve told you about this remarkable dog.”
- Fit for a Queen
Queen Victoria's Border Collies
Much has been written about Queen Victoria’s Collies, one can hardly read a history of the breed without some mention of how she made them popular or how she bred Borzoi into them. In my research I have so far found no information to indicate that she made any significant contribution to the popularity of the Collie or that she bred Borzoi with Collies, I am beginning to suspect that both assertions are complete fiction.
There is however some good information online about Queen Victoria’s Collies, see the links below for a rather comprehensive discussion of the subject.
http://www.astraean.com/borderwars/2009/01/queen-victorias-border-collies.html
http://www.gis.net/~shepdog/BC_Museum/Permanent/QueenVictoria/QueenVictoria.html
Looking at the images on these two sites you will see a dog much different from the Scotch Collie as we know it, some have pointed to this as proof of what the breed looked like before show breeders started changing it. But even in those times, some saw the Queen’s Collies as somewhat different from the norm.
“A few years ago Queen Victoria had a number of pure black and tan Collies, which I saw at Balmoral. They were pretty, but I am of the opinion that they had been crossed with the black and tan Setter dog. This may not have been the case, but it seemed to me the only plausible explanation for the absence of that foxy look which is characteristic of all pure Collies. In the north of England and borders of Scotland the Gordon Setter has been used as a cross and at our shows these invariably take the prize against our pure Collies.”
excerpted from: How the farm pays: the experiences of forty years of successful farming and gardening by William Crozier – 1897Christopher of Borderwars speculates, these are the early forerunners of the Border Collie based on looks and the label on the picture “A Collie of the Cheviot Breed.”. William Crozier quoted above indicates that dogs of this look were common in the border region at that time. The research below connects the Queen’s Collies even more firmly to todays Border Collie.
Monthly bulletin – 1900
Queen Victoria was once informed by the manager of her Shaw Farm that a Mr. Elliott, a Scottish farmer, was a breeder of superior collie dogs; and she thereupon expressed a wish to possess one of them. Accordingly, Mr. Elliott forwarded two beautiful dogs; and her Majesty was so enraptured with them that she gave orders the next time he came to the farm he should immediately be taken up to the castle.
Mr. Elliott was somewhat uneasy as to how he should comport himself in the presence of royalty, and the manager spent a considerable time in putting him through his facings. At last the fateful day arrived, and he was ushered into the presence of the queen. Her Majesty shook hands with him, and said,— “Oh Mr. Elliott, I have to thank you for the two beautiful collies you sent me!
And to this gracious remark Mr. Elliott replied: — “Touts, touts, wumman! haud yer tongue! What’s the maitter o’ a pair o’ dowgs between you and me?”
It is this Mr Elliot that is our connection between the Queen’s dogs and the yet to be christened Border Collie breed. You see, the Elliots were rather well known sheep farmers in the border region as the following excerpt illustrates.
In the Land of the Cheviots, Prof. C. S. Plumb – 1901
The border land between England and Scotland has a bloody record in early centuries, for here long waged the border warfare between Scotch and English. Smooth, grassy or heather capped mountains, reaching a height of nearly 4,000 feet, among which ripple beautiful streams of crystal water, straggle over considerable territory, through which passes the imaginary line dividing England and Scotland. These are the Cheviot hills…
On a day in late June, when Scotch mists made themselves occasionally manifest, the writer and two friends took conveyance back into the real heart of the Cheviots, to see the country and visit some of the great breeders… Here and there a neat cottage or attractive farm home would be seen located on a hillside. But as a whole, there is a great open range country, most sparsely settled.
Back in these hills are famous breeders, and I was ambitious to see John Elliott, of Lower Hindhope; George Douglas, of Upper Hindhope. and J. R. C. Smith, of Mowhaugh, all extensive breeders and leaders in Scotch Cheviot ranks. Perhaps no one in Britain has had such success as a showman of Cheviots as John Elliott, and his father before him had great fame in the same field. But these men were breeders as well as showmen…
The sheep range the mountains under the supervision of the shepherds, who use Collie dogs extensively. Never have I seen the dog put to such intelligent work as in these Cheviot hills. There are many large flocks, and the dog is of inestimable service. In driving through the mountains, here and there across country would be seen a shepherd and a dog or two driving or rounding up sheep. It was no uncommon sight. These were not the fancy Collies that one sees in the dog shows, but were intelligent looking, rough coated, plain appearing dogs of perhaps sable or black, or white or a mixture.
John Elliott keeps some 5,000 sheep, on five farms…
This same John Elliot goes on to make significant contributions to the future Border Collie, yet it was not this John Elliot that gave the two Collies to the Queen, it was his father Thomas Elliot as the following makes clear.
British Hunts and Huntsmen, year unknown
The name of Elliot is probably the most notable among Cheviot sheep breeders as it is certainly the oldest. The Elliots of Hindhope have for generations achieved fame by their sheep and the present head of the family Mr John Elliot has worthily maintained the family traditions.
The subject of these notes is the eldest son of the late Mr Thomas Elliot. He was born on June 4th 1858, educated a Jedburgh Academy and New College Edinburgh and subsequently joined his father in farming… Mr Elliot has five farms under three Dukes of Northumberland and Roxburgh and devotes his energies entirely to Cheviots. In this class he has like his father, won all the championships, and has got both the King’s Medals of the Highland Society… Mr Elliot himself is well known for his breed of collies. His father supplied Noble to the late Queen Victoria and it was from our subject that the McLeod got Hindhope Jed, now the champion of New Zealand and Australia.
This Hindhope Jed is considered the first Border Collie imported to Australia and a foundation dog of the breed there. So it seems that Queen Victoria’s Collies were in fact Border Collies, even thought that name was not used at the time, but definitely of the same stock from which todays Border Collie came, the Elliots of Cheviot.
The following offers a different version of Noble’s origin from the first story above, it says that he was given to the Queen by the Duke of Roxburgh.
Our devoted friend: the dog By Mrs. Sarah Knowles Bolton – 1902
Queen Victoria was very fond of dogs. “The dog houses of Windsor afford excellent examples of miniature architecture. They are on a beautiful slope by the home of the keeper. When the Queen drives up, and the favorites have the freedom of the ‘smooth shaven lawn,’ gambols, races and barking beggar description.
“One pet collie rejoiced in the name of Sharp. He had all his meals with his mistress, being seldom away from her. Though such a favorite, says a writer in Lloyd’s Weekly, the popularity of the quadruped had limits. The households used to retreat before him, for Sharp not only barked with vigor, but could bite with spite. Even the Queen mentions that the pet was fond of fighting. Referring to him after a ramble, she mentions that the collie varied the monotony of the walk by numerous ‘collie shangies;’ it is the Highland phrase for a set-to between dogs of Sharp’s breed. One of them, pure white, Lily, always travels with Her Majesty.
“One dog, the elder Noble, given nearly twenty years ago to the Queen by the Duke of Roxburgh, has been commemorated by the recipient. It is in the autobiographical ‘Leaves.’ The writer speaks of him as the ‘good, dear Noble,’ and continues: ‘He is the most biddable dog I ever saw—so affectionate and kind. If he thinks you are not pleased with him he puts out his paws and begs in such an affectionate way.’ He had a special privilege once upon a time of guarding the Queen’s gloves. The record of the dog has a touch of pathos. Not only has Noble’s once rich brown muzzle grown white with years, but the dog’s eyesight has gone. Tied to a string he follows a keeper. Yet the veteran now and again snatches an exceeding joy. The Queen’s affection for the dog has increased with his infirmities. And when the royal hand caresses him as of yore Noble is as happy as when he rejoiced in the breezes and sunshine of Deeside.”
The following source makes sense of the previous two stories and explains how the dogs were a gift from the Duke of Roxburgh and Thomas Elliott.
Scottish life and character in anecdote and story, William Harvey – 1899
Many years ago, when visiting the late Duchess of Roxburghe at Floors Castle, Her Majesty expressed a desire to become possessed of a collie dog. Her Grace intimated the royal desire to an old friend, the late Mr. Thomas Elliot of Hindhope, a famous breeder of sheep and collies, who at once sent a couple of young beauties to Floors Castle, labelled, ” To Her Majesty the Queen.” The gift was greatly appreciated and the donor duly thanked. Some time after Mr. Elliot was in London, and received a cordial invitation to Windsor Castle, the Queen wishing to thank him in person for the collies. He went without intimating that he was going. On arrival he thought the best way would be to ” speir” for John Brown, Her Majesty’s faithful attendant. Accordingly, he thus accosted the sentry at the entrance gate, “I say, my man, can ye tell whaur I’ll find Mr. Broon ? ” Fortunately, the soldier was a ” brither Scot,” and at once guessed who ” Mr. Broon ” was. By-and-bye the farmer was sitting at his ease in John’s private apartment receiving a lesson in etiquette, necessary for his approaching interview with Royalty; one particular item— ” When the Queen enters the reception room bow gracefully, but say nothing until you are spoken to.” After the lesson Mr. Elliot was taken to see the Duchess of Uoxburghe, and by the time appointed to meet the Queen, who had been apprised of his arrival, the instructions were all forgotten. On Her Majesty and party entering at the other end of the room, he familiarly greeted her with “Guid mornin’, your Majesty!” This most unconventional salutation fluttered some of the prim folks present, but the Queen smilingly approached her unsophisticated subject, saying, ” Oh, Mr. Elliot, I wanted very much to see you, that I might thank you personally for the two beautiful collie dogs you kindly sent me when at Floors Castle.” ” Tuts, wumman, what’s twa collie dougs ‘tween you and me ? ” was the blunt rejoinder to Her Majesty’s gracious words. Instantly his ruddy countenance grew ruddier, betraying the vexation he felt at being so unwittingly rude. The Queen, however, soon put him at his ease, and he had then a pleasant chat with her and the Duchess, which he never forgot.
- Princess Alexanderia
- Arthur Allen Border Collies
Above, Arthur Allen with his famous dogs, Nicky and RockTHE GRAND OLD MAN OF SHEEPDOG TRIALING IN THE UNITED STATES
Arthur Allen could indeed be called the "Grand Old Man of Sheepdog Trialing in the United States". One of the founders of the North American Sheep Dog Society, in 1940, he was its president from 1951 until his death in 1996 at 92. A very well-known sheepdog trialist, he imported and bred many Border Collies from outstanding British lines that had a marked effect on the breed in the United States, particularly in the second half of the 20th Century.
Allen's grandfather came to the USA from Scotland, bringing with him his Scottish sheepdogs. Allen said that "these dogs were large and more stern than the Border Collie of today and were used for all kinds of livestock." (A Lifetime With the Working Collie by Arthur Allen, self-published, 1979.) His grandfather died in 1885 leaving Allen's father, an 11-year-old boy, with the dogs and his livestock. His father became a drover at that early age, first of mules and sheep, and then of geese; and after he was grown, a livestock dealer and drover, gathering stock to drive to the railroad heads for shipment to markets. Allen wrote "His method of gathering the herd was to ride a horse and lead the way as he picked up the stock along the road, leaving his dogs to bring them behind him." (Ibid.)
Allen was born in 1904 and he says that his "earliest working experience was as a drover." (Ibid.) Later, his father became a full time farmer, and Allen began showing sheep at state and country fairs. It was at these fairs that he saw Sam Stoddart and others demonstrating with Border Collies, and he became hooked on the more "refined" dogs that were coming over from England and Scotland. In the years that followed, he began breeding, demonstrating at fairs, and entering sheepdog trials. He also started importing dogs himself, many from the breeding of John Gilchrist. His Imported Rock 7222, the 1954 North American Supreme Champion, was a son of Gilchrist's Spot 7320 and grandson of Wilson's Moss 5176.
Arthur Allen also performed with his Border Collies in the Roy Rogers Rodeo and was a member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. He appeared on television with his dogs, and in several Walt Disney movies. Rock appeared in two movies, "Border Collies in Action" and "Arizona Sheep Dog", the latter also featuring Allen himself and his little black Border Collie, Nickey NA2339. In the film, Nickey, all by himself, shepherded five stray sheep through the Arizona wilderness to rejoin the flock, demonstrating a Border Collie's great skill. One of Allen's lesser-known roles was for a Mickey Mouse Club series, where a boy must train a Border Collie for a sheepdog competition, and Allen plays the "old trainer" who helps him. This exposure helped put the Border Collie on the map for thousands of livestock farmers in this country.
Above, Arthur Allen penning sheep with Rock and NickyThe following article about Arthur Allen and Imported Rock appeared in Time magazine, Monday, August 31, 1953:
THE HYPNOTIC DOG
At the baseball park of the Ogden (Utah) Reds last week, some 2,000 spectators gazed on a strange sight: the diamond was overrun by flocks of sheep, darting dogs and excited men who whistled and yelled. It was the annual World Series of an unusual sport: the herding championship of the North American Sheep Dog Society. The crowd's favorite was a black & white border collie (not to be confused with the plain collie, much larger and of little value as a working dog) named Rock, owned by Society President Arthur Allen. Rock, so small (32 Ibs.) that he seems lost in the shadow of a ram, was imported from Scotland as a pup four years ago. On Allen's 280-acre Illinois farm, he puts flocks of some 400 sheep through their proper paces year-round.
In last week's contest, Rock was pitted against 14 other border collies. The assignment: to convoy a flock of five sheep around a set course and into a pen in twelve minutes or less. The Utah range sheep used in all the trials had never before seen a dog or a pen. As Rock and Art Allen waited tensely at home plate, the dog's unruly charges were let loose in far center field. Shouted Allen: "Go on wide away!" In a furry blur, Rock shot off on his "outrun," circling wide and closing in slowly for the "lift." As the sheep testily pawed the turf, Rock calmly fixed them with a mesmeric eye. This nearly hypnotic power is the proud sheep dog's most important quality, and sheepmen claim that a dog must be born with it; if he does not have it, i.e., is "loose-eyed," he can never acquire it.
Without barking (one yip would mean disqualification) and guided only rarely by whistles, calls or hand signals from Allen, Rock outstared, outflanked and outsmarted the flock around the course. He drove them through null gates set up in right and left field, losing two points for failing to usher a stray ewe through one gate. Finally, Rock worked them all over to a small pen which Allen had opened. Glaring fiercely, the dog got four sheep to back slowly inside. However, a rebellious old ewe charged at Rock. Without even "popping his jaws" (snapping with feigned ferocity) or guiding her by the ear ("gripping" is illegal), Rock stood fast and caught her eye with his Svengali gaze. The ewe turned and pushed her way into the pen.
By copping 48 points (out of a possible 50) in 5 min. 39 sec., Rock won $200 and his third straight North American championship. Allen, who frowns on overly bossy dog handlers, had some advice for last week's losing owners: "Ranchers should just remember that their dogs know more about herding sheep than they do."
Allen's imported dogs won every North American Supreme (the trial sponsored by NASDS) from 1954 through 1976, including twenty-one consecutive years, indicating his own skill as a trainer of working Border Collies. His lines still appear in many of the dogs being bred today.
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