• Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Patreon
  • Premium Membership
  • Services

Natural History

by Scottie Westfall

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Filled the final archery tag
Buzzard wars »

The Shepherd’s Dogge

November 9, 2015 by SWestfall3

Source

Over the years, I’ve made mention of the fact that English shepherds are a very common breed in West Virginia. Indeed, I knew what an English shepherd was long before I’d ever heard the words “border collie.”  English shepherds are pretty common in the Eastern and Midwestern US.

But only in the rural areas. In most towns around here, many people adopt “collie mixes” without ever knowing what they actually have.

They are derived from the farm dogs of the British Isles, with maybe a little bit of German, Swiss, or Native dog crossed in. They very strongly resemble the “shepherd’s dogs” that were commonly published in eighteenth and nineteenth century texts about dogs in the British Isles. He has the same broad head and curled tail, as well as the common black and white color. In America, they were used for livestock herding, but they were also used to guard properties and hunt game.

This dog came into area, probably because the gut pile from my deer isn’t 100 yards away in the woods behind the camera.

So Ol’ Shep was enjoying him a taste of raw green tripe, and no one had to spend a fortune on it.

Yes, these old dogs are pretty common, but I never thought I’d catch one on the trail camera!

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Print
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Posted in dog breeds | Tagged English Shepherd, Farm collie, Shepherd's dog | 3 Comments

3 Responses

  1. on November 9, 2015 at 10:24 pm dobermann

    There are three border collies in my neighborhood and none have that upright curled tail. Two of the three have a somewhat nasty disposition. The fact that you say they are “pretty common in the Eastern and Midwestern US, but only in the rural areas” and that this particular dog is out alone foraging at night makes me wonder if these shepherd dogs are where some of the “dog” in the “coydog” came from.


    • on November 9, 2015 at 10:38 pm retrieverman

      Probably the best way I can describe one of these dogs to someone living in the UK is they are very similar to the various sheepdogs of Wales. They aren’t super-driven like border collies but they aren’t as docile as a rough collie.


  2. on November 10, 2015 at 11:18 am UrbanCollieChick

    This is very cool. Now, my thought has been, that just about anyone who picks up a dog that resembles a “collie cross” as you mentioned, is likely to scream “ES!” or dub it as such, as soon as they hear of the breed/type.

    When it could very well just resemble one superficially, but be any mix of a number of other breeds, or many many other breeds in addition to some BC, AS, etc.

    The point of types or landraces is that the finer selection criteria modern breeders have succumbed to isn’t being used. So in a sense, one could say that one still has an ES simply because they are accepting the dog as one regardless of lack of a history on the animal over several generations.

    But then, if that were the case, then it would be a breed based on looks only; something that’s been argued with show dog folks. As in, if you only care about looks, outcrossing for health should not bother you and should be embraced, as you can get back to “type” within a short time in most cases.

    Having said that, the ES was originally valued for work, and many people still do value it that way. It’s a multi-purpose farm dog, so in a sense, crossing is fine, if you get what you need. But if you have a dog from the shelter, that you adopted without knowing what you have, then do you test the dog’s working skills to know if there is at least some of the old “useful” collie in there? Or do you just call it “ES” because it looks close enough?

    The latter is what a lot of people on ES forums and FB pages seem to do.

    When conversely, the farmcollie people, accept mixes, but generally of other types of working collie.

    It’s an interesting situation. By and large, suburbanites who get a cute, well tempered looker like the dog in the cam won’t find any of this relevant. For their purposes, they shouldn’t.

    The topic, discussion.. it’s for people like me who got sucked into it. :)



Comments are closed.

  • Like on Facebook

    The Retriever, Dog, and Wildlife Blog

    Promote Your Page Too
  • Blog Stats

    • 9,645,302 hits
  • Retrieverman’s Twitter

    • one person followed me // automatically checked by fllwrs.com 2 days ago
    • one person unfollowed me // automatically checked by fllwrs.com 1 week ago
    • @andthestars20 @Fiorella_im Peggy Hill level Spanish! 1 week ago
    • @TetZoo Nah. Doesn't even look like a heron's beak. It must be fake news for this glorious fake news day. 1 week ago
    • @SarcasmStardust Poor German shepherd... 2 weeks ago
  • Google rank

    Check Google Page Rank
  • Archives

    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • October 2012
    • September 2012
    • August 2012
    • July 2012
    • June 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
    • February 2010
    • January 2010
    • December 2009
    • November 2009
    • October 2009
    • September 2009
    • August 2009
    • July 2009
    • June 2009
    • May 2009
    • April 2009
    • March 2009
    • February 2009
    • January 2009
    • December 2008
    • November 2008
    • October 2008
    • September 2008
    • August 2008
    • July 2008
  • Recent Comments

    markgelbart on Retiring this Space
    oneforestfragment on Retiring this Space
    The Evolving Natural… on So does the maned wolf break t…
    SWestfall3 on So does the maned wolf break t…
    Ole Possum on So does the maned wolf break t…
  • Meta

    • Register
    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.com
  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 1,703 other followers

  • Pages

    • About
    • Contact
    • Patreon
    • Premium Membership
    • Services
  • Subscribe to Retrieverman's Weblog by Email
  • Revolver map

    Map

  • Top Posts

    • The Wolves of Paris
  • SiteCounter

    wordpress analytics
    View My Stats
  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 1,703 other followers

  • Donate to this blog

  • Top 50 Northwest Dog Blogs

    top 50 dog blogs

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
%d bloggers like this: