BORDER COLLIE COUSINS: THE WELSH SHEEP DOG

EXTINCT TYPES

Left, a Welsh Grey sheepdog (photograph by Barbara Carpenter, taken at Rhandirmoyn, Wales, in 1987 or 1988)

Right, "The Grey Knight", Bob, Son of Battle, from a 1904 version of the book published by Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, and photographically illustrated by A. Radclyffe Dugmore

THE WELSH GREY

On the Welsh Grey, Barbara Carpenter (The Shepherd's Dogge, Fall 1994) says:

The ubiquitous Border Collie has gradually supplanted the many ancient types of herding dogs indigenous to various areas of Britain. [Those] Welsh breeds are now extinct, except for perhaps a few Welsh Grey Sheepdogs, which I saw several years ago, working cattle on a hill farm. These shaggy dogs, similar to the working Bearded Collie, have been bred pure in that district. One line is said to breed stumpy tailed dogs. So, perhaps this old breed might just about survive a while longer.

A rare dark gray he was, his long coat, dashed here and there with lighter touches, like a stormy sea moonlit. Upon his chest an escutcheon of purest white, and the dome of his head showered, as it were, with a sprinkling of snow. Perfectly compact, utterly lithe, inimitably graceful with his airy-fairy action; a gentleman every inch, you could not help but state at him--Owd Bob o'Kenmuir...small, yet big; light to get about on backs o' his sheep, yet not too light. Wi' a coat hard a-top to keep oot Daleland weather, soft as sealskin beneath...the Gray Dogs o' Kenmuir!

Likely, Bob was a Welsh Grey, much like a Bearded Collie, as Mrs. Carpenter says above, and today, sadly extinct.

Right, a Welsh Hillman (photo taken by Barbara Carpenter in 1976)

THE WELSH HILMAN

In the same article, Barbara Carpenter described another extinct Welsh breed or type:

The Welsh Hillman and the Welsh Black & Tan were descended from the ancient herding and hunting dogs of Wales. The 10th century Laws of Hywel Dda (Howell the Good) gave the work of an efficient herding dog as that of an ox in its prime.

The Hillman was a tall dog, similar to the present day smooth-coated hill dogs some times seen in the English Lake District. They were usually light sandy-coloured, with a black saddle, white chest, white on legs and tail, and a blaze on face. They were prick-eared and of smart, upstanding stance. Blue merle dogs were also bred.

The last known Hillman was "Jess", purchased from a hill farm in the Hay-on-Wye area in 1974. She was a companion dog, and had unfortunately been spayed before her owner realized her rarity. Jess died in 1990, so this ancient breed is now no more, as too is the Welsh Black-and-Tan Sheepdog.

Left, a Welsh Black-and-Tan sheepdog (photo taken by Barbara Carpenter in 1987)

THE WELSH BLACK-AND-TAN

Barbara Carpenter also described this type of Welsh sheepdog:

The Black-and-Tan was a smaller dog, smooth-coated, and black-and-tan, as its name suggests. It was thought to be extinct, but to my amazement in 1987, I saw "Tan" in a Welsh hill farmyard, and was assured that she was a purebred Black-and-Tan, the last of the breed. Not being able to find a dog of this breed, she had been mated a few years previously to a Huntaway. The young dog from that mating was very like his dam, but larger and heavier boned.

Left, a bob-tailed sheepdog photographed on the border between England and Wales (detail of a photo by Chris Gregory from The Field, December 1987)

THE BOB-TAILED WELSH SHEEPDOG

In 1987, David Hancock, author of Old Farm Dogs (1999 by Shire Publications, Ltd.) and Old Working Dogs (1984 by Shire Publications, Ltd.), wrote an article entitled "Bob-tailed survivors in the cur-dog tradition" (The Field, December 1987), Hancock wrote about a type of collie that he found in the border region between the Welsh county of Gwent and the English county of Herefordshire.

He describes these dogs as looking much like the Border Collie, but tail-less, with a harsher temperament and working in a dissimilar way. Of their lack of a tail, Hancock says, "This is initiated genetically, not as a result of veterinary amputation...When a tail-less or short-tailed breed is crossed with a breed of full-length tail, the short-tailed type is dominant..."

He also says "Their appearance is reminiscent of the old crossbred drovers' dogs and cur-dogs depicted and described more than a hundred years ago. Like them, these bob-tailed dogs are alert, aggressive, fiercely protective and suspicious of strangers." He implies that these dogs are actual descendents of drovers' dogs from the 19th and early 20th century.

The country where these dogs were found is described by Hancock as "sheep and cattle country not far from Offa's Dyke, hilly, rocky, bleak in winter and a tough test for any herding breed." A tougher dog than the Border Collie is needed in countryside like this and thus a tougher dog is being perpetuated, " says Hancock, "in an isolated area where dogs have long been valued for their work rather than their conformation to a breed standard." He tells us that this type of sheepdog "will always be too fierce for household pets and they are too sharp for many farmers. But they represent the cur-dogs of long ago and are worth conserving."

Is this type really extinct?

Above right and below right, Rebecca Lewis' bobtailed sheepdog, Taff.
In the above one, you can see her tail. She has a tail, only it is "bobbed".

The other day (May 7, 2009) we heard from Rebecca Lewis, who lives near Ellesmere in Shropshire, close to the Welsh Border who wrote:

I can confirm without any doubt that it is not [extinct]! There is one [sitting] in front of me - Taff. My husband, Dai, grew up on a hill farm in Ystradfellte (Powys) and bobtail collies are still in fair numbers there and around Sennybridge. They are preferred by the hill farmers there for moving much larger numbers of sheep than the Border Collie. She is a tough dog, when bringing in dairy cows on a dairy farm where I used to work she decided the bull was not going fast enough. He kicked her clean across the track and through the fence after she bit him, she rolled over and got straight back up to batter him!

...[S]he is fiercely protective and suspicious of strangers - not a fan of the postman!! But very soft with those she knows. This bitch is now 10 years old...Taff started life herding sheep then went with my husband to a dairy farm where she continued working. She is now retired from pastoral work as my husband is a cattle AI man, but being a non-conformist she continues to work - in harness with the Eskimo dogs...we also keep Canadian Eskimo Dogs.

...[T]he bob is natural. They are black and tan in colour.

That this type of sheepdog is a versatile worker is illustrated by the fact that Taff can work in harness with the huskies that Rebecca and Dai Lewis also raise. Rebecca hopes to get some photos of bobtails working sheep for us soon.

For more information on Welsh Bobtails, see the following article:

The Old Welsh Bob Tail Connection

It tries to make a connection between the Australian Shepherd and the Old Welsh Bobtail. There may indeed be one, but without genetic testing we will probably never know. Even with genetic testing, all the current collie breeds may be so closely related that to single out two of them and make some special connection between only those two may be impossible.

THE WELSH SHEEP DOG TODAY

Left, John Davies of Dyfed with three of his Welsh Sheep Dogs

John Davies, of the northern Welsh county of Dyfed, was one who also thought that the lines of the Welsh Sheep Dog were worth conserving. That is why he called a meeting in January 1997 of people interested in forming a Welsh Sheepdog Society or Cymdeithas Cwn Cymreig. He was quoted in the Farmlife section of Farmers Weekly, March 1997, as saying:

Our forefather were drovers and always kept [the lines] pure, but now we are having difficulty finding new bloodlines [to work our sheep and Welsh black cattle]...My great grandfathe ...helped the drovers take stock from Tregaron to Brecon, from where they went on to London. The Welsh sheepdog is good with cattle as well as sheep, and in those days 700 cattle would be taken to London by just a few men and the dogs. One dog would run in front, leading and clearing the way with the other dogs driving from behind. The dogs would keep the stock together overnight and act as guards against robbers. They could be fierce, and when the drovers finished they were not safe to keep...

He added, "Welsh sheepdogs work with their tails held high and bark to drive the sheep out." The Welsh Sheep Dog Society describes them as being of "most colours, including Black, Black and Tan, Black and White, Blue, Red or Roan," and that they are "naturally strong...have broad muzzles with ears usually folded forward. Their bodies are muscular and their energy and bravery limitless." They can be rough- or smooth-coated. In order to be registered, dogs must work satisfactorily in front of an inspection panel. Working ability is of major importance and trialling is not taken into consideration by the Society.

According to some, Welsh Sheep Dogs have been bred continuously in Wales for more than 800 years. More stock is being sought out as far afield as Argentina, where the original bloodlines may have been shipped to Patagonia with the thousands of farmer who immigrated from Wales in the 19th century. In the United States, a few people have taken interest in the breed, some as possible breeding material for restoring that elusive "breed", the Old Fashioned Farm Collie.

Thus, this old and venerable "working collie" from Wales, perhaps closer to its origins than our own breed, the Border Collie, is to its original stock, has a new lease on life.

[Please go to Herding on the Web: The Welsh Sheepdog for more information about this breed]

HOW DOES THE WELSH SHEEP DOG WORK AND HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM THE BORDER COLLIE?

In September/October 2006 my husband and I travelled to Britain for vacation and to visit friends. While we were there, we visited Adeline Jones, who, with her husband Tim, farms sheep in Hereford, near the Welsh Border, with the help of Welsh Sheep Dogs. We were curious as to how the Welsh Sheep Dog differed from the Border Collie in working style, for, as you can see, in looks they don't seem to differ much. Adeline kindly demonstrated with Milwyn Heini (Heini), a red (yes, they call this color red) Welsh Sheep Dog and allowed us to photograph her working sheep.

This is Adeline Jones with one of her Welsh Sheep Dog puppies. Welsh Sheep Dogs come in just about every color a Border Collie does, and have smooth or rough coats as well (though if the photos at the Welsh Sheepdog Society are indicative, smooth coats seem to be favored in the rough Welsh hill country).

Adeline sent Heini and her husband's dog, black-and-white Gorslas Pengyn (Pen) to cut out and bring part of a flock to us.

If you are used to seeing Border Collies work, the way the Welsh Sheep Dogs work will be somewhat of a shock to you. They are "upright" or "loose-eyed" workers, meaning they do not crouch or eye the sheep. Heini works the sheep by "wearing" or moving back and forth behind the sheep. At times she looked almost disconnected (Adeline calls it "relaxed"), but, as you can see from the photos below, when the sheep face her, she faces them and is all business.

Something you can't see in these photos is that Welsh Sheep Dogs are what Barbara Carpenter (who went with us to visit Adeline) calls "rough workers". Without "eye" to force the sheep and at the same time hold herself back from them, they sometimes must rely on teeth to press the point home if the sheep are stubborn. Heini, Adeline says: "doesn't grip at all as a rule, with sheep she is much more likely to put a bit of pressure on them and just wait for them to move, or bark, though if she is working something very stubborn like rams if I ask her she will nose them. With cattle she is different altogether, much harder. In theory, a WSD should use bark to move 'stuck' sheep, teeth only as a last resort."

WSDs, Adeline says, "use their tail as a balancing stick and also in signalling intention to their stock. Where a BC would use a low head, low tail and a lot of eye to move a sheep, a WSD would be standing erect with a high head and erect tail, in a gesture similar to what they use when signalling dominance to other dogs....our WSD here have [a] very rare whitehead gene (like what makes a OES have a white head) and recessive black (very rare only really seen in GSD and Shelties)."

In this photo (left), Heini has brought the sheep down to the driveway near the house. She is still herding them, but appears finished, as she does in the photo below when the sheep are returning to their pasture. Unlike a Border Collie, whose eyes are rarely taken off the sheep, loose-eyed dogs do not appear as intense or focused. It is difficult to tell, but she is aware of the sheep's every movement.

Copyright © 2007 by Carole L. Presberg
Thanks to Adeline Jones for supplying additional information for this article
Photographs by David L. Presberg

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