REFLECTIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2809, 15 January 1908, Page 35

REFLECTIONS.

Dear Terror, — A good many changes have taken place since I last wrote you, and, as in most other things, fashions change very materially amongst canine fanciers during the course of a decade. Eor _ instance, 10 years ago collies were in fashion, now fox terriers seem to have caught the popular fancy. Again, amongst those who are purely fanciers fashions in type are constantly changing, though amongst breeders of utility stock there is little if any variation -in -type for long periods. -This latter" remark applies with equal force to almost every class of our ■ live- stock. In my own particular faney — the working collie — to my knowledge* there has literally been no variation in type for ' the 1 past 40 years. I mean that from a shepherd's, point of view the first-class dog of to-day is identically of the same "type as the front rank one of, say, 25 years ago. Fanciers will argue that the bench collie of to-day is a vast improvement on the old-fashioned type. I ques- ■ tion this, and will, be supported by 90 per cent, of those who can remember what ~the old ones were like. Very early in my career as a breeder — not only of dogs, but of other live stock — it was impressed on me that any departure from original lines which meant the overlooking of essential characteristics of a breed would eventually lead to disaster. To illustrate my meaning.- Close on 30 years ago a certain strain of shorthorn cattle were commanding fabulous prices on their pedi?ree alone, apart from individual merit, n the breeding of. these, the milking properties had literally never been considered, with the result that it was no uncommon thing for a cow of this fashionable 6train not to have sufficient milk to rear her own calf. Eventually the boom burst, which to some enthusiasts meant a loss of thousands of pounds. This was a case, amongst many others which could be cited, where the utility of the animal was lost sight of in favour of a temporary fad. That the breeding of bench collies for the past 20 or more years has been carried out on lines almost identical with the above I I think most breeders will now admit. The real top-notch bench collie of 30 years ago was usually a top-notcher at field work also, and - there is no reason known i to breeders why he should not 'have con- ' tinued to be " a thing of beauty " and utility oombined. Notwithstanding all the arguments to the contrary, he has not, much to the regret of many genuine fanciers. So much for my brethren of the j fancy, and now just a little harking back for some of my shepherd friends. Some 12 years ago, when I was a very new chum, I had the presumption to point out in a letter to you that those who were responsible for the management J of working trials were wrong in not ! allowing points for style in the scale '' drawn up for the direction of judges. This meant that the dog which ran out and hunted his 6heep home in any kind of way and bounced them into a" yard stood a chance of winning over the head ofj at times, dogs which had shown very much superior work. As a matter of fact, I saw on at least one occasion a . dog placed first which to my mind never for one moment had his sheep under proper control : hence ; my reason at the time for rushing into I print with, if I remember right, a long epistle under the heading of "Style" or .""Eye." Since that date there has been a very marked improvement indeed not only in the general management of trials, but- also in the class of work performed. The canine "bouncer" of that time has given way to the one with thai mesmeric power over his sheep which ie inherent in all first-class working dogs. No noise, no apparent force is shown, not a vestige of ' the iron hand is seen from _ beneath the glov«; but by a prooess which can only be described as the very ideal of patient perseverance the sheep are persuaded into the desired corner, to all appearances of their own free will, though in reality by a sagacity which would lead one to think that the " ways of a woman and the brains of v man" were at work. And can there be anything to the lover of animals more intensely interesting than a higWy-trained collie at work? Or all through the ages of man's power over the lower animals has there ever yet been evolved any instance of a nearer approach to reason in the brute oreation than is shown in the marvellous intelligence of these wonderful dogs of ours at work? I trow not, Sir, though I fear with 1 many of', us it is at times a case of feinifiariiy/bie©ding-QO|itempl» -

I have written at much greater length than I intended, but the subjects under review are congenial ones 'of mine, as I daresay the editor has cause to remember. What I have written is not jn any spirit of controversy, but is merely the reflections of a leisure hour on old friends and old times. -I am, etc., Station Shepherd.