Identifier: dogsofboytown00dyer (find matches)
Title: The dogs of Boytown
Year: 1918 (1910s)
Authors: Dyer, Walter A. (Walter Alden), 1878-1943
Subjects: Dogs
Publisher: New York, H. Holt and company
Contributing Library: New York Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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ve, brave as a lion, and trained to guard sheep. Though a straight development without muchcrossing with other breeds, the modern collie is almosta different variety, with a narrower head and muzzle,better pointed ears, and a fuller and finer coat. Fromthe fanciers point of view he is a great improvementon the working dog, and he certainly is handsomer,but in my own humble opinion the fanciers are well-nigh ruining the splendid character of one of the bestbreeds of dogs ever given to man. For one thing,they have made the head so narrow and snipey, imi-tating that of the Russian wolfhound, that they haveleft insufficient room in the skull for all the brains theold collie used to possess. And with this fineness of 202 THE DOGS OF BOYTOWN breeding has come some uncertainty of disposition.The modern colHe isnt usually given a chance to learnthe things his forefathers knew, so how can we expectthe same mental development? Mac, I am glad tosay, is not of the extreme type. He would doubtless
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Collie be beaten in the shows, but he is a better dog, for allthat. The older type used to be more common here,but has gradually been driven out by the show typewhich began to be taken up about 1880. The Scotch are great people for dog stories, anda good many of their tales are about collies. Bob,Son of Battle, was an old-fashioned collie. Many of THE PASSING OF RAGS 203 the anecdotes that are told as true stories deal with thebreeds wonderful sagacity in caring for sheep. Therewas the Ettrick Shepherds famous collie Sirrah, forexample. He could undoubtedly do amazing thingswith sheep. One night something scared the lambs,and they started off for the hills, dividing into threegroups. The shepherd called his dog and his assistantand started out in the hope of rounding up at leastone of the groups before morning. But the nightwas dark and the hills a wilderness, and the two menwere at last forced to give up the attempt until day-light. At dawn, when they started out again, whatwas their

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