SHETLAND SHEEPDOG HISTORY
By Charlotte Clem McGowan
T
he Shetland Sheepdog is not an ancient breed. It was developed in the Shetland and Orkney Islands o ff the coast of Scotland in a relatively
iceland dogs and Yakki dogs as part of the mix. Shetlanders later brought over work- ing Collies when there were larger herds of sheep to tend. But the dogs that worked were generally small, some as small as 10 inches. When holiday makers began visit- ing the Islands from England with their pets, a smart farmer saw a method to increase his income by labeling the dogs as a rare breed indigenous to the Islands to promote and sell them to visitors. Some of the local dogs were crossed with pom- eranians early in the 20th century and an attractive small dog that could still work was promoted as the Shetland Collie. Th e fi rst book on the breed, written by Beryl Th ynne (1916) containing the thoughts of some of the earliest breed- ers indicates the dogs were originally denounced by Collie fanciers as having lit- tle resemblance to each other or to Collies. She states that the working collie, Pomer- anian and even King Charles Spaniel all had a hand in making the breed. In her
short period of time. Because Shetland is a windswept, treeless rocky place, it was hard to make a living there. Much of the livestock such as the sheep and ponies were somewhat miniaturized, possibly due to the poor living conditions at the time. Th e Shetland Sheep, a breed known for their fi ne wool, were more agile and goat like than most larger sheep and crofters used dogs to help them work with these sheep. Th e job of the dogs was to help drive the sheep into stone holding areas to be dipped and to have their wool removed. Another job was to protect lambs from birds of prey and also to protect the crofters’ mea- ger gardens planted close to houses from marauding sheep. In the short summers, sheep might be ferried out to an uninhab- ited island along with a dog or two. Th e dogs kept eagles and other birds of prey away. Th ey were surefooted and could run over the rocky landscape. And they barked a lot to scare away birds and make it pos- sible for the crofter to locate them. Th e original dogs doing this work most likely came from Scandinavia and were possibly spitzlike. Early writings reference
book there is a photo of a dog which looks very much like a Papillon as well. James Loggie (or Logie), a clever dog dealer and breeder on Shetland, formed the Shetland Collie Club in 1908 to pro- mote the “new” breed. He bred a number of breeds including “logie toys” and devel- oped a following for what was thought to be the indiginous island dogs (with a few additives.) He ran into some trouble with some local o ffi cial bodies and emigrated to Australia shortly after that leaving the inter- est of the breed to Charlie Th ompson in Scotland. Th ompson established a club in Scotland in 1909 and took over promotion of the breed. Th en in 1914, fanciers in Eng- land started the English Shetland Sheepdog Club. Th e breed name changed as Col- lie fanciers objected to the Shetland dogs, whose appearance was not close to the Col- lie, being called “Collies” of any kind.
C.F. Thompson, pioneer of the breed in Scotland, picture with Inverness patricia (1909)
226 • S HOW S IGHT M AGAZINE , M ARCH 2014
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