Collie Folio, April 1909 page 125
The Shetland
One would have thought that the decision of the Kennel Club not to allow the registration of a club title to use the word "Collie" in connection therewith would have clearly shown the promotive interests of the "intruder" that their attempt to launch the toy under that name was futile.
To continue our crusade is tantamount to trashing a dead horse, but we are compelled to take notice of recent letters to the Canine Press in this their hour of extreme disappointment. We will, however, be charitable.
May we add that the letter which appeared in a weekly contemporary eulogising the toy and decrying the efforts of those who have led the opposition, and which was signed "W.E.M.," was, almost needless to say, not written by the Editor of this journal. It, like almost all other letters in support of the toy, are written under noms-de-plumes.
Our own views are well known, so we content ourselves by appending two communications which have reached us, and this must for the present close the discussion so far as the "Folio" is concerned.
From Mr. J Jamieson, of Chicago, Ill.,
U.S.A. :-
(To the Editor of the "Collie Folio" and its
readers)
- I have read several articles
in your paper on Shetland mongrels incorrectly by
some called Collies. What an insult to the grand
and real thoroughbred animal! Perhaps I can throw
some light on the subject, as I was born and
reared in the Shetland Islands myself. I have
made frequent visits to my old home, and spent
four weeks there recently as last year. (1906)
- During the whole of my life there I failed to see a single specimen that looked lika a Collie in miniature. I saw plenty of mongrels, or, as we call them there, "mutts." It is a crime to name such poor, unfortunate, bow legged curs as Collies; and as you say in the "Folio," a disgrace to the breed if the authorities allow the use of the word "Collie" in connection with them.
- Furthermore, I never even heard the islanders style them as Shetland Collies themselves, and I don’t believe that there is one drop of pure Collie blood in their veins. I would feel sorry for the man who had the temerity to step into a ring and attempt to judge such from the standpoint of a Collie. Drop them down easy, boys, and let them die a natural death.
- Hoping that all you good old Collie-breeders stick to what you have spent years in trying to perfect, and I am especially glad that you have taken such a strong stand against the attempt to bring the Collie into disperpute.
* * *
From Mr. T.P. Wood, Hon. Sec., Northern Collie Club.
The Kennel Club has issued its ultimatum not to recognise the name "Shetland Collie," and apparently to further discuss the subject may appear like trying to resuscitate a dead dog.
In a contemporary a well-known Scottish fancier and scribe, "Juteopolis", attempts to prove that a certain toy mongrel is a Collie, and that a Collie is a mongrel, and further, that the toy mongrel has a right to be called a Collie.
I therefore propose to prove to him that whether a Collie is a mongrel or not, it is the recognised name for a definite type of dog, which has been established upon prescribed lines during many generations; and, on the other hand, that the toy mongrel has not been so established.
It is just thirty years since a modern progenitor of the breed, Charlemagne, was born; seven years later his renowned grandson, Metchley Wonder, made his advent, and emphasised his existence twelve months later still by siring Christopher. At this period the present Collie Club had been instituted two years. I have distrinct recollections of Metchley Wonder in middle life, when his head properties possibly, would have deteriorated; and the impression I then received convinces me that such disparity as "Juteopolis" suggests exists between the Collie of his (Metchley Wonder’s) time and that of to-day quite erroneous.
The Collie Club during this period has consistently worked to maintain a standard type, allowing of very slight modifications in height, weight, or appearance, and has presistently used its influence to prevent the importation of foreign blood. Although it is impossible to dispute with absolute certaintly that contamination has not occurred, I am positive in stating that is has not been recognised by the best breeders, nor has it had any very great effect on the breed. In any case, the result is that a type and standard of a Collie has been established, and it is the raison d’etre of the several Collie Clubs to maintain it.
Whatever may have been the origin of the designation "Collie," it has now become associated irrevocably with a particular type or breed of dog which has been recognised during, at the least, twenty five years, thereby establishing a prescribed right to the nomenclature. According to "Juteopolis" argument, any dog that will attend sheep is a Collie. Does he style a Bobtail a Collie? Drover’s dogs may be any breed, and often are many breeds - they are not Collies, but Sheepdogs, if you like.
The fatuity of "Juteopolis" argument is also exemplified and emphasised when he argues that because all dogs have been generated from a common stock, therefore all are mongrels - therefore Shetland Collies are mongrels - we agree with him; but all dogs are not Collies. Collies are dogs which have been particulary bred to a certain standard, and by selection to maintain and attain that standard.
"Juteopolis" complains that the toy’s disclaimers base their opinions on hear-say or imagination. Here, again, he fails in his defence. My knowledge is based on evidence obtained from those who are quite competent to judge what they have seen, and also what I have seen myself.
Collie Folio Jan 1909, page 15-16
The Shetland
Birmingham, though an inland city, boasts a stormy petrel. Unsettled in his opinions and movements, he hovers around hesistingly, wondering which side of the "Shetland" hedge he will finally settle. One day he stands for something that is good for the game; on others he indicates a vacillitating attitude even unto the championing of the Shetland Collie (?) cause.
He sees no danger in the claims of those responsible for the registration of the Toys as Collies, nor in the formation of a Club to promote the interest of the mongrel. We suggest that he ought to be made a pratron of the Club. Does he know that the following account if the formation of this Club is authentic.
Extract from Collie Folio 1909
- "At a meeting held in the Country Hall, Lerwick, recently a club for the Shetland Collie was formed, and its list of patrons is a formidable one. Provost Porteous presided over the meeting and Lady Marjorie Sinclair, Mr. Cathcart Wason, M.P., Sir Arthur Nicolson, Mrs. Moffat, and Mr. Bruce were appointed patrons. Provost Porteous was made President, and the Rev. A.J.Campbell Vice President, while Baillie Laing is Chairman of Committee. Mr. J.A.Loggie is Treasurer and Secretary. Lady Marjorie Sinclair is, as everyone knows, a daughter of the Countess of Aberdeen, and has been a doggy enhusiast since her childhood. Mr. Wason, who represents Shetland in Parliament, has taken a keen and personal interest in the Shetland Collie controversy, and is no mere figurehead. There is something peculiary appropriate that the Shetland Collie Club should be formed in Lerwick, and, despite the weight of the opposition to the Shetlander as a show dog, there are surely few breeds that have got such an auspicious send-off in the matter of their specialist Club. Sassenachs beware!"
With an extraordinary disposition to convey a wrong impression of the actual facts of the case, the critics above referred to stated in a contemporary that the notice of motion on the agenda of the London and Provincial Collie Club, standing in the name of Mr J H Jacques, was met with lukewarm interest. He asserted, without appending the real reason, that the last paragraph of the motion, objecting to the Toys being called Collies had been deleted indicated that the members present had no real fear that harm was being done to the true interests of the Collie. Let us correct him once more.
The reason why this portion was not presented to the meeting was that, in the view of Mr W Stephens, who is a member of the Kennel Club Committee, which body is dealing with the subject officially, it would be time enough to object to them being called Collies when application was made to register the Club as the Shetland Collie Club, and when owners desired to register the Toys as Collies at all. There is no necessity to cross a bridge until one comes to it.
We have previously stated that these mongrels have been registered in the past as Collies. We are told by the same correspondent that "the alleged registration of two as Rough Collies was a mistake".
True, it was a mistake that they were so registered, but it was not a mistake on our part in saying that they were so registered, as they undoubtedly were, and appeared in the "Kennel Gazette" of October issue.
Others have previously been registered, and it would appear that now that the attention of the Kennel Club Committee has been drawn to the fiasco no future registrations under the name of Collie will be permitted. They will probably have to rest content with the distinction (?) encompassed under the wide definition of Foreign Dogs, and much that is just about what they are fit for.
This much achieved, we have no further concern with the subject, as all we held out for in the first instance and since has been that they shall not be called Collies.
Those who fancy them are welcome, and justified, in devoting their efforts to improving certain points, which appear to them at present undesireable. In a subsequent issue we hope to be able to give the ruling of the Kennel Club on the points under consideration.
Masterly inactivity at this stage would surely be read to mean indifference as to what was being done to foist these mongrels on the public as Collies of a rare and almost extinct species.
If, in our efforts to squash the thing a free advertisement has been given to the "Toy", we are sure the promoters are welcome to all the good they can get out of it. As to whether the members of the London and Provincial Collie Club were really interested in the matter leaves of no question. Thirty-two members were present, but only two dogs turned up for competition in the matches, so it would appear evident that Mr. Jacques’notice of motion provides the "piece de resistance" for the occasion, and we congratulate the members of that active Society on the proper aspect they take of what might have turned out to be a disastrous undertaking if these Toys had been allowed free scope to masquerade as Collies of any description.
Lackadaisical and lukewarm fanciers, who cannot be stirred to enthusiasm over anything outside the pale of their own kennels, tell us no alarm need be taken re the booming of the Shetland Toy as a Collie. That the Toy can never assail the real Collie in any manner, and that its progenitors may have been real Collies for all they know. We have previously given expression to our view that unless the scheme to popularise the mongrel as a pure-bred is nipped in the bud very serious harm will be done to the true interests of the real Collie. Not only is a Club being formed for the breed, though they have not yet succeeded in getting such Club recognised at Grafton Street; but the "promoters" are systematically publishing in the Press in America and other countries paragraphs re these wonderful animals.
Below is a cutting taken from "Field and Fancy," whose Editor seems to swallow everything that is said re the breed without demur: -
- "The Shetland Sheepdog is gaining in stregth in England, and this country may look for a few representatives before long. Reports from England say that they are in much greater demand than a year ago and that prices are at least 50 per cent. greater than was the case six months ago. In fact, many of the Collie fanciers on the other side are beginning to become alarmed at the reception being tendered this new breed. It is doubtful, however, if competition will become keen enough to warrant any great intrusion in the ranks of the Collie for sometime to come, and if there is any apprehension as to this it should be set aside, as it will be some time before the Shetlands will become established".
It is time, surely, to stir in the matter when we know that these cross-bred Toys have been systematically registered at the Kennel Club as Collies for some time past. It would appear that one could register a cat as a Collie, for ought there is no stop it. Frequently no pedigree is given, nor is the date of birth always available; but, none the less, there are some who still see no harm in the game that is being played. They probably point to the gullible public that this or that dog is registered at the English Kennel Club as a Collie, and a sale may easily result thereby.
True, we shall continue to sleep safely in our beds o’nights, but perhaps, some day, like Cadmus, we may have to sow a crop of dragon’s teeth to bring sufficient soldiers into being to crush the iniquitous propaganda, if it is allowed to gain a footing unchallenged or unchecked.
Here is the opinion of our Scotch representative (from Fancier’s Gazette 1909)
"The Shelty"
As one of the first Collie men in the West of Scotland, who was unfortunatel enough to be called upon to adjudicate upon this nondescript, I should like to express my views. At the last City of Glasgow Kennel Club Show, where the entry numbered seven, but only five put in an appearance, in the two classes which were guaranteed, I made the awards. Of the five dogs shown there were four different types of cross-bred Toy dogs, but not one of - if such a thing exists - a Toy Collie. I have read a lot of the piffle that has been written about the Shetland Collie, but, knowing the source from which it came, took no notice of it. And looked upon its author as merley writing for notoriety and the usual penny a line.
One article appeared recently in a London contemporary, written by a well-known judge of dogs and much-respected Pressman, who hails from Lerwick, and who honestly admits that there is no dog indigenous of Shetland, and no such thing as a Shetland Collie exists, but that a veriety of cross-bred Toy Spaniel found a resting-place in the islands, and from that cross-bred Spaniel has sprung the present-day Shetland mongrel. I say mongrel advisedly. For a mongrel and a cross-bred are quite two different things. The cross-bred is the result of two pure-bred animals of two different varieties. The mongrel the product of the cross-breeds not bred to a pure sire or dam of the first cross-bred progeny. Hence the result, Shetland Mongrel.
How does it come about that if they were the pure Willie Arnot, as one writer would make us believe, 95 per cent, are shown as pedigree unknown? Nothing is easier than to register a dog at the Kennel Club as by being out of "Bess" by "Bob". That proves nothing, and more is the pity that such a kind of registration is accepted by the Kennel Club. Had the poor "Shelty" the least vestige of claim to pedigree where is the man in "braid" Scotland who would more jealously guard it than the "Shetland Islander"? There is no more jealous guard of pedigree than he is of the pedigree of the native pony of the island. The fact of these Toys running after sheep does not prove they are entitled to the name of Collie. But the native, with the natural shrewdness of his countrymen, seeing the favour they were looked upon by the visiting English tourist, who, when asked what breed of dog he called that? "Oh! that is; yes, that is - a Collie." "Oh" a Shetland Collie." "Oh! it jist be a Collie." "Oh! yes, a Shetland Collie. What a pretty little thing. We will have it, Charles dear, won’t we, and start our Kennel with dear little dog from Shetland?" So there the thing has gone on. It is a well-known fact that the man who keeps repeating a thing often enough in time believes it, though it never was founded on fact, and existed only in the imagination of his own diseased and perveted mind.
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