![]() Johnson also believes that it should be mandatory that any OES that is shown should first have to have to been trained in herding. It’s a wonderful breed and I’ve dedicated my life to them.” If a farmer comes to me and says they would like a puppy for herding, I would be happy to work with them. But what they also don’t realize is as a companion or family pet, the OES won’t let you down. With the busy lives we lead, most people don’t have the schedule nor the time to keep them up. When they were herding dogs, they were shaved down when the sheep were sheared, so their coats were manageable. “It’s because of the dedication it takes to maintain these guys,” says Johnson. He laments his favorite dog is a dying breed. Many OES owners salvage what comes out in brushing, turning it over to a local spinner.ĭoug Johnson, president of the Old English Sheepdog Club of America, when reached by Modern Farmer, happens to be bundled on this day in an OES wool scarf and hat due to heavy snow in Colorado. Others sing the praises of their abundant coats, which are actually wool, not fur, for creating beautiful, water-repellent woolen yarns. Some advocates promote the OES not only as a family pet but as a wonderful herding dog for smaller flocks of sheep, goats, ducks and geese. and England, the Old English Sheepdog is now an endangered breed that faces extinction and breed advocates are working to rekindle the love affair for the amiable, kind and intelligent puff of a dog. and England, the OES is now an endangered breed that faces extinction and breed advocates are working to rekindle the love affair for the amiable, kind and intelligent puff of a dog. A decade later, their numbers dwindled by 10,000. By the early ’70s there were more than 17,000 OES’s registered with the American Kennel Club in the U.S. The OES, never intimidated by well-horned sheep nor wolves, fell prey to commercialism and breeding that suited the ring. They were all low-maintenance breeds better suited to the task. The highly intelligent and workaholic Border Collie and the nipping, whirling Corgi and Australian Kelpie took over. Drovers were replaced by vans and trucks. Herds and farms became larger and the animals smaller. With each tweak, so faded the traits that once made them masters of the field.įarming, too, began to change. The new “improved” OES had a fluffier coat and more of a pet’s temperament. They became wrist candy for breeders editing traits for the show ring. ![]() By the early 1900s, five of the 10 wealthiest American families - the Morgans, Vanderbilts, Goulds, Harrisons and Guggenheims, all owned, bred and exhibited the dogs at New York’s 1905 Westminster show. Pittsburgh industrialist William Wade was the first to bring the OES, as they’re known among enthusiasts, to the United States. That is until the American Industrialists, pockets filled with money, traveled to Great Britain for business and leisure and beheld the very furry beasts. Loving and loyal, stubborn and fearless, they were a herdsmen’s dog, the farmer’s servant in the fields. The Old English Sheepdog was a jack-of-all trades, often a jovial mud-roller weighing in at 100 pounds, owning a bark likened to two pans being clanked together.Īlong the way they were given the nickname Bobtail, because their owners docked their tails to mark them as working animals to avoid a luxury tax imposed for owning pets. It was a time when both cattle and sheep were larger and slower and the territory vast. Rising to prominence in the late 1800s, thought to be a blend of Bearded Collie with a dash of Russian Owtchar, they performed as “drovers,” a working dog that moved herds long distances.
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