THE KENNEL. By Terror.

Otago Witness, Issue 2818, 18 March 1908, Page 35

THE KENNEL. By Terror.

Fanciers an.l breeder! of dogs are cordially mrlted to con. tribute items to this column. "Terror' will endearour to make bis dopartmeut as luterettlug aud up-to-date as possible, but in •rder to (to this he must have the co-oueratlon of his leaden, — 'Many fanciers believe in the superstition of "mental impressions" on the maternal mind and "telegony" (the impress supposed to be left by a former mating), and will be interested in learning that Mr G. Archibald Reid, M.8., F.R.S.E., in an article on the principles of heredity, declares that neither theories have stood the test of accurate observation. If they were true (says Mr Reid) the parent would transmit precisely what she acquired, or something very like it, to her offspring — i.c , an impression, whereas on the contrary the impression is not transmitted nor claimed to be transmitted, but something very different — viz., a deformity. If a collie I bitch receives a mental impression, when pregnant, by being chased by a bulldog, she should, if there is anything fci the theory of mental impression, transmit to her offspring a dread of bulldogs, for that is all she acquired — viz., a mental fright. The j superstition is that her offspring would present a bulldog appearance, an impossible thing for the collie to transmit because she \lid not herself acquire it. In the matte* of telegony the scientific argument is the same, though the impression in this case is supposed to be in the body and not, like the other, on the mind. The fact, that scientific minds are almost unanimous in discounting the theories referred to should weigh with those fanciers who entertain the idea that a fright or mesalliance on the part of an otherwise valuable slut has ruined the possibility of future pure offspring. — That clever, short-coated, prick-eared type of dog, now so justly valued by Australian sheep men, and alternately spoken of as a Kelpie and Barb, is, says an Australian exchange, undoubtedly of doubtful origin, or, rather, has sprung from A j source which few people claim to be-'able to trace. Mr Andrew Crozier, well known j amongst sheep men in the Riverina district, ie supposed by some to have been concerned in the origin of the Barb strain. I Mr Crozier, it is explained, had a pure Kelpie slut which bred a litter of throe pups to a black and tan Kelpie dog called Saxon. One of the pups died before reaching maturity, one went to Brookong Station,~and was never given a fair chance of showing what ability he possessed, and the other one was kept by Mr Crozier, who was droving at that time. In Mr Crozier'3 < camp was a man known as Yellow Joe. Throughout the trip Yellow Joe constantly begged Mr Crozier to sell thi3 pup to him, and at the end of the trip he got him for £4. Joe got a job with a mob of sheep, and took the young dog back to the Lachlan. Mr Edols, of Burrawang Station, saw the dog, which was called Barb, after the celebrated racehorse of that name, do some wonderful work with one sheep which swam the river, and Mr Edols gave £5 and another dog for the Barb. Our informant tells us that the progeny of the Barb and their progeny earned for tho . owner of this great dog something like £600. — Another version of the origin of the Kelpie and Barb is that they are merely strains of the Border collie, and not distinct breeds. Mr M'Leod, of Urlgar Downs Station, Hcrmidale, New South Wales, says that in 1871 a couple of Border collies (dog and bitch) were imported from Scotland into New South Wales, and were,iM> ? med respectively Brutus and Jennie. These were smooth-haired, black and tan, with ears down. One litter wae obtained from them of five pups, three showing the "Border red," and two black and tan. Unfortunately the sire dog soon afterwards died. Messrs Kelly and M'Leod got two pups from the red dog strain and black and tan bitch, in order to try and maintain the " Border collie " breed. These they bred together. The b-itoh was namej "Kelpie." At times they worked back to others of the- same litter, but no outside blood was used until they obtained the services of a highly-creditable tloo: named Moss, bred from true Border collies. This sire is said to have been exactly like the present-day champion Tcss, blatk and white marke, and with ears half down. The "Kelpie" bitch was served to Moss, and threw several black pupe. One of these was given to Mr P. Cox, of Mprringreen, New South Wales, who in turn handed it over to a man named "Yellow Joe," who eventually sold him to Messrs Edols, of Burrawang Station. They named this dog "The Barb"; hence that name and breed. "Xo mystery," says Mr M'Leod, " ever attached itself to the 'Barb-Kelpie' breed of dogs, and only amongst outsiders was the question ever raised. We remember the Barb as a pup, and had several of his relations, all good, one, a red bitch, being particularly successful." — Writing to another paper, Messrs King and M'Leod gave the following particulars: "We originated both the Barb and the Kelpie breed of dogs. . . . The Kelpie and the Barb are merely breeds of dogs evolved from careful selection of certain types. As a matter of fact even at the present day there ie no difference between a Barb and a Kelpie excepting in colour. A Kelpie, so called, is generally black and tan, red or liver coloured, blue, black and white, and a mixture of any of the above colours. Barbs, so called, are all black. Both classes of dogs are of the smoothhaired, prick-eared type, but it is no disqualification to either should the ears be half-turned, or one actually down. Should a, Kelpie (?) bitch throw a black pup, it is generally termed a " Barb." "Should a Barb (?) bitch throw a pup any other colour than black, it is actually termed a 'Kelpie.' In these two sentences you have colour than black, it i 6 actually termed a 'Kelpie.' In these two sentences you have the whole crux of the question. Remember, however, that the Barb himself was jet black and prick-eared, and being a very j prepotent animal he stamped his image on most of his stock." THE SHOW COLLIE AS A WORKER. Dear Terror, — In a lecture delivered before the Glasgow and District Canine Club, Mr J. C. Dalgleish made some remarks which are quoted by the Collie Folio, and will, I think, bear reproducing. Mr Dals;leish, I may mention, is a leading fancier q Scotland, and is well qualified to speak 1 witfc authority on. his subject.

During the course of his remarks he stated that it was a great misfortune that the show collie could not take his place alongside any of his cousins aa a help to the shepherd, and he could not avoid throwing much of the blame on the collie clubs, who stated in the preamble of their rules that the clubs were to improve the breed and to promote working trials. It was a fact that the show dog got little opportunity of proving his ability, and that while an odd one could be found to do a little the percentage of working show dogs was very small— in fact, almost nil. No doubt the show dog was originally produced from the working dog, but has been so much improved upon that he is no longer classed aa the shepherd's dog. The lecturer, continuing, said that one of the most interesting classes for him to look at was the class at Birmingham show for trial winners. The collection was a wonderful one. In that class at one time were to be found the winner in Ormskirk Charlie, and other well-bred doge belonging to Mr Piggin, but what chance had the little ragged black and white or even the overcoated smooth as a handsome <log to look on compared with the pedigree dog? He regretted to say the pedigree or show dog was unknown at any of last year's trials ; so far as Scotland went he had not seen- a single "pedigree dog amongst the competitors. The question wae put by one of the audience to Mr "Dalgleish, if the collies bred by him got opportunity of working, and the lecturer replied that most of the dogs wer© reared at. farms. pr shepherd's houses on the hillsides of JEttrick and Jarrow, and while they, got every facility they did not as a rule incline to work. He had only bred one from pedigree stock which turned out a first-class worker. Had the above remarks emanated from one of our leading men who bring out trial winners they would have provided subject matter for much criticism, but coming from a leading fancier they simply stagger one with their outspoken honesty. Personally I would not be surprised if you informed me that I had outrun my license to write on this subject further, but with your permission I will add just a few thoughts suggested by the above remarks. There are two facts in connection with collie breeding which I think every fair-minded man will admit. The first is that shepherds have in breeding neglected appearances, with the result that amongst the crack workers in New Zealand to-day there is a lack of similarity of type. The- second is that fanciers have altogether ignored the utility side in the craze to produce fancy points, some of which have become little short of monstroeities. Notwithstanding these facts, it is quite within the region of possibilities that by careful selection in the course of time a line of collies could be produced capable of winning on the bench as well as on the hillside, though the difficulties ahead are sufficient to intimidate even the most enthusiastic of breeders. Admitting, then, that as a thing of beauty the average shepherd's dog ie a failure, and the bench dog, though one of the most beautiful of God's creatures, is from a utility point of view still a greater failure, then the question remains, how can the thing of beauty and utility combined be evolved? The obstacles to be faced are stubborn. Briefly put, the principal of them are the climbing down of the faddist fancier and the education of the shepherd on the one hand and the fancy judge on the other into starting from mutual ground and working towards a common end. The main difficulty in the way to this latter attainment i» the vagaries of fashion, and here ie juefc where the almighty dollar might come in. If, say, Mr Pierpont Morgan, who is aa enthusiastic collie breeder, and a few moro like him were to seriously take in hand tho grading up of the bench dog in intelligence and the worker in appearance we might reasonably expect to see the evolution of the show dog into a high-class worker, as such celebrities would compel fashion to follow in their footsteps, but the ordinary breeder of limited mean 6 cannot afford what would undoubtedly be. at least to start with, a very unprofitable experiment. With apologies for again troubling you on a threadbare subject, — T am. etc.. Station Shepherd.