SHEEP-DOG NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3033, 1 May 1912, Page 57

SHEEP-DOG NOTES.

By Tekroh. The letter which follows is one for the consideration of Trial Club Committees. What is wanted is a register of prizewinners giving pedigrees. The first year, I am afraid, the entries would not give very instructive information, for, as a rule, I imagine the pedigree would merely be that the prize-winner “Bob” was by Jim’s old dog out of Bill’s bitch; but it would be a start, and year by year the register would become more and more valuable. A register is certainly required, and the sooner the Trial Comjnittecs associate and make it a rule that competing dogs must bo registered by the association the better. Dear “Terror,”— ln Otago Witness, 17th ult., under Sheep Dog Notes, you regret you have not items of interest as promised forwarded you as you hoped for. It has often struck mo that if the breeding of the three placed dogs in the various trials was given as in news, it would give eheepmen a better idea of the value

of ir /ported collie blood or the reverse; of course, we or our forefathers have come to /. ustralasia, or been sent, for our late courilry’s good, and; in many oases for our own and, naturally, shepherds brought a fanrsy bitch, if they could afford it, from whAm our sheep dogs have sprung. The colonial-bred' shepherd has little faifh in the present imported Border stock, ants if they deserve it I am certain it would gi-m them a great boost forward if you could' do as I suggest. I have as good Border blood as in New Zealand, so make the suggestion in good faith. —I am, etc., C. M. M.

The question raised in the first paragraph and the letter following is not the only one to which the Trial Committees should give immediate attention. Some weeks_ back a correspondent wrote as to the desirability of holding a championship trial at which prize-winners only could compete, and the committees were invited to discuss the question. A Sheep Dog Trial Committees’ Association, if it existed, would, of course, be the proper authority to arrange for championship trials.