The BCCC at 50 - Part 1
At The Start

 

Alice Bixler, BCCC founding member and life member, has graciously provided a fascinating review of the early history of our breed and of the events leading up to the creation of the first breed standards and clubs.  This first installment will set the foundation for a series of articles we plan to publish in this our 50th anniversary year.  We hope you will enjoy following along as we progress through five decades of Club history and activities.

“AT THE START”

Where and when did the Bearded Collie breed begin? Good question. Unfortunately, no one knows the answer. Some breeds have very well-documented beginnings. Others just happened. Beardies fall into the latter category. There’s a theory which goes back to the seventh to fifth centuries B.C. That’s convenient because it’s hard to argue with something supposed to have happened so long ago. Historians tell of the Celts, a collection of Indo-European tribes who spread across western Europe and eventually as far as the British Isles. When they weren't drinking or fighting – two pastimes they heartily enjoyed – they engaged in agricultural pursuits such as farming and raising livestock. Those areas inhabited by the Celts also had some variety of shaggy sheepdog, practically a necessity if you plan to raise livestock. Whether the Celts had anything to do with the development of the dogs is anybody’s guess. Around about the first centuries B.C. and A.D. (which must have been confusing), the Romans took a rather inhospitable attitude toward the Celts and drove them so far west that they ended up on a strip along Britain’s northwest coast, the absolute end of the line in those days.

Let’s fast forward to 1514-1515 A.D. when a written record started the most popular theory of the Beardie’s origin. That was when a grain-laden ship sailed from Gdansk to Scotland where the owner, Kazimiez Grabski, hoped to trade the grain for some Scottish sheep. The Scots brought him 60 sheep from which to choose 20 for the trip home. The ship owner was prepared for the task, having brought along six Polish Lowland Sheepdogs (aka Polish Owczarek Nizzinny), already known in their homeland for a couple of centuries. The PONs went to work, cutting the 20 selected sheep from the herd and directing them aboard. The shepherd was mighty impressed with the talent of these shaggy herders and struck a deal of a handsome ram and fine ewe for three of the dogs –two bitches and a male. And so the story goes that the PONs bred with local dogs and the result was the Bearded Collie.

Not so, according to Col. David Hancock, a long time British authority on herding dogs and their history. “Goat-haired sheepdogs have long existed as a distinct type all over Europe,” he wrote and added “You can soon see how climate, function and terrain determined type.” He pointed out that differing coat lengths occur naturally and have been “perpetuated and enhanced by line-breeding down the centuries.” Herdsmen were practical folk who knew what was needed to control livestock in the conditions and climate of the locale and they bred accordingly. In other words, there was no need to bring in Polish dogs when Scotland already had shaggy sheepdogs.

Some years ago, Bill Remwick, a Scotsman living on Vancouver Island, B.C., contacted me to talk Beardies. Bill, his father and his grandfather all raised sheep and cattle in Scotland and used nothing but Beardies as their herding dogs. Bill’s own memories go back to 1925 but he knew his grandfather herded with Beardies as early as 1890 just outside Edinburgh and would not even consider another breed of dog.

“The Beardies,” Bill related, “were great dogs for the drovers. When it came time to sell the sheep, they would be driven by the thousands the length of Scotland, through Falkirk to the English market. On the road, the flocks would get mixed but the Beardies could ‘shed out’ their own sheep without fail.” Such a drive would mean being en route for weeks, requiring incredible stamina of the dogs as well as the drovers. Beardies of those days were exceptionally hardy, brave and gutsy dogs, according to Bill who claimed the dogs showed courage in spades when facing down obstreperous cattle or stubborn sheep. “You did difficult things with your Beardies and thought nothing of it,” Bill remembered. "It was simply expected of a good working dog.”

Others confirmed Bill’s observations. In The New Book of the Dog (R. Leighton), published in 1912, the author wrote, “he is a favorite with the butcher and drover who have sometimes a herd of troublesome cattle to handle and he is well-suited to rough and rocky ground, active in movement and as sure-footed as the wild goat. He can endure cold and wet without discomfort and can live on the Highland hills where others less sturdy would succumb.” In 1878, Gordon Phillips of Glenlivet wrote in a livestock journal that shepherds claimed they could safely trust 200 or 300 sheep “to the sagacity of this valuable dog which does not hurry or push, but drives them as coolly and as cautiously as if its master were present.” British naturalist Richard Perry wrote a book, I Went A’Shepherding, published in 1944, in which he commented, “these mountain sheep were so darned obstinate and headstrong, especially those from a hill not regularly shepherded, that only a strong rough dog would keep them on the move – and none better at this game than the shaggy Beardie of the old crofting folk…”  Unlike herding dogs who took directions from the shepherd, the tough and independent Beardies often worked out of sight, made their own decisions and frequently barked to cause the sheep to bunch together as well as let the shepherd know their whereabouts. Ads listing Beardies for sale often stressed, “Plenty noise, plenty daylight.” The latter referred to the length of coat preferred to be long enough to protect the dog but short enough to not hinder his work and to show ‘daylight’ between coat and ground.

In addition to praising their herding prowess, respected observers made comments on other Beardie features. In comparing the breed to the OES, Col. Hancock noted, “the Beardie has a quicker, effortless, gliding walk.” Proponents of the breed also praised them for being able to put in a full day’s work and then switching off to become a placid pet unlike the continuous hyperactivity of some herding breeds. A cigarette card of 1938 features a gray Beardie on the front and on the back proclaims,” Here is a venerable breed of Collie that has been worked with sheep in Scotland for generations. His great claim to distinction is the brilliant manner with which he carries off the prizes in field trials and intelligence tests, having a mind as quick on the uptake as can be found in any dog.”

And what of the breed’s crowning glory, the long coat which catches the eye in a show ring and catches burrs, twigs and other extraneous bits of nature outside?  In the 1891 book, The Dogs of Scotland by Whinstone (a pen name for J.D.T. Gray), the Beardie was described as “a big, rough, tousy-looking type with a coat not unlike a doormat.” Ouch! Bill Remwick confessed his dogs were never combed and Col. Hancock related they were shorn with the sheep and “salved with a mixture of tar and oil as an insect repellent and weather proofer.” (Not an ideal bed buddy.) Back in 1949, James Garrow, a judge and sheepdog expert, wrote to Mrs. G.O. (Olive) Willison, who is credited with gaining recognition for the breed with The Kennel Club (Eng.). In his letter, Garrow wrote, “The Beardie was essentially a worker, famed for fleetness and brains, kept by butchers, farmers, etc. The coat should not be overlong and of a raw harsh texture. They should not require daily grooming and are easily kept in condition.  Have you drawn up the standard for the KC yet? You want to emphasize the rule on coat.” For working Beardies, it was imperative the dog have a coarse, weatherproof outer coat that was not overly long. As a point of interest, the Scottish classic, Owd Bob, first published in 1898, was illustrated with drawings of Beardies in the 1937 and 1947 editions and depicted the accepted coat length of that time. In later years, the dog show world contributed to the change in length and texture of the Beardie coat in addition to creative trimming and sculpturing, a far cry from the appearance of a hard-working herding dog.

Some years ago, Wendy Boorer, a British Beardie historian visited the U.S. and watched the Beardies in the ring at a show. She later wrote back after watching the top Beardie of the day racing around the ring with his long silken coat flowing in the wind, “and the ground rumbled beneath my feet as a thousand Scottish shepherds whirled in their graves.”

From hardy herder to privileged pet, the Beardie owes its current status to a happy set of circumstances. Though most dedicated Beardie owners know the story, for those who don’t, here it is in (relatively) brief form. First attempts to start a club for the breed took place in Edinburgh in 1912, spearheaded by Dr. J. Russell Grieg.  Members were enthusiastic but then World War I came along, and the group faded away. In 1944, a fairly well-to-do English lady Mrs. G.O. Willison, charged a farm agent with finding a Sheltie pup for her.  When the Sheltie litter failed to materialize, the agent brought her a brown bundle of personality sired by his own Beardie.  Mrs. Willison had never heard of Bearded Collies and didn’t know what she had until two months later when a shepherd identified the breed for her and begged her to sell him the pup. No way! By that time, Jeannie (as she was named) was one of the family. To Mrs. Willison, Jeannie was “more lovable than any dog I had ever known.” She was also impressed with her uncanny intelligence and her ability to herd just about any type of livestock without the benefit of any training whatsoever. As Jeannie matured, a friend who happened to be a dog show judge, offered to help get her registered with the Kennel Club. Mrs. Willison contacted the farm agent who had sold her Jeannie and he provided her with the name of the breeder, so she was able to get all the pertinent information needed to get her properly registered.

In time, Mrs. Willison decided she really should find a mate for Jeannie so she could have another like her when she passed away. But the breed was very rare in her area. Had she been able to take her search to Scotland, she might have found many still working in the hills. But this was before the days of easy world-wide conversations.  A local Beardie-type dog was found and Jeannie was mated to him when she was two. Fortune frowned though and when Mrs. Willison had to be hospitalized, her family gave away the pups. The sire, an old dog, died shortly thereafter, so the search went on.

After going to a dog show in Brighton, she decided to relax at Hove Beach, and it was there she saw a shaggy gray dog in the distance. When she got closer, she realized he was definitely a Beardie and questioned his owner closely. The lady had bought him from a farmer and knew his sire, dam and date of birth. But when the question of using him at stud was brought up, the owner confided she didn’t expect to have him much longer since she had moved to an apartment and was looking for a nice country home for him.  “I’ve got a nice country home,” Mrs. Willison said eagerly. Two days later she returned home with the Beardie she renamed Bailie of Bothkennar. Shortly thereafter, he was registered with the Kennel Club. More than just the start of the Bothkennar line, the mating of Jeannie and Bailie provided the foundation stock of all pedigreed Beardies.
Jeannie and Bailie were mated early in February 1950 but there was no time for a honeymoon. Bailie was entered at the famous Crufts show that month and took third in the Any Variety Not Separately Classified Novice Dog. He may have only taken third but he drew the press and photographers like a picnic draws ants. He was the only Beardie entered at that show and probably the first of the breed to show at Crufts. Until breed registrations reached 150, The Kennel Club would not open a separate register for the breed, hence the ‘any variety’ class. Though Bailie claimed the spotlight on this occasion, Jeannie got her share of glory later when she appeared in a full length film and was also featured on Vetzyme product labels. It probably helped that Mrs. Willison’s family owned Phillips Yeast Company, producers of Vetzyme.

In 1955, Mrs. Willison founded the Bearded Collie Club with the assistance of several Beardie owners and other influential folks in the dog world who wanted to help the breed’s revival. The first Bearded Collie standard, brief as it was, had been drawn up by the now defunct Scottish club in 1912.  In 1964, a revised and more descriptive standard was put forth by the club and accepted by The Kennel Club. The standard underwent one more clarification in 1978 which is still in effect.

The magic 150 registration number was reached in 1957 and in the following year, the breed was accorded its separate breed register, allowing Bearded Collies to take their place in the Non-Sporting group. At this time, N-S had yet to be divided into Working, Utility and later, Pastoral. In 1959, the breed became eligible to earn Challenge Certificates, three of which were necessary to make up a champion. The first Beardie to attain that honour was Mrs. Willison’s Ch. Beauty Queen of Bothkennar, a Jeannie granddaughter. Health problems caused Mrs. Willison to disband her kennel and give up breeding in 1964, ending an important era in the history of the Bearded Collie.

.  .  .  to be continued.

 

Copyright © 2020 [Alice Bixler].
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