My memory of the
Farm Shepherd is of a medium sized shepherd
looking dog with drop ears.
Some of the
coloring of these dogs were: brindle, black/tan, black, white, brown, golden and mixed in colors with the white blaze down
the face and white on the legs, feet and chest. The tails were usually tipped in black and had that inverted ‘ v ‘
in the upper middle of it. These were the dominate traits that the shepherd dogs gave to all their progeny.
This Farm Shepherd
would weigh about 50 lbs and stand about 22 – 24 inches tall from the shoulders to the ground (though I do remember
seeing some even smaller dogs).
Too large of
a dog would become a burden on the American Farmer who was kind of poor and who lived off his farm production or the woods
surrounding his homestead. These farm dogs might have to fend for themselves when it came to eating, but they never ate any
of the farmer’s livestock or they would be severely punished, sold or given away.
Most Farm Shepherds
that I recall were black saddled and resembled a German Shepherd in their coloring but the coat was longer and thicker than
that of the German Shepherd Dog. The tail had a small curl in it as an exaggerated saber or sword , it was never so long that
it would touch the ground.
Though I was
not around when the Farm Shepherd was widely used across America, I do recall some of these dogs and they were tagged as mutts.
One of my neighbors had one that they had gotten from the pound. They called the dog ‘snoopy’ and it was of medium
size with a medium length in coat.
The farm shepherd is not to resemble a Farm Collie or a Collie
of any kind.
Some say that the
English Shepherd is the American Farm Shepherd. A variety
of names were placed on the farm shepherds that were not a breed of dog at all.
Remember that in order to be a breed the parents must breed true
in more than just color.
Once dogs are registered and breeders only breed
within the registry of dogs, that is when the breed can really begin because most of the time un-registered dogs are bred
to anything and 'claimed' to be such-and -such a breed.
The English dog Registry has been forming a type
of dog that they call the English Shepherd. Folks got together and wrote down standards of the breed and breeders
are suppose to breed with those standards in mind. That is what keeps the 'breed' together. But, this is an ENGLISH Shepherd.
If this is really an American breed, then we all know that the name is miss leading and should be changed as the English Cocker
when it came to America and was changed to meet the American families needs.
