Old English Sheepdogs
Old English Sheepdogs were being exhibited and registered in England and the United States before the breed was definitely and distinctly identified as the Old English Sheepdog.
The breed was first shown at a dog show at Islington, England in 1863. They were given separate show classification for the
first time at Curzon Hall in Birmingham, England in 1873. The first registrations of "Old English Sheepdogs, short-tailed English", with the English Kennel Club were in 1877. Two were
registered; both named "Bob", numbers 4541 and 4542 belonging respectively to F. Aggriss and the Marquis of Blandford. Aggriss's Bob whelped in 1870, breeder and pedigree
unknown, later went to one of the earliest known Old English Sheepdog breeders, R.J. Lloyd-Price of Rhiwlas, Bala, North Wales. The Marquis' "Bob', whelped in 1873, also had no known breeder or pedigree.
The English Kennel Club's stud book continued to register the breed as "Sheepdog, short-tailed English" well into the 1890s.
At the same time Collies were registered as "Sheepdogs, rough-coated" and "Sheepdogs smooth-coated." The first American stud book registration for the breed was as Old English
"Sheepdog, English Old-Fashioned Bobtailed" in 1886. Prior to the turn of the century in the United States, the Old English Sheepdog was eligible for competition in the Collie classes. Coats
were shaggy but less like today's full jackets. Cong was widely varied with black, brown, and tan markings still common in the 1890s.
 The fall, or heavy face coat, was little more than a fringe at the brow. Soundness, at least as defined by today’s show standards, was minimal. Fronts were especially weak. Topline,
which came to separate the Old English from other herding breeds, was not clearly defined as sloping upward from the withers. Heads were narrow and muzzles tapering. It was only through
determined breeding to the standard after it was established by Freeman Lloyd in 1885 that the Old English Sheepdog appeared during the first decade of the twentieth century as a distinctive breed similar to today's specimens.
Few breeds that have come from the fields and farms as workers to the shows as purebreds, have had the incredible journey which this breed has had. Because of the devotion and experiences of
Freeman Lloyd and Henry Arthur Tilley in the 1880s and their continued uninterrupted interest into the mid-1950s, we have been able to piece together the development of the breed from
last decades of the nineteenth century when the basic stock was acquired by the Tilley brothers and other breeders directly from the farms of western England.
Lloyd's hand in bringing many of the first Old English Sheepdogs to
the United States and his acquaintance with the breed and many of the Old English Sheepdog breeders had resulted in he being asked to write the first standard for the Old
English Sheepdog in 1885. Lloyd drafted the standard and it was polished by Dr. Edwardes-Ker and had also become the official standard for the breed in England.
The first Old English Sheepdogs in the United States were
owned and shown by the Glencho Collie Kennels of S.M. Cleaver in East Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The Glencho Kennel's Bob, was the first dog. Bob's breeder is unknown, but his exporter, Mr. M
.H. Lowe furnished the pedigree that "Bob's sire and dam can lick all creation driving sheep or cattle." Bob was also the first Old English Sheepdog shown in the United States in 1885. The
first bitch was Judith, whelped October 26, 1883, by Bob out of Gipsey, who was by English Ch Sir Guy out of Dame Dorothy. She was the dam of the first American-bred litter of Old English Sheepdogs.
The practice of registering purebred dogs with the American Kennel Club was not widely accepted until almost 1900. Between 1886 and 1898, Old English Sheepdogs trickled into the United States, were shown and bred, but following the first
registrations of the Glencho Kennels in 1886 and 1887, no other Old English Sheepdogs were registered with AKC until 1898 .
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