With infectious disease rife amongst the canine
population, and a readily available pool of suitable
stock for very small monetary outlay via the many
country markets, breeders, as we understand the
phrase, did not exist in the collie world.
Few exhibitors survived beyond a show season,
only Mr J. W. Palethorpe, of whom we know nothing,
proved a consistent winner throughout the early
development of the Show Collie, but either his
interest did not continue into the 1870s, or his stock
did not improve sufficiently to compete in a more
competitive age, and only two exhibitor’s, from this
era, can interest the modern fancier.
Of greatest interest is Mr White’s appearance at Islington in June 1869, when his
un-named collie took third place under Messrs Walker and Sykes. The only collie known to have been owned by this gentleman is the world renowned Cockie, whom he was exhibiting at Birmingham’s National the following year. The second name of significance is Mr Panmure Gordon, one of the Scottish Kennel Club’s founder members and its first president, who exhibited his Hamish, at Crystal Palace’s ‘First Grand Exhibition’, June 1870, to take second prize in the Rough-coated Sheep Dog class. Could this collie be behind the strangely named bitch, Hamish III, who, as foundation bitch of the prolific family d, influenced the breed for more than forty years?
