Search results for "scotland"

Cheviot sheep are a very old breed that originated in the Cheviot Hills on the border between England and Scotland. Originally called ‘Long sheep’ (a name used since at least 1470) or ‘White sheep’ (in contrast to the Scottish Blackface), Cheviots were a mountain breed of extreme hardiness, which would produce meat and wool on cold, wet, hilly country. It was these characteristics that led Sir John Sinclair to select the breed to be taken to the North of Scotland in the late 1700s to replace the original sheep of the area. It was there that Sir John who bestowed on them the name Cheviot. Th...

The derivation of the collie is as obscure as the derivation of its name. One theory of the breed's origins is that it was derived from the same rootstock as the border collie. One theory of the name's origin is that it was derived from a Gaelic word meaning useful, which certainly described the useful farm or stock dogs valued by the Celts who first settled on the British Isles. Although sheep herding and guarding are some of the most ancient of canine services, evidence of the collie dates only from about 1800. Both rough- and smooth-coated "Scotch" collies existed by that time, but ...