Do you know how the Collie got its name? The word has its beginning way back in the early days of the English language. It comes from the Anglo-Saxon word col meaning black. Col or colley was a name that was also used for the sheep of Scotland many hundreds of years ago. These sheep were coal black. The dogs that watched over them were called colley dogs. Later these sheep dogs were simply called Collies, and the name has remained in the language.
Queen Victoria had much to do with making the Collie popular in her native England. During one of her visits to Balmoral Castle in Scotland in the 1860's, she saw some Collies working with sheep. She was so impressed with their intelligence that she decided to take a pair back to Windsor with her. The Queen was so attached to her Collies that they went with her wherever she went. But one time, on a royal visit to France, she didn't take one of her dogs. She missed her pet so much that a member of her court had to go back to England to bring the collie to France to be with her mistress.
In England, the royal family sets the style. If a queen wears a certain kind of hat, her subjects notice the style and try to get the same kind. If a duke knots his tie a certain way, before long most of the men are copying him. The same is true with dogs. When Queen Victoria favored the Collie, she unwittingly made the breed one of the most popular in England in a very short time.
In America, the movies and TV set the styles. Back in the 1920s a German Shepherd named Rin-Tin-Tin was the hero of thousands of children - and grownups too. All through the 1920s the German Shepherd was the most popular dog in the country. In the 1950s, a Collie named Lassie did for her breed what Rin-Tin-Tin did for his. When we saw Lassie on the screen, we realized that Collies were not only good sheep dogs, but they were good companions for youngsters. Their intelligence and love for children make them excellent pets.
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