I love doing research on Border Collei lines. As we all know, Hemp was one of the main dogs in the ISDS stud books. This site is owned by Carole Presberg and she has wonderful history on the Border Collies.
From her site:
Sheila Grew, in her book Key Dogs From the Border Collie Family Volume II (1985 Payne Essex, Ltd.), says "A century ago many of the [working collies] were hard, powerful rather unfriendly dogs, difficult to control and rough with the stock, but their keen handling instinct, their concentration and great power over the sheep or cattle were such useful assets that it seemed worth trying to find a milder natured type of working collie to cross with these hard dogs.
One shepherd who took a keen interest in breeding and training sheepdogs was the Northumbrian, Adam Telfer, and he succeeded in finding the right blend of the two types of dog. The result was a canine genius called Hemp...who died in 1903 having sired over 200 puppies and founded the modern breed of Border Collie. "
Old Hemp is considered the progenitor of the Border Collie breed. The reason he isn't number 1 in the stud book of the International Sheep Dog Society is that he was added after the book began and early numbers were already given out. Grew goes on to say that Adam Telfer "was not just a great breeder, he was also an expert trainer and handler, and seemed to have a great understanding of his dogs and their behavior." Telfer won the International Championship twice, once with Sweep (21), a grandson of Old Hemp, who himself won the International twice, in 1910 with Telfer and 1912 with Thomas Armstrong. In fact, Grew tells us, "Of the first 29 winners of the International Championships after 1906, all, with only one or two exceptions, carried the blood of Hemp on one or both sides of [their] breeding."
to read the rest go here...
I also suggest looking at the rest of her website as it is very enlightening!!
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