Som en kort kommentar till en helsidesannons i nya Hundsport om colliens själ, om skönhet och värdighet och om etthundrafemtio år av trohet mot rasens oföränderliga standard, ber vi att få presentera drottning Victoria älsklingscollie Sharp. Så här såg han ut. Så här betedde han sig.
"Sharp lived with Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle, accompanying her wherever she went.
He was named after a government minister favoured by The Queen and popularised the breed with Victorian dog-owners.
After Sharp's death he was buried in Windsor Home Park, Berkshire.
His tomb stone reads: "Sharp, the favourite and faithful Collie of Queen Victoria from 1866 to 1879. Died now 1879 aged 15 years."
According to Katherine Boyle, a spokeswoman for Bonhams, Sharp was known as an ill-tempered dog who frightened most of the royal entourage and who regularly fought with other dogs.
Queen Victoria wrote in her diary on Wednesday 6 September 1869: "At five minutes to eleven rode off with Beatrice, good Sharp going with us and having occasional 'collie-shangies' (a Scotch word for quarrels or rows) with collies when we came near cottages."
Queen Victoria constantly had Sharp by her side |
Sharp's affection was reserved only for The Queen and John Brown, whose companionship The Queen depended upon after the death of her husband Prince Albert.
Collie dogs experienced a surge in popularity as a result of Queen Victoria's patronage."
I all hemlighet, kära läsare, vill jag anförtro er att Sharp inte alls ligger död och begraven i någon kungapark. Nuförtiden bor han hos en av mina grannar. Han heter Noppe, tituleras rasren reggad Aussie och har blivit en glad kille, som varken skrämmer hovfolk eller slåss med andra hundar. Åren har adderat en del vitt till hans ansikte, annars är han sig på pricken lik.
The collie-shangies är sig också lika. Även om det inte mest är hundar, som deltar i dem längre.
Bodil Carlsson.
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