“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 breeding.”
-Sheila Grew, in her book Key Dogs From the Border Collie Family Volume II
AuldHemp aka “Old Hemp” the progenitor of the Border Collie breed – c. Pre1902
The Old Hemp Stud
‘Bluidy Marvellous’ is how the Scottish described the Northumberland born Border Collie Auldhemp aka “Old Hemp”…
Old Hemp was born in 1893 to trainer Adam Telfer in West Woodburn, Northumberland.
Old Hemp’s father “Roy” was a overly nice dog that “did not possess special talent for herding sheep” often disinterested at the task at hand. His mother “Meg” was the polar opposite, always on the job and “was such an intense worker that she hypnotized herself instead of the sheep”.
Old Hemp was a triumph of breeding inheriting all the good characteristics of both parents while losing the bad traits.
“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…”
Ancestor of all things “Border Collie” – Old Hemp…. Adam Telfer, with Brigg Moss (standing) and the Legendary ‘Auld Hemp’ lying at the Master’s feet!
“none who saw him ever forgot him…Almost faultless in work…he was born with such knowledge of his craft that he never required training and went to his work naturally.”
– Eric Halsall, Author and commentator of the time about Old Hemp
Unlike the loud overly hyper sheepdogs of the time, Old Hemp was calm and mild mannered in his demeanor but worked so intensely that he Physically trembled.
This is a trait still found in the border collie breed from Old Hemp…
Tommy (16) a grandson of Old Hemp
“he flashed like a meteor across the sheepdog horizon. There never was such an outstanding personality.”
– Adam Telfer
Old Hemp was quiet, which the sheep responded to very easily. Some say Hemp was unbeaten in trials although no records survive of him competing.
The sheep responded very well to Hemp but he also had the unique ability to naturally read them and heard them to his will.
Every course Hemp ever started he finished without difficulty, which lead to Hemp becoming a stud…
Welsh farmer W. J. Evans from Monmouthshire with his Border Collie Nell 6879 seen at the International Sheep Dog Trials in 1953 at Cardiff, Wales
“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.”
– Sheila Grew, in her book Key Dogs From the Border Collie Family Volume II
If your best friend is a border collie or even a mix with a border collie there is a good chance that you have Hemp by your side…
“All pure Border Collies alive today can trace an ancestral line back to Old Hemp.”
Hemp, Sit, Good Boy…
Telfer family, Old Hemp’s owner Adam Telfer holding puppy