The origin of the Old English Sheepdog remains a question of keen interest to Bobtail fanciers, and is still open to new theories and discoveries. However, there are traces of evidence which place its origin in the early nineteenth century, centered in the Southwestern Counties of England. Some maintain that the Scottish Bearded Collie had a large part in its making; others claim the Russian Owtchar as one of the progenitors of the Old English Sheepdog.
Illustration from The Old English Sheep Dog, by Henry Arthur Tilley, Revised Edition 1937 Image Source: Old English Sheepdog Club of America. Champion “Elkington Squire”