Sheepdog

The domestication of the dog occurred at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. The canid then had a probable role as a hunting auxiliary that facilitates tracking and driving. Its function as scavenger, household guardian and herd guardian is associated with the Neolithic. "It is in Iceland, where there were never predators larger than the fox, that we find the oldest traces of the use of a herding dog (13th century). Great Britain rid itself of the wolf from the 16th century onwards, the herding dog was able to establish itself at this time, but it did not appear on the mainland before the 17th century. Its spread through Europe was subsequently progressive". We find a mention of a herding dog in the saga of Olaf Tryggvason, by Snorri Sturluson in the early 13th century: in Ireland, Olaf witnesses a scene in which a dog sorts his owner's cows, a function still found today. Olaf, surprised, takes the dog that the shepherd gives him and takes it with him. The herding dog began to be mentioned in Wales in the 15th century. The herding dog spread throughout the British Isles, then from the 17th century onwards on the European mainland.