This, Clan Duncan's first history page, is dedicated to Pow, Am./Can. Ch. Cherden Sock It To "Em CD. Pow literally burst onto the Sheltie scene. There was nothing like him. A fascinating Bruce/Aladdin blend bred by Cheryl Anderson, Pow went early in his adult life to Banchory, where he stood at stud during the years when his reputation as a sire was forged.

I first saw Pow in Tucson. Donna (Banchory) was going to be showing him in Open in the spring Arizona shows. She was also bringing High Born down to compete as a new special, to be handled by Guy Mauldin (early stages of a love affair that never ended). She wanted to send Pow ahead, because there were puppies accompanying her on the plane. She sent Pow to me.

When I got this robust tri fellow home and let him out into the yard, I gasped in astonishment. I literally had never seen any Sheltie like him. He was BLACK. Pow went right up to size as a yearling. His shoulder went up, too. Two years later Pow was half an inch shorter and had excellent shoulder layback--this, however, is why people who saw him only during the time when he was being finished, remember him as a big dog with upright shoulders. But when I first saw Pow, I didn't think of this at all.

Pow had presence. He was as full of himself as a young stallion. This was an era when most AOC Shelties had white-blazed faces, boxy, domey short skulls that were lumpy and bumpy on the sides with snipy muzzles and weak underjaws. Many had rusty black, and tan markings as pale as cream. Often throaty and neckless, many were deep from brow to throat, shallow in muzzle and underjaw. Fine bone was common. Many AOCs had gay tails. As for sables, many were poor movers, veiny and weak in muzzle and underjaw, and had skulls that were lean, all right. But many sable skulls were not flat, and parallel planes were rare. They were often high over the eyes, falling back as much as an inch toward the bases of the ears. We saw a lot of fiddle fronts in those days, and cowhocks were not rare.

Into this scene came black-faced Pow, with his glass-smooth, long, lean skull--flat and clean and parallel-planed, ending in a fully rounded muzzle and bang-up underjaw. His head was finished with perfectly tipped small ears. Pow had straight front legs and tracked true. He had an outstanding rear, down-carried tail, lots of bone and correctly textured coat, and a long, arched neck. His tan was rich cinnamon, not coffee-with-too-much-cream. He was different. He was so different that some breeders actually felt threatened by Pow. It seems strange to say this after all these years, but it's true. "He'll get huge, and so will his puppies. He has to coarsen," many said. It didn't happen.

Pow wasn't perfect. He had, however, many desirable traits that were and are quite uncommon in the breed. Also, Pow was bi-factored. That changed things.

I'd also like to say that Pow was strong. Of course, the Sheltie standard does not require overall strength. But when breeding any animals, vigor and strength are very desirable qualities. One of Pow's favorite greetings was to jump straight up off the ground three or four feet into the air when he saw you coming, and keep happily jumping until you got there to pet him, not something that a weak dog could keep up. Pow loved water. If your Sheltie likes to splash in puddles or swim, if your puppies can sometimes be found sleeping IN the water dish, perhaps it's that dash of Pow back there. My last litter shredded the waterlilies in my backyard pond by swimming every chance they got. As an adult, Merlin still puts his face into his water bucket up to the eyes and blows bubbles. That's a little shine of Pow coming through.

Seeing Pow and High Born together at those long-ago Tucson shows put a gleam into many a breeder's eye, including mine. Put together, they were almost the perfect Sheltie. The High Born-Pow blends began, breedings that changed the Sheltie world.

The 1974 image above is one of many photos I took of Pow when he was at Banchory. I saw Pow many times over the years. I'll never forget him.