'One drew a longer queue than the members of One Direction': The irresistible old English sheepdog is now under threat
As the Dulux dog marks 65 years, the old English sheepdog remains one of Britain’s most recognisable canine icons — yet this much-loved breed is now under threat.
For 65 years, the Dulux dog has been one of the most recognisable faces in British advertising — a shaggy, good-natured old English sheepdog padding loyally alongside the nation through life’s milestones.
That legacy was marked in suitably charming fashion at The Royal Kennel Club in London last week, at a joint birthday celebration for the newest Dulux dog and the brand’s anniversary.
I met Marianne Shillingford, creative director of Dulux, and Ellen Wheeler, owner and breeder of multiple Dulux dogs, to celebrate the breed’s most famous ambassador.
The occasion featured archive photography tracing the adverts across the decades, a neatly iced cake and a full afternoon tea spread, alongside a preview of the newest advert starring the latest ‘Ms Dulux’, Dot.
‘We are here… to celebrate the 65th birthday of the Dulux dog, the lovable old English sheepdog who is our brand mascot,’ says Marianne. Its origin story, she explains, was pure accident. During the filming of a 1961 advert, a crew member’s dog, Dash, kept wandering onto set. ‘Whenever the old English sheepdog arrived, everybody just went “oh” — it stole everyone’s heart,’ she recalls. ‘What a decision that director made that day.’
Since then, the breed has become inseparable from the brand — a symbol, as Marianne puts it, ‘of trust… a friend always by your side through life’s moments’. The dogs themselves have achieved a level of fame most actors would envy. At one Dulux-sponsored event, she notes, a sheepdog drew a longer queue than the members of One Direction.
Today’s Dulux dog, Dorothy — known as Dot — continues that legacy. Bred and owned by Ellen, she comes from a remarkable lineage: her mother and grandmother both held the role before her. ‘There’s a whole lineage,’ says Marianne. ‘We watched her grandmother teaching her tricks — there must be something in the genes that makes an amazing Dulux dog.’
Dot, still young, is already every inch the star. ‘She is a proper rock star,’ Marianne laughs — though, like many of her breed, capable of chaos: ‘One wag of the tail and the whole set’s wiped out.’
Long before advertising fame, the old English sheepdog was a working animal — a drover’s companion developed in the 18th century to move livestock over long distances. Intelligent, steady and non-aggressive, it needed stamina, loyalty and, crucially, a weatherproof coat. That famously shaggy fleece — often likened to wool — helped protect against the British climate, giving rise to the (slightly misleading) notion that the breed is ‘hypoallergenic’.
Its exact origins remain hazy, but it is widely believed to have emerged from a mix of British herding dogs and continental breeds. By the 19th century, it was firmly established, often known as the ‘bobtail’ — its docked tail marking it as a working dog and therefore exempt from tax.
The breed’s distinctive look and gentle humour have long attracted admirers. Paul McCartney famously wrote Martha My Dear about his own sheepdog, while the dogs have appeared on screen from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to Hook. In the 1960s — as Marianne notes — they were ‘a guaranteed wow factor at any party’, favoured by rock stars and actors alike.
Yet, for all its cultural cachet, the old English sheepdog is now under threat. Once among Britain’s most popular breeds — with thousands of puppies registered annually at its peak — numbers have fallen sharply in recent decades. The Royal Kennel Club has placed it on its Vulnerable Native Breeds list, with registrations dropping to just a few hundred a year.
The reasons are largely practical. These are big, energetic dogs requiring space, exercise and significant grooming — a challenging fit for modern, smaller homes. And yet, those who know them tend to be devoted. They are affectionate, intuitive and famously loyal — dogs that, as many owners will attest, prefer to be wherever their people are.
Perhaps that is why the Dulux dog endures — not simply as an advertising icon, but as a reminder of something older and softer in British life: a large, slightly unruly, deeply loveable and recognisable presence.
