Old English Sheepdogs can grow very long coats with fur covering the face and eyes and do not shed unless brushed.

[citation needed] The Old English Sheepdog is a large dog, immediately recognizable by its long, thick, shaggy grey and white coat, with fur covering their face and eyes.

[2] The Old English Sheepdog stands lower at the shoulder than at the loin,[3] and walks with a "bear-like roll from the rear".

A small drop-eared dog seen in a 1771 painting by Gainsborough is believed by some to represent the early type of the Old English Sheepdog.

[8] In the early 19th century a bobtailed drovers dog, called the Smithfield or Cotswold Cor, was noticed in the southwestern counties of England and may have been an ancestor.

The Old English Sheepdog was at first called the "Shepherd's Dog" and was exhibited for the first time at a show in Birmingham, England, in 1873.

[9] The breed was exported to the United States in the 1880s, and by the turn of the 20th century, five of the ten wealthiest American families bred and showed the Old English Sheepdog.

[10] A 2024 UK study found a life expectancy of 12.1 years for the breed compared to an average of 12.7 for purebreeds and 12 for crossbreeds.

[12] An American study reviewing over a million patients presented to 27 veterinary teaching hospitals in North America found the Old English Sheepdog to be predisposed to hip dysplasia, with 11.1% of dogs examined having the condition compared to 3.52% overall.

[14] A review of 1,934 cases of dogs presenting for gastric dilatation volvulus (GDV) found the Old English Sheepdog to be predisposed, with an odds ratio of 4.8.

The first Dulux dog was Shepton Daphnis Horsa, pet name Dash, who held the role for eight years, owned by Eva Sharp in Tottenham.

Barbara Woodhouse was employed to train Digby and his three stunt doubles, who were used whenever specific tricks or actions needed to be filmed.