The first dog known as a Kelpie was a black and tan female pup with floppy ears bought by Jack Gleeson about 1872 from a litter born on Warrock Station near Casterton, owned by George Robertson, a Scot. This dog was named Kelpie after the kelpie, a mythological shapeshifting water spirit of Celtic folklore. In later years she was referred to as '(Gleeson's) Kelpie', to differentiate her from '(King's) Kelpie', her daughter.