kelpie

The dog breed derives from the name shared by the first two breeding bitches (dam and pup), which name derives from the mythological spirit.

kelpie (plural kelpies)

1. (Celtic folklore) A malevolent shapeshifting spirit, most often in the form of a horse, believed to haunt the rivers and lochs of Scotland.
2. An Australian breed of sheepdog.
   • 1993, Tim Winton, Land's Edge, Picador 2014, p. 4:

     Gulls scatter before the blur of my insane kelpie.

• pelike