The Shepherd's Dog
The Border Collie is renowned for its intelligence, agility, hard work and innate skills with animals for herding. Its skills have been shaped by many generations of breeding. These working dogs have never been bred for appearance.
Today we refer to working sheepdogs or British sheepdogs and an ISDS Border Collie has no breed standard. The U.K. is very much the 'kennel of the world' as far as the working sheepdog is concerned.
The working collie dog was refined in the border country of England and Scotland, with the term 'Border Collie' being used after 1900. The first secretary of the Society, James Reid, wrote many papers on the early history of sheepdogs and was a committed enthusiast for the collie. Many credit him with having coined the description ‘Border Collie’; whether this is true or not, he was most probably the first to have put the dogs’ breed name in print.
The ISDS dog logo is a simple outline that looks like a dog called Wiston Cap. He represented so much that was good about the working sheepdog. Cap was owned by Jock Richardson and in 1965 won the Supreme Championship in Cardiff.
Often, working Border Collies do not make good domestic pets. Some dogs might, but anyone who thinks the puppies look cute and would make lovely pets should take care. If the dog wants to work; then to keep it indoors and away from what it was bred to do, is not right. However, if you want to work with a dog, it is possible to get involved through the many Society trainers we list in the News area. There is more web site information published by other collie groups that can advise on owning puppies (try a Google search).
