Border Collie

Overview

The Border Collie is a sheepdog of the Anglo-Scottish border, selected for a hypnotic eye, stamina, and the ability to work at great distances on a whistle. It is widely considered the most trainable of herding dogs—and one of the least suitable for a quiet, jobless household.

Origin

Herding dogs of the Borders were refined in the nineteenth century; a dog named Old Hemp (born 1893) is often called the father of the breed. The International Sheep Dog Society valued work over appearance. The AKC recognized the Border Collie in 1995, a move some working communities still regard with suspicion. Trials, not trims, remain the culture of working homes.

Size & weight

Medium, athletic, and longer than tall. Males often 48–56 cm. There is considerable variation; function over flash is the working ethic.

Temperament

Intense, sensitive, and work-obsessed. They may herd children, bicycles, and vacuum cleaners. Many are reserved with strangers. Without a job they invent one, including shadow chasing and obsessive-compulsive patterns. They are not a soft family retriever, though they can be deeply loyal.

Energy

Very high. Hours of physical and mental work: herding, agility, disc, advanced obedience, running. A walk is a warm-up. This need does not fade at age two.

Intelligence

The type specimen of working aptitude: Border Collies learn complex tasks rapidly and need mental work as much as physical exercise.

Intelligence here means typical trainability, not a ranking of the dog.

Coat & grooming

Two types: rough (moderately long, feathered) and smooth. Typically black and white, but any color is allowed in many working contexts, including red, tricolor, merle, and sable. The coat is weather-resistant.

Weekly brushing; more for rough coats in shed. Mud is a lifestyle. The coat is practical, not a show sculpture in working dogs.

Health notes

Hip dysplasia, collie eye anomaly, and epilepsy occur. MDR1 sensitivity to certain drugs appears in some herding lineages—test before ivermectin at high doses. Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis and other genetic diseases have tests. Deafness can accompany extreme white.

Care

If you cannot provide a job, do not get this breed. Sport can substitute for sheep for many individuals, but not a crate and a nine-hour workday. Training is a conversation with a very fast mind. Secure fencing; they are athletes.

Fun facts

• Old Hemp of Northumberland is a foundation sire whose style of quiet, strong-eyed work still defines the breed.
• Border Collies dominate dog sports that reward speed of learning, from agility to disc.
• Chaser, a Border Collie, learned the names of more than a thousand objects in a well-known cognition study.