The smartest dog around!
If you grew up in the 90’s, you might remember the film Babe, the story of “The Sheep-Pig.” Babe the pig’s adoptive parents were Border Collies, and the film shows Babe learning how to herd sheep, just like a dog.
Border Collies (not pigs!) were in fact, originally bred for herding, and quickly became renowned for their intelligence and their ability to learn new commands.
Their name comes from a Scottish word, “collie” which is used to describe sheepdogs. They began to thrive in the border region between Scotland and England, hence the name Border Collie.
The first recorded sheepdog trials took place in 1873 in Wales and the crowd were stunned to see Collies herding sheep into pens, only guided by whistles and hand gestures. Their intelligence was noted and they became the top choice for livestock protection and herding.
Collies are famous for utilising “The Eye” which is a herding technique. It involves staring intensely staring at members of a flock to intimidate them.
Collies hold a huge number of Guinness World Records, including feats such as skateboarding, rolling down car windows, and being able to identify over 1,000 objects by name! They have also been used as search and rescue dogs, with great success!
Some celebrities that have Collies include Ethan Hawke, Tiger Woods, Bon Jovi, Michael Keaton and Anna Paquin!
Even Queen Victoria fell in love with the breed, and her beloved Collie, Sharp, features heavily in several royal portraits!
They are FIERCELY loyal to their “people” and will do whatever it takes to protect them and be with them. A perfect example of this is Bobbie the Wonder Dog, a Collie who, in 1923 was attacked by a pack of dogs and was separated from his family.
He embarked (pun intended) on a journey of over 2,500 miles to find them, taking six months to track down his beloved humans.
If that’s not loyalty, we don’t know what is!
Every Collie owner knows exactly how loyal they are – as well as how energetic, playful and cheeky they can be!
Written by Peigí Conneff
