The Border Collie
The Border Collie, also called "eyedog", comes from the border region between Scotland and England and was bred there as an important working dog for the shepherds. Sheep farming there is and has always been characterized by a rough, wide and almost untouched nature. The sheep graze freely in this landscape, that is, without fencing. They are only herded together and penned up for maintenance purposes. For humans alone, this is an almost impossible task to recapture these wild and shy sheep from everywhere. Therefore a working dog was bred for centuries, which could also bring isolated small groups of sheep back to its humans. At the beginning of the last century a black and white dog named "Old Hemp" was born, who crouched and crept around the sheep and kept them fixed. This was the hour of birth of the Border Collie as we know and appreciate it as a working dog today.
The Border Collie was selected in breeding so that it never stopped working, even in difficult situations. This means that there is nothing more important for the dog than working on the sheep with his master. In rough terrain and out of sight of people, the dog also had to be able to make its own decisions.
The dog had to be able to correctly gauge the sheep's reaction, to think in advance and to adapt properly to the movements. Few sheep on steep cliffs had to be moved more carefully than many sheep in the lowlands.
The dog also had to be able to perceive the commands of its master in this wide area and always be willing to accept them. His reactions had to be quick and yet always adapted to the sheep. In addition to working on cattle, he lived on a rather poor basis and was basically only brought out when he should work. Most of these dogs lived in kennels. He was not like the usual domestic animals that live in cities and are carried out by their owners. The Border Collie was a farm dog and since it did not need any special skills in terms of tolerance towards its environment (high stimulus threshold), its sensitivity to stimuli could develop fully influenced by breeding. Equipped with an extremely low stimulus threshold, which allowed an immediate reaction to the slightest movement of the livestock to be herded, the Border Collie has become one of the best paddock dogs in the world and is also extremely popular worldwide.
