Part Three: The American Working Registries

By 1940, the Border Collie had already been working in North America for generations.

The dogs were here.

The handlers were here.

The trials were here.

The bloodlines were here.

What North America did not yet have was a major domestic stud book dedicated to the working Border Collie.

That changed with the creation of the North American Sheep Dog Society, followed later by the American International Border Collie Registry and then the American Border Collie Association.

These organizations did not simply replace one another.

They overlapped.

They sometimes competed.

They sometimes disagreed.

And together they documented much of the working Border Collie population that developed in the United States and Canada before AKC conformation recognition.

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Before American Registries: ISDS Was the Reference Point

Prior to World War II, American Border Collies that were formally registered were commonly registered with the International Sheep Dog Society in Britain.

That meant the early North American working population remained closely connected to British working pedigrees rather than developing immediately under a separate American kennel-club system.

James Reid, longtime secretary of the ISDS, was also involved in the early development of the first major American working registry. Border Collie Museum

This matters because the American Border Collie registry system did not start from scratch.

It grew out of the older ISDS working-stud-book tradition.

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The Working Registry Tradition Began Before America

American Border Collie registries did not develop in isolation. They grew from an older British tradition in which working sheepdogs were evaluated primarily by their ability to control livestock.

The first recorded sheepdog trial was held at Bala, North Wales, in 1873. These early trials were not conformation competitions. They tested practical livestock work: gathering sheep, controlling movement, responding to the handler, and completing tasks that reflected the work shepherds required every day.

In 1906, the **International Sheep Dog Society (ISDS) was established in Britain. The Society created a formal system for recording working sheepdogs and preserving pedigrees while continuing to place livestock ability at the center of the breed.

That philosophy traveled with the dogs.

When British and Scottish Border Collies were imported into North America, American stockmen inherited not only the dogs themselves but also the idea that a Border Collie should be judged first by whether it could work.

The American working registries that followed continued that tradition: pedigree mattered, but working ability remained the reason the pedigree was worth preserving.

Historical information reviewed and current through October 2026.

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NASDS — The North American Sheep Dog Society

The North American Sheep Dog Society, commonly abbreviated NASDS, was founded in 1940.

Among its charter members or early participants were some of the most important working Border Collie people in North America:

• Sam Stoddart

• Luke Pasco

• Carl Bradford Sr.

• Carroll Shaffner

• Arthur Allen

• other prominent sheepdog handlers of the period

Dr. Donald Bell of Wooster, Ohio, became the first secretary. Border Collie Museum

In 1942, NASDS began registering American dogs.

It was commonly called simply “the North American.” Border Collie Museum

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Spot 308 Becomes NASDS No. 1

The symbolic choice for the beginning of the NASDS stud book was significant.

Spot 308, the famous imported British working dog discussed in Part Two, was entered posthumously as:

NASDS No. 1.

Because imported dogs often retained their British ISDS numbers as well, pedigrees could show both systems.

Spot, for example, could appear as:

Stoddart’s Imp. Spot 1 (308)

—indicating NASDS No. 1 and ISDS No. 308. Border Collie Museum

That dual-number practice shows how closely the early American registry remained tied to British working pedigrees.

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NASDS Did More Than Keep Papers

NASDS was not merely an administrative registry.

It also sponsored the North American Supreme Championship Trials, held annually.

That is significant because the registry and the trial culture were intertwined.

The objective was not simply to document ancestry.

The broader working-dog culture still expected dogs to demonstrate usefulness through actual stock work and trial competition. Border Collie Museum

The registry therefore existed inside a community that valued:

• working pedigree

• trial performance

• livestock ability

• proven bloodlines

• handler reputation

• offspring performance

Paperwork supported the working culture.

It did not replace it.

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Arthur Allen and NASDS Leadership

Arthur Allen became president of NASDS in 1951.

Historical records credit him with remaining at the head of the organization for decades, effectively shaping much of its mid-century identity. Border Collie Museum

Allen was already an important breeder, handler, importer, and trial figure.

His leadership gave NASDS continuity during a period when American working Border Collies were expanding geographically and becoming increasingly organized.

But that same year—1951—also brought a major internal dispute.

That disagreement would lead directly to the formation of a second important registry.

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The 1951 NASDS Dispute

In 1951, a disagreement developed among prominent NASDS members.

Historical accounts state that several individuals were removed from leadership roles.

Rather than simply leaving the working Border Collie community, those individuals formed another organization:

the Iowa Border Collie Association. Border Collie Museum

That organization soon became the foundation for the American International Border Collie Registry.

So the next major registry did not arise because working Border Collies had disappeared from NASDS.

It arose because people within the working Border Collie community disagreed over governance and organization.

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AIBC — The American International Border Collie Registry

The American International Border Collie Registry, commonly abbreviated AIBC, developed in 1952 from the Iowa Border Collie Association.

Its early leadership included:

• Dewey Jontz — first president

• Olive Downs — first secretary

• Millard E. Downs — first treasurer

AIBC was incorporated in Iowa and, like NASDS, became affiliated with the International Sheep Dog Society. Border Collie Museum

That ISDS connection again demonstrates how strongly the American working registries identified with the older British working tradition.

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Why “American International”?

The name itself has an interesting history.

According to the Border Collie Museum’s historical account, the founders deliberately used American International Border Collie Registry rather than simply American Border Collie Registry for two reasons.

First, they wanted the name to reflect the organization’s international connection with ISDS.

Second, the name American Border Collie was already being used by an Ohio breeder named Howard McClain for a private registry associated with his own dogs. Border Collie Museum

That private registry was known as:

ABC

or informally:

“McClain’s.”

That is one of the more obscure pieces of American Border Collie history.

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The Older ABC Registry

Howard McClain’s private American Border Collie registry predates the modern American Border Collie Association — ABCA.

The similarity in initials can create confusion when old pedigrees or historical records are examined.

An older reference to ABC does not necessarily mean the modern ABCA.

It may refer instead to McClain’s private registry. Border Collie Museum

That distinction is worth preserving because old pedigree material often contains abbreviations that make perfect sense to the people who used them at the time but can be easily misread generations later.

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Other Private Registries

McClain’s was not the only private Border Collie registry operating during this period.

Historical sources also identify:

• Topliff’s

• Perrot’s

• the Border Collie Registry Bureau, abbreviated BCRB

These smaller pedigree systems reflected how decentralized the American working Border Collie community still was. Border Collie Museum

Eventually, historical records from some of these smaller registries were absorbed into AIBC. Border Collie Museum

That process helped consolidate older pedigree information that otherwise might have been lost.

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NASDS and AIBC Existed Side by Side

AIBC did not simply replace NASDS.

Both registries continued operating.

That is an important correction to the oversimplified version of Border Collie history.

After AIBC was created, breeders and handlers could align themselves with different registry systems.

Some remained with NASDS.

Some moved to AIBC.

Some pedigrees crossed between the populations.

The organizations therefore represented parallel working-registry traditions, not a neat one-registry-after-another succession.

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The 1958 Texas Movement to AIBC

One of the more significant shifts between the registries occurred in 1958.

Historical records describe Ray Parker and approximately thirty Texas Border Collie breeders moving from NASDS to AIBC. Border Collie Museum

That was not a minor administrative change.

Thirty breeders represented a substantial concentration of working Border Collie people.

Texas was already an important livestock state, and the movement helped strengthen AIBC’s presence in the American working-dog community.

This is also an excellent example of why the registry history matters.

Pedigree systems are not abstract institutions.

When breeders move between registries, entire families of dogs and generations of pedigree records move with them.

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AIBC Leadership Through the Following Decades

Olive Downs remained secretary of AIBC until 1964.

After her retirement, Ara Jontz briefly took over the office.

Following her illness and death, the stud book passed to Jack Kaster in 1966.

Kaster maintained the AIBC stud book until approximately the mid-1980s, when responsibility passed to Sennette Parker of Chappell Hill, Texas, widow of the well-known handler Clifford Parker. Border Collie Museum

That continuity matters because these registries were maintained in an era before computerized pedigree databases.

The integrity of the stud book depended heavily on the people responsible for maintaining the records.

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Working Registries Were Not All Identical

Although NASDS and AIBC both grew from the working Border Collie tradition, their rules were not necessarily identical.

That remains true today.

The modern ABCA specifically notes that it does not automatically accept every dog registered with AIBC or NASDS.

Its current registration rules require qualifying dogs from those registries to have a complete three-generation pedigree, with ancestors coming from approved working registries. American Border Collie Association

That tells us something historically important:

Even among working registries, registration standards and pedigree policies can differ.

The phrase “working registry” therefore does not mean every organization has always used exactly the same rules.

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By the Late Twentieth Century, Another Registry Was Needed

By the early 1980s, some Border Collie breeders and handlers believed North America needed another working registry.

The concern was not that Border Collies lacked pedigree records entirely.

NASDS and AIBC already existed.

The concern was that breeders wanted a member-owned, democratically governed nonprofit registry focused specifically on maintaining accurate working Border Collie pedigrees. American Border Collie Association

That effort began during 1982.

After months of discussion and assessment, supporters met in Jackson, Mississippi, in mid-October and decided to establish what became the:

American Border Collie Association, Inc.

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ABCA — The American Border Collie Association

The new organization was built deliberately around the working Border Collie.

Important early organizers included:

• Bill Dillard of Alabama

• Ralph Pulfer of Ohio

• Leroy H. Boyd of Mississippi

Dillard and Pulfer helped secure commitments and financial backing from Border Collie breeders, owners, and handlers in both the United States and Canada.

Boyd prepared proposed bylaws and operating procedures.

Bill Ready of Mississippi handled the incorporation work. American Border Collie Association

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ISDS Was Again Part of the Foundation

The historical connection to Britain remained important.

Raymond MacPherson of Brampton, Cumbria, England supplied copies of the International Sheep Dog Society Stud Book for the new registry’s use. American Border Collie Association

That detail is extremely important.

Nearly eighty years after ISDS had been founded, the British working stud book was still serving as a pedigree foundation for a new American Border Collie registry.

The American working registry tradition remained connected to the same historical pedigree system discussed in Part One.

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The Original ABCA Directors

ABCA’s own history identifies eleven charter directors:

• Bill Dillard — Alabama

• Ralph Pulfer — Ohio

• Leroy Boyd — Mississippi

• Inez Schroeder — Arizona

• Peggy Brown — South Dakota

• Omar Falk — Oregon

• Stan Moore — Tennessee

• Guido Lombardi — California

• Edgar Gould — Massachusetts

• Bob Childress — Texas

• Jim Clark — Ontario, Canada

That geographic spread is notable.

From the beginning, ABCA was not a small regional registry.

Its charter leadership represented a broad cross-section of the North American working Border Collie community. American Border Collie Association

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The First ABCA Leadership

On April 14, 1983, directors met at Mississippi State University.

Bill Dillard was elected president.

Ralph Pulfer became vice president.

Mrs. Jerry West, who had also served as secretary of the Southern Stock Dog Association, became ABCA’s first secretary. American Border Collie Association

The association was formally incorporated in Delaware on:

June 10, 1983. American Border Collie Association

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The First ABCA Dogs

ABCA started modestly.

Its own historical financial records show that in its first year:

117 dogs were registered.

Those early registrations came from owners across numerous states and from Ontario, Canada. American Border Collie Association

The registry grew rapidly from there.

ABCA later reported reaching 100,000 registrations by 1997. American Border Collie Association

Today ABCA describes itself as the largest Border Collie registry in North America. American Border Collie Association

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ABCA Was Built Around a Specific Purpose

ABCA’s stated mission is explicit.

The organization exists to:

• register and verify Border Collie pedigrees

• promote reliable working Border Collies

• support breeding and training

• encourage the use of Border Collies as stockdogs

• support stockdog trials and exhibitions

• contribute to health and genetic research American Border Collie Association

That mission reflects the philosophy that produced the organization.

ABCA was not created primarily as a conformation registry.

Its stated purpose has always centered on the working Border Collie.

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Why Three Major American Working Registries Existed

By the 1980s, North America had produced three principal Border Collie registries:

NASDS

AIBC

ABCA

The Border Collie Museum identifies NASDS as the oldest, AIBC as the second major registry, and ABCA as the newest of the three. Border Collie Museum

Their histories overlapped.

Dogs could appear in pedigrees across more than one system.

Breeders could move between organizations.

Older ISDS bloodlines remained important throughout.

This makes American Border Collie pedigree history more complicated than the history of a breed governed from the beginning by one closed kennel-club stud book.

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The Correct Way to Understand the Registry History

It is tempting to draw a straight line:

ISDS → NASDS → AIBC → ABCA

But that would be historically misleading.

A more accurate description is:

ISDS provided the major international working-stud-book foundation. NASDS, AIBC, and later ABCA developed as separate North American working registries with overlapping dogs, pedigrees, breeders, and historical relationships.

NASDS did not simply cease when AIBC appeared.

AIBC did not simply disappear when ABCA was formed.

And ABCA did not erase the pedigrees recorded before it existed.

The systems overlap.

That is why old Border Collie pedigrees can contain several different registry abbreviations across generations.

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Registry Numbers Tell a Historical Story

An old pedigree is more than a list of names.

Registry numbers can reveal where dogs came from and which working communities preserved them.

A pedigree might contain dogs recorded through:

• ISDS

• NASDS

• AIBC

• ABCA

• Canadian working registries

• other recognized working systems

The combination can show how bloodlines moved:

from Britain to America,

from one American registry to another,

from Canada into the United States,

and eventually across the world.

That is why understanding registry abbreviations is essential when studying older Border Collie pedigrees.

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ABCA Still Recognizes the Older Working Tradition

Modern ABCA registration rules continue to acknowledge several older and international working registries.

ABCA currently provides registration pathways for qualifying dogs from:

• ISDS

• Canadian Border Collie Association Section A

• AIBC

• NASDS

• Australian Working Border Collie Registry

• South African Sheepdog Association under specified conditions

For dogs coming from AIBC or NASDS, ABCA requires a complete three-generation pedigree and approved registry ancestry; some Register on Merit dogs require separate review. American Border Collie Association

That means the current system still recognizes the historical pedigree relationships built over generations.

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Registration on Merit

Working Border Collie registries have also historically dealt with an issue that appears repeatedly in old stockdog populations:

what do you do with an excellent working dog whose pedigree does not fit the normal registry requirements?

Some working registries created Register on Merit, or ROM, mechanisms.

These programs allowed certain dogs to enter a registry on the strength of defined qualifications rather than conventional pedigree eligibility.

The details differed among organizations.

ABCA still maintains its own ROM pathway and distinguishes it from ROM registrations issued by other registries. American Border Collie Association

That reflects the same historical tension seen throughout Border Collie development:

pedigree matters, but working ability has always mattered too.

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Papers Document the Dog — They Do Not Create It

The American registry history reinforces one of the central themes of Border Collie history.

The breed existed before the registry.

Spot worked before he became NASDS No. 1.

American ranch dogs worked without formal papers.

British imports often carried one registration and then acquired another.

Some older private registries were later absorbed into larger systems.

The paperwork became increasingly sophisticated.

But paperwork did not create the Border Collie’s working ability.

It documented ancestry so breeders could make better-informed decisions about preserving it.

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The Registries Also Preserved History

Without those old stud books, much of what we know today would be gone.

The registries preserved:

• names

• parentage

• dates

• breeders

• owners

• imported dogs

• breeding relationships

• important working families

• generations of descendants

That information allows modern breeders and historians to trace relationships that stretch back many decades.

A pedigree is therefore both a breeding tool and a historical document.

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The Registry Divide Was Not Yet the AKC Divide

It is important not to project the later AKC controversy backward onto this earlier period.

NASDS, AIBC, and ABCA had their own disagreements and different policies.

But these were still organizations rooted primarily in the working Border Collie world.

The major philosophical conflict over whether the Border Collie should enter the American conformation system would come later.

By the early 1980s, however, the pieces were already in place:

• established working registries

• established trial organizations

• documented pedigrees

• international bloodlines

• a large North American working population

• breeders committed to preserving the stockdog

The Border Collie was no longer merely a collection of working farm dogs scattered across the continent.

It had a sophisticated pedigree infrastructure of its own.

And it had developed that infrastructure before AKC full recognition.

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Three Registries, One Working Heritage

NASDS, AIBC, and ABCA emerged from different circumstances.

NASDS grew from the need for an American working stud book.

AIBC arose from a division within the existing working registry community.

ABCA emerged from the desire for a democratic, member-owned nonprofit registry devoted to accurate working Border Collie pedigrees.

They were not identical.

They did not always agree.

But all three belonged to the larger North American working Border Collie tradition.

That tradition ultimately traced much of its pedigree foundation back through ISDS and the working sheepdogs of Britain.

And by the time the American Kennel Club became the central controversy in Border Collie politics, the breed already possessed something enormously important:

its own history, its own pedigrees, its own registries, and its own working culture.

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Historical record established through 1996
By Jodie Keener, JBK Border Collies
JBKBorderCollies.com