Part Two — The Border Collie Comes to North America
The Border Collie did not arrive in North America as a newly invented breed.
Working collies had already been crossing the Atlantic with livestock, shepherds, and immigrants for decades before the International Sheep Dog Society was founded in 1906. Historical Border Collie sources describe dogs coming to North America with imported livestock, with shepherds relocating from Britain, and through direct importation by stockmen seeking capable working dogs. All About Border Collies
Before modern registries existed, many of these dogs were simply called collies, Scotch collies, sheepdogs, or working collies.
The important distinction was not the label.
It was the work.
Working Collies in America Before Formal Border Collie Registration
Working collies were present in North America well before the twentieth century.
The Border Collie Museum notes that collie-type working dogs had been imported into America since the nation’s early history, often accompanying livestock or the people responsible for managing it. Some of those early dogs cannot be connected to later pedigrees because they arrived before formal working-dog registries existed. Border Collie Museum
That creates an important historical reality:
not every early American working collie left a paper trail.
Some lines remained on ranches and farms without formal registration.
Others later became part of documented Border Collie pedigrees.
This means the history of the Border Collie in North America is broader than the history of any one registry.
The First American Sheepdog Trials
The working collie was already being publicly demonstrated in the United States during the nineteenth century.
A Great International Collie Trial was held in Philadelphia in 1880 and is commonly cited as the first recorded sheepdog trial in the United States. Contemporary newspaper reports described dogs called collies or Scotch collies competing in working exercises involving driving and penning sheep. Border Collie Museum
The dogs apparently varied considerably in appearance and working style.
That is worth noting because the event occurred during a period when formal bench shows were becoming increasingly popular, yet contemporary reports concentrated heavily on what the dogs did, rather than precisely how they looked. Border Collie Museum
One dog, Oscar, was described as a large black-and-tan collie imported from Scotland.
Another, Tom, was known for his actual work driving sheep from Philadelphia stockyards toward the Camden ferries.
Other dogs included smooth-coated, tricolored, tawny-red, and other working types. Border Collie Museum
The course itself was unlike a modern USBCHA or ISDS course. Handlers could accompany the dogs, and the work emphasized practical driving and penning. This was still an evolving working-dog culture.
Canada Was Part of the Early North American Story
The developing working-collie population was not limited to the United States.
Historical accounts describe an 1884 Toronto sheepdog trial where an imported dog named Speed, owned by Thomas Telfer, demonstrated a cautious style of work suggestive of the strong eye later associated with the Border Collie. All About Border Collies
This illustrates an important point:
The North American working Border Collie population developed across Canada and the United States, with imported British dogs moving through both countries and working bloodlines crossing national borders.
The breed’s early North American history was agricultural, not kennel-club driven.
Border Collies Came With Livestock and Shepherds
Between approximately 1890 and 1906, and probably for decades earlier, working collies were being exported from Britain to North America in several ways.
They came:
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with livestock purchased overseas
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with livestock imported for resale
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with shepherds who emigrated
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through direct purchase by American and Canadian stockmen
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through agricultural institutions seeking better working dogs
Historical accounts name immigrant and imported-dog advocates such as William Millar, Sam Stoddart, James Storey, and Thomas Bradburne among the people who helped establish and spread the working collie in North America. All About Border Collies
These were not primarily dog-show people.
They were shepherds and stockmen.
Their dogs had jobs.
The American West Became Important
The western United States provided exactly the sort of environment in which the Border Collie could demonstrate its value.
Sheep and cattle operations often covered enormous areas.
Livestock might need to be gathered from open range or difficult terrain.
Human labor was expensive.
A capable dog could replace several people in certain livestock-handling situations.
Scottish shepherds such as Sam Stoddart worked in places including Oregon and Idaho before later spending time in the eastern United States. William Millar worked both in the East and later in Idaho and Utah. All About Border Collies
Working collies became useful with both sheep and cattle.
The breed’s development in America therefore did not occur solely on small sheep farms.
It also became tied to western ranching and large-scale livestock agriculture.
Sam Stoddart
One of the most important names in early American Border Collie history is Samuel Secombe Stoddart.
Stoddart was born in Scotland in 1874 near Berwick-upon-Tweed, in the Border country itself. He later emigrated to the United States and worked as a professional shepherd. Historical records place him working in Idaho during the 1920s. Border Collie Museum
Stoddart understood the British working collie tradition directly.
He was not discovering the breed as an American novelty.
He brought the knowledge of the old shepherding culture with him.
That made him unusually important in transferring both dogs and working knowledge from Britain to the United States.
Spot 308
In 1923, Stoddart purchased one of the most accomplished sheepdogs in Britain:
Spot 308.
Spot had been born in 1920 and trained by George Brown.
His accomplishments were extraordinary:
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successful trial winner as a young dog
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International Shepherds’ Champion in 1922
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Scottish National Champion in 1923
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Supreme International Champion in 1923
He was only about three years old when Stoddart purchased him and exported him to the United States. Border Collie Museum
Spot became one of the most influential dogs in early American Border Collie history.
Spot Was More Than a Famous Import
Spot’s significance was not simply that he had won trials.
Historical accounts describe him as highly intelligent, easy to train, naturally wide on his outrun, capable of singling and holding sheep, useful at lambing, and able to work cattle as well as sheep. Border Collie Museum
That versatility mattered.
American livestock operations were not identical to British hill farms.
A dog that could adapt to different livestock and different environments was valuable.
Spot represented a proven British working dog placed into a rapidly developing North American agricultural environment.
Spot’s Influence Before He Even Left Britain
Spot’s influence was already considerable before he crossed the Atlantic.
Historical records state that he was bred to approximately 25 bitches during the short period between his major British victories and his export to America. Border Collie Museum
Those matings produced influential offspring in Britain.
His later American descendants helped spread the same working family across the United States.
So Spot became part of both sides of the Atlantic pedigree story.
Spot and Old Hemp
Spot also carried the older foundational blood behind him.
Historical sources trace his pedigree back through influential early working dogs ultimately connected to Old Hemp-era stock. One historical account specifically describes Old Hemp’s influence reaching America through Spot. Border Collie Museum
This is one reason Spot became so historically important.
He connected the developing North American population directly to highly successful British working lines.
Stoddart Did More Than Breed Dogs
Sam Stoddart also introduced Americans to what a trained Border Collie could actually do.
During the 1920s and 1930s, he gave sheepdog demonstrations at agricultural fairs and livestock exhibitions.
For many farmers and ranchers, these exhibitions were their first opportunity to see a highly trained working collie operate livestock efficiently. Border Collie Museum
This matters because sheepdog trials were still relatively uncommon in much of the United States.
A livestock exhibition could put the dog directly in front of the people most likely to understand its usefulness:
farmers, ranchers, shepherds, and livestock breeders.
The Demonstration Era
After World War I, public herding demonstrations became one of the most important ways the Border Collie spread through American agriculture.
Historical accounts describe sheepdog trials as relatively rare during this period. Agricultural fairs and livestock exhibitions therefore gave many Americans their first exposure to properly trained working Border Collies. Border Collie Museum
Among the handlers associated with these exhibitions were:
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Sam Stoddart
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Luke Pasco
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Arthur Allen
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Carl Bradford
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Jim Shearer
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other stockmen and trial handlers
These demonstrations were not simply performances.
They were advertisements for practical agricultural technology—in the form of a dog.
Carl Bradford: One Demonstration Changed a Life
The history of Carl Bradford illustrates just how influential those exhibitions could be.
Bradford attended an Ohio State Fair with his father, a Dorset sheep breeder, and saw Sam Stoddart demonstrate Border Collies.
According to historical accounts, it was the first time Bradford had seen Border Collies work livestock, and the experience convinced him that he would someday own one himself. Border Collie Museum
Bradford later became an influential breeder, trial judge, exhibitor, and Border Collie advocate.
One demonstration had created another important American Border Collie person.
That pattern repeated across the country.
A Question About the “First” American Trial
One historical detail deserves explanation because old sources occasionally appear contradictory.
The 1880 Philadelphia Great International Collie Trial is widely regarded as the first recorded sheepdog trial in the United States. Border Collie Museum
However, later reports sometimes described subsequent trials as the “first” of their kind.
For example, an account of a 1928 Vermont trial at Fillmore Farms described it as the first sheepdog trial ever held in the United States, even though earlier documented events existed. Border Collie Museum
That likely reflects differences in terminology, local memory, or what organizers considered a modern sheepdog trial.
The earlier Philadelphia record is still important.
But the inconsistency tells us something useful:
American sheepdog trialing did not develop as one neat uninterrupted organization.
It grew regionally and unevenly.
The 1928 Vermont Trial
The 1928 event at Fillmore Farms in Bennington, Vermont, is still historically significant.
Approximately 1,500 spectators reportedly attended.
Seven dogs competed.
The winner was Spottie, a son of Sam Stoddart’s Spot 308.
Spot himself reportedly placed fourth. Border Collie Museum
Whether or not the event deserves the literal title of “first,” it demonstrates something much more important:
By the late 1920s, Border Collies were drawing large public audiences in the United States.
And Spot’s descendants were already competing successfully.
Luke Pasco
Luke Pasco became another significant figure in early American Border Collie history.
Like Stoddart, Pasco gave public demonstrations and promoted the practical working dog.
Photographic records from the late 1930s show Pasco working sheep before audiences in the American South. Border Collie Museum
These handlers were essentially carrying the working Border Collie from ranch to ranch, fair to fair, and agricultural community to agricultural community.
The dogs were proving themselves in front of the people who needed them.
Arthur Allen
Few people influenced the twentieth-century American working Border Collie more than Arthur Allen.
Allen came from a family already connected to Scottish sheepdogs. His grandfather had immigrated from Scotland with working dogs that Allen later described as larger and sterner than the Border Collies familiar in his own time. Border Collie Museum
Allen became a major trial handler, breeder, importer, and organizer.
He imported important British bloodlines and later became one of the central figures in the development of formal American working Border Collie registration.
That registry story belongs primarily in Part Three.
But Allen’s importance begins earlier.
He was part of the generation that transformed scattered American working-dog traditions into a more organized Border Collie community.
Imported Rock and the Next Generation
Arthur Allen later imported important dogs such as Rock 7222, a son of Gilchrist’s Spot and grandson of Wilson’s Moss.
Rock became the 1954 North American Supreme Champion. Border Collie Museum
Allen’s imported dogs dominated the North American Supreme Trial for years, and his breeding and importation program helped strengthen the connection between American and British working pedigrees during the middle twentieth century. Border Collie Museum
This illustrates another important feature of American Border Collie history:
The United States did not simply import a few dogs and then close the population.
For decades, breeders continued bringing in accomplished British working dogs.
The transatlantic relationship remained active.
Border Collies in American Popular Culture
The working Border Collie also entered American popular culture.
Some accomplished working dogs appeared in films.
Arthur Allen’s dogs appeared in Walt Disney productions, and the Border Collie Museum documents working dogs used in movies including Border Collies in Action, Arizona Sheep Dog, Wild Is the Wind, and The Proud Rebel. Border Collie Museum
That may sound secondary compared with agriculture, but it mattered.
Film introduced the breed to people who had never attended a sheepdog trial or livestock exhibition.
The working Border Collie became increasingly visible outside farming communities.
Dogs With and Without Papers
Another feature of early American Border Collie history is that many useful dogs remained unregistered.
The Border Collie Museum notes that some American ranch Border Collies descended from dogs imported before Britain even had a formal working registry. Their descendants could remain excellent working dogs despite lacking complete registered pedigrees. Border Collie Museum
That is historically important.
Registration created documentation.
It did not create working ability.
For many early American stockmen, the pedigree mattered less than whether the dog could gather and move livestock.
American Conditions Continued to Shape the Dog
Once Border Collies were established in North America, the environment continued exerting selection pressure.
American dogs worked:
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sheep
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cattle
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goats
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mixed livestock
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open range
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fenced pasture
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western ranches
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eastern farms
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agricultural stations
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livestock yards
Different handlers needed different kinds of dogs.
Some needed considerable power on cattle.
Others valued finesse on sheep.
Some needed dogs able to work enormous spaces.
Others needed dogs capable of precise work in smaller areas.
Historical accounts emphasize that Border Collies differ in both the livestock they handle best and the style in which they work. All About Border Collies
That variation remains part of the breed.
Stock Sense Became the Gold Standard
The best American handlers valued something more difficult to define than speed or obedience:
stock sense.
A dog with strong stock sense reads the animals it is controlling.
It responds to:
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pressure
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flight zones
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temperament
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group movement
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individual animals
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age and condition of stock
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resistance
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openings
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changing situations
A truly capable Border Collie does not simply execute mechanical commands.
It works in partnership with the handler while continually reading livestock.
That intelligence helped make the breed increasingly valuable to North American agriculture. All About Border Collies
Work Remained the Test
During this formative period, the Border Collie was still overwhelmingly evaluated by what it could accomplish.
A dog might be famous because it:
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won major sheepdog trials
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handled difficult sheep
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worked cattle
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gathered large areas
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demonstrated exceptional outruns
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reproduced strong working offspring
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performed successfully for ranchers and shepherds
The breed had not yet been standardized around an American conformation ring.
A dog’s reputation followed its work.
The Beginning of an American Border Collie Community
By the 1930s, the ingredients for an organized American Border Collie community were in place.
There were:
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experienced handlers
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British imports
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American-bred working dogs
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influential bloodlines
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agricultural demonstrations
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sheepdog trials
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growing interest among farmers and ranchers
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people maintaining pedigree records
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continuing connections to the British ISDS
The dogs were already here.
The culture was already here.
What America still lacked was its own major formal working registry.
That would change in 1940.
The Transition to Formal American Registration
Before World War II, American Border Collies that were formally registered were commonly recorded through the International Sheep Dog Society in Britain.
James Reid, the longtime ISDS secretary closely associated with the Border Collie name itself, also became involved in the early development of an American registry. Border Collie Museum
The people who had spent decades importing, working, breeding, demonstrating, and trialing Border Collies now wanted an organized North American pedigree system.
Among them were names already familiar from the development of the American working dog:
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Sam Stoddart
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Luke Pasco
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Carl Bradford Sr.
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Carroll Shaffner
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Arthur Allen
In 1940, they and others helped establish the North American Sheep Dog Society. Border Collie Museum
And when that registry began recording American dogs, the dog chosen as its symbolic beginning was entirely appropriate.
Spot 308 became NASDS No. 1. Border Collie Museum
The working Border Collie had been in North America for generations.
Now the American working population was about to begin formally documenting itself.
The Border Collie Was Established Before the Paperwork
This period of American history makes one point especially clear.
The American Border Collie was not born when an American registry opened.
The dogs were already working.
They were already breeding.
They were already influencing ranches and farms.
They were already competing.
They were already being imported from the finest British working lines.
And people such as Sam Stoddart, Luke Pasco, Arthur Allen, Carl Bradford, William Millar, and others had already spent decades building a working-dog culture around them.
The registry came afterward.
Just as the breed existed before its modern name, the American Border Collie existed before its American paperwork.
Historical record established through 1996
By Jodie Keener, JBK Border Collies
JBKBorderCollies.com
Early Working Collies in the American West
Working collies were present in the American West before American Border Collie registries existed and before the name “Border Collie” was consistently applied to the dogs.
Scottish shepherds and livestock men brought their working dogs with them as they immigrated to the United States. Those dogs became valuable partners on the enormous sheep operations developing throughout the West.
One documented example was Andy Little, who emigrated from Moffat, Scotland, to Idaho in 1894, bringing two sheepdogs named Katie and Jim. Little eventually became one of Idaho’s largest sheep operators. At the height of his operations, approximately a thousand working dogs were reportedly spread among his ranches and sheep camps.
Little continued importing working dogs from Scotland, including pedigreed dogs, as his livestock operation expanded.
These early Western dogs are important to Border Collie history because many working strains existed before an American registry was available to record them. Their history was preserved through livestock operations, shepherds, breeding practices, photographs, family accounts, and working ability rather than through the type of centralized pedigree records available today.
They demonstrate an important point in the history of the Border Collie: the working dog was already here before American organizations formally documented the breed.
Spot 308 — A Major Foundation of the American Border Collie
One of the most significant individual dogs in early American Border Collie history was Spot 308.
Spot was born in 1920 and bred by G. P. Brown of Berwickshire. He began winning sheepdog trials as a young dog, won the International Shepherds’ Championship in 1922, and in 1923 won both the Scottish National Championship and the Supreme International Championship.
Later in 1923, Spot was sold to Scottish shepherd Sam Stoddart, who was living and working in the United States.
His arrival became an important event in the development of the registered working Border Collie in America.
Stoddart became one of the leading American breeders and promoters of working Border Collies during the 1920s and 1930s. He demonstrated his dogs at agricultural fairs and helped introduce American livestock people to the highly developed British and Scottish sheepdog.
Spot’s offspring influenced working Border Collies in the United States as well as Britain and Australia.
When the North American Sheep Dog Society, commonly known as NASDS, began registering American dogs, Spot was eventually entered posthumously as North American No. 1.
His historical importance extends beyond one pedigree. Spot represents the direct movement of highly developed British working Border Collie genetics into the emerging American population during a period when organized sheepdog trialing and registration were becoming established in the United States.
Arthur Allen and the British Import Lines
Another major figure in American Border Collie history was Arthur Allen, born in 1904, a livestock man, sheepdog handler, breeder, importer, and trial competitor from Illinois.
Allen had seen men such as Sam Stoddart demonstrating imported working collies at agricultural fairs and became deeply involved with the breed himself.
He subsequently imported numerous Border Collies from prominent British working families and used those dogs in breeding, livestock work, public demonstrations, and sheepdog trials.
One particularly important dog was Imported Rock 7222, a son of Gilchrist’s Spot 7320 and a grandson of Wilson’s Moss 5176.
Rock became the 1954 North American Supreme Champion.
The influence of Allen’s program continued well beyond that individual victory. Dogs imported by Allen won the North American Supreme Championship for 21 consecutive years between 1954 and 1976.
Those British imports and their descendants had a substantial influence on the development of working Border Collies in the United States during the middle decades of the twentieth century.
Their history also illustrates how closely connected American Border Collie development remained to the established working lines of Britain. The Atlantic Ocean separated the countries, but it did not separate the working gene pool. Shepherds and breeders continued importing dogs whose ability had already been demonstrated on livestock and at major sheepdog trials.
A California Branch of the Working Collie: The McNab
The history of the working collie did not remain confined to Britain or to dogs that would eventually be registered specifically as Border Collies. As livestock producers moved around the world, their dogs traveled with them, and regional working populations developed according to local terrain, livestock, climate, and practical need.
One distinctly American example is the McNab Shepherd of Northern California.
Scottish immigrant Alexander McNab settled in Mendocino County, California, during the nineteenth century and established a livestock operation in the Sanel Valley near present-day Hopland. Working collies of Scottish ancestry became part of the ranch operation, and additional Scottish working dogs were brought into the developing stock over subsequent years.
From those roots developed the dog that became known as the McNab Shepherd or McNab stock dog. These dogs were selected first and foremost for usefulness: moving sheep and cattle across the heat, brush, hills, and rough country of California ranches.
The McNab should not simply be described as another variety of the modern Border Collie. It developed as a distinct California working population and followed its own history. Its foundation, however, came from the same broader tradition of British and Scottish working collies from which the Border Collie also emerged.
As with many old working-dog populations, parts of the McNab’s early history remain debated. Older accounts differ over exactly which dogs contributed to the developing population, and some commonly repeated stories have not held up under later archival research. More recent historical work has documented additional influences in some McNab lines, including the introduction of Kelpies during the twentieth century.
That does not erase the McNab’s Scottish working-collie foundation. Instead, it demonstrates how practical ranch dogs were often developed according to performance rather than modern concepts of closed pedigrees.
The McNab is another reminder that the history of the Border Collie is larger than the history of a registry, a written breed standard, or even the name “Border Collie.” Long before those boundaries became formalized, working collies were being selected wherever livestock people needed intelligence, endurance, instinct, trainability, and a dog capable of getting the job done.
The Hangin’ Tree Working-Dog Legacy
The influence of the Border Collie on American stock dogs continued well into the twentieth century. One of the more modern examples can be found in the Hangin’ Tree working-dog legacy, although an important distinction needs to be made between the original Hangin’ Tree Australian Shepherds and the later Hangin’ Tree Cowdog.
Rancher, cattleman, dog trainer, and artist Gary Ericsson spent decades developing a strong line of working Australian Shepherds under the Hangin’ Tree name. His family used Australian Shepherds as practical ranch dogs, and Ericsson selected heavily for cattle-working ability, intelligence, toughness, endurance, trainability, and the confidence to handle difficult livestock.
The Hangin’ Tree Australian Shepherd program was already well established by the 1980s. One of its most influential dogs was HOF WTCH Hangin’ Tree Black Bear, born January 4, 1988, and died September 19, 2002.
Black Bear was a black-tricolor Australian Shepherd bred by Gary Ericsson and became influential in working Australian Shepherd pedigrees. He was also the Australian Shepherd specifically used in development of the Hangin’ Tree Cowdog.
Beginning around the late 1980s and early 1990s, Gary Ericsson and his son Choc began developing a different dog for a specific purpose: an exceptionally tough and versatile cattle dog capable of gathering cattle, driving them, finding and trailing them, and standing up to difficult stock under demanding ranch conditions.
That dog became the Hangin’ Tree Cowdog.
The Hangin’ Tree Cowdog was deliberately developed from four working breeds:
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3/8 Border Collie, selected for intense herding instinct and intelligence;
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1/4 Australian Shepherd, contributed specifically through Hangin’ Tree Black Bear for courage, confidence, and cattle-working ability;
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1/4 Australian Kelpie, selected for endurance, herding ability, and a practical short coat; and
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1/8 Catahoula, selected for toughness, tracking and trailing ability, and its short coat.
The percentages reflected an intentional effort to combine particular working characteristics into a cattle dog suited to American ranch conditions.
The Hangin’ Tree Cowdog therefore should not be confused with either a Border Collie or an Australian Shepherd. It became a distinct purpose-bred working population. At the same time, its development demonstrates the continuing influence of the Border Collie and other established stock-dog breeds on American livestock work.
The Hangin’ Tree Australian Shepherd line also deserves recognition separately from the Cowdog. Beginning in the fall of 1992, Gary Ericsson began transferring his Hangin’ Tree Australian Shepherd breeding program to Davene Peters of Montana. The transaction was completed in June 1994. Those genetics continued through working Australian Shepherd pedigrees long after the original Ericsson program changed hands.
A Personal Connection to the Hangin’ Tree Lines
This history is also personally familiar to me. More than 25 years ago, I worked with Australian Shepherds carrying Hangin’ Tree working bloodlines in East Texas, including dogs associated with the Butler family.
These were not dogs developed primarily for appearance. They came from a culture of breeding stock dogs for livestock ability, toughness, intelligence, and usefulness — qualities expected to show themselves in actual work.
That firsthand connection is one reason the distinction between the Hangin’ Tree Australian Shepherd and the later Hangin’ Tree Cowdog is important to me. The Australian Shepherd line existed first. The Cowdog came later and incorporated Border Collie, Australian Shepherd, Kelpie, and Catahoula genetics into a new working dog developed specifically for cattle.
Beyond America: The New Zealand Heading Dog
The influence of the Border Collie can also be seen far beyond North America.
One particularly important example is the New Zealand Heading Dog, sometimes called the New Zealand Eye Dog.
Border Collies were brought to New Zealand by British and Scottish shepherds as sheep farming expanded across the country. The Border Collie’s natural ability to cast around livestock, gather sheep, and control them through eye made it enormously valuable.
New Zealand, however, presented working conditions very different from the smaller fields and pastures associated with much of Britain. Sheep were often being worked across enormous areas of hill country, rough pasture, scrub, and mountainous terrain.
Over generations, New Zealand stockmen selected dogs from Border Collie ancestry for the characteristics that best suited those conditions.
The resulting New Zealand Heading Dog was bred from the Border Collie, but developed into its own recognizable working type.
It generally became more upright, longer-legged, smooth-coated, and fast moving, allowing the dog to travel efficiently through rough country while remaining visible to the shepherd.
Like the Border Collie, the Heading Dog works primarily through movement, position, and eye rather than through barking. “Heading” or “casting” describes the dog moving out and around livestock to reach the head of the flock and bring the animals back toward the handler.
The New Zealand Heading Dog became especially valued for quick reaction, close work, catching and separating sheep, and controlling livestock quietly.
Appearance remained secondary to usefulness.
New Zealand working dogs traditionally have not been bred according to a conventional conformation standard. Working ability has remained the principal measure of their value, and successful working dogs can be recorded through New Zealand’s sheepdog trial system without requirements governing coat color or physical type.
The development of the New Zealand Heading Dog provides another important example of what happens when the Border Collie’s working genetics are placed into a different agricultural environment and generations of stockmen select according to the job rather than appearance.
The Border Collie did not disappear from that history. Its working characteristics became the foundation from which another specialized livestock dog developed.
Taken together, the early American ranch dogs, Spot 308, Arthur Allen’s British imports, the McNab, the Hangin’ Tree story, and the New Zealand Heading Dog demonstrate a recurring pattern throughout working-dog history:
livestock shaped the dog, terrain shaped the dog, climate shaped the dog, and working ability determined which dogs were bred forward.
The registries, formal breed names, and written standards came later.
Historical information reviewed and current through October 2026.
By Jodie Keener, JBK Border Collies
JBKBorderCollies.com
