Part Seven — The Border Collie Through Time: What the History Leaves Us
After more than a century of recorded trials, international pedigrees, working registries, changing standards, conformation recognition, and modern performance competition, the Border Collie remains one of the most versatile and complicated breeds in the dog world.
Its history cannot be reduced to one registry.
It cannot be reduced to one country.
It cannot be reduced to one style of dog.
And it certainly cannot be reduced to what wins in one venue at one moment in time.
The Border Collie existed before all of those things.
It developed because generations of shepherds repeatedly bred dogs that could do difficult work.
That is the foundation underneath everything that followed.
The Dog Came Before the Standard
The first working collies were not produced according to a written description of ideal shoulder angles, coat length, ear carriage, markings, or head type.
They were selected because they worked.
Over generations, that selection produced dogs with the intelligence, stamina, movement, responsiveness, judgment, and physical durability necessary to control livestock.
Physical characteristics certainly mattered.
They simply mattered because they affected the dog's ability to function.
A dog with inefficient movement wasted energy.
A dog without sufficient stamina could not finish the work.
A dog without adequate feet and pasterns could not repeatedly negotiate difficult ground.
A dog without mental stability or stock sense could not be trusted with livestock.
Function was evaluating the entire animal long before people began evaluating Border Collies in a conformation ring.
Key Dates in Border Collie History
The Border Collie developed over generations rather than at one single moment. These dates help place some of the major dogs, people, organizations, and working populations discussed throughout this series into historical order.
1860s — McNab working dogs begin developing in Northern California
Scottish immigrant Alexander McNab established a livestock operation in Mendocino County, California. Scottish working collies became part of the ranch population and eventually contributed to the distinct McNab stock dog.
1873 — First recorded sheepdog trial
The first recorded sheepdog trial was held at Bala, North Wales. These early trials evaluated practical livestock work rather than appearance.
September 1893 — Old Hemp is born
Old Hemp, bred by Adam Telfer in Northumberland, became one of the most influential foundation sires of the modern Border Collie.
1894 — Andy Little arrives in Idaho
Scottish shepherd Andy Little came to Idaho with two working sheepdogs, Katie and Jim, helping continue the direct movement of British working-collie genetics into the American West.
1903 — Old Hemp dies
His influence continued through hundreds of descendants and later working families.
1906 — International Sheep Dog Society established
The International Sheep Dog Society formalized pedigree recording and organized competition around the working sheepdog.
1920 — Spot 308 is born
Spot became one of the most influential international working Border Collies of his generation.
1922 — Spot wins the International Shepherds’ Championship
1923 — Spot becomes International Supreme Champion and comes to America
Later that year, Spot was sold to Scottish shepherd Sam Stoddart in the United States. He was eventually entered posthumously as North American Sheep Dog Society No. 1.
1940s — American working registries become firmly established
Organizations such as the North American Sheep Dog Society helped preserve pedigrees and working Border Collie bloodlines in North America.
1954 — Imported Rock 7222 wins the North American Supreme
Arthur Allen’s Imported Rock became North American Supreme Champion.
1954–1976 — Arthur Allen’s imported dogs dominate the North American Supreme
Dogs imported by Allen won the North American Supreme for 21 consecutive years, demonstrating the continuing influence of British working bloodlines on American Border Collies.
September 28, 1963 — Wiston Cap is born
Wiston Cap became one of the most influential Border Collie sires of the twentieth century. His pedigree also reflected repeated concentration of earlier working bloodlines, including J. M. Wilson’s Cap.
Twentieth century — The New Zealand Heading Dog develops
Border Collie ancestry was selected in New Zealand for a faster, generally longer-legged, smooth-coated heading dog suited to large areas of hill country and practical sheep work.
January 4, 1988 — Hangin’ Tree Black Bear is born
HOF WTCH Hangin’ Tree Black Bear became an influential working Australian Shepherd and later supplied the Australian Shepherd contribution to development of the Hangin’ Tree Cowdog.
Late 1980s–early 1990s — Hangin’ Tree Cowdog development
Gary and Choc Ericsson developed the Hangin’ Tree Cowdog from Border Collie, Australian Shepherd, Australian Kelpie, and Catahoula working stock.
Fall 1992 — Transfer of the Hangin’ Tree Australian Shepherd program begins
June 1994 — Transfer completed
The established Hangin’ Tree Australian Shepherd breeding program was transferred to Davene Peters of Montana.
September 19, 2002 — Hangin’ Tree Black Bear dies
These dates do not represent every important event in Border Collie history. They show the progression from old working collies, to organized trials and pedigrees, to international movement of bloodlines, regional working populations, modern registries, and the Border Collie we recognize today.
Historical information reviewed and current through October 2026.
Then Came the Records
As sheepdog trials became organized, exceptional dogs became better known.
Pedigrees became increasingly important because breeders wanted to know which families were consistently producing useful workers.
The International Sheep Dog Society created a formal working stud-book tradition.
Later, North American organizations including NASDS, AIBC, and ABCA developed their own working registries and preserved generations of pedigrees on this side of the Atlantic.
Those registries differed in organization and policy, but they shared something fundamental:
the Border Collie already existed before the paperwork did.
The registry documented the dog.
It did not create the dog.
Australia Added Another Chapter
Australia became one of the most important countries in the development of the modern Border Collie.
British working dogs entered a country with an enormous livestock industry and an established culture of pastoral dogs.
Australia then began developing a formal conformation tradition earlier than several other major Border Collie countries.
Its own historical records acknowledge that working-stock dogs and dogs with unknown pedigrees could still enter the registered Border Collie breeding and show population until the early 1960s.
That is an important reminder of how recently some modern breed populations became truly closed.
The visually consistent Australian conformation Border Collie familiar today was developed through generations of deliberate selection.
It was not simply waiting, fully formed, in 1901.
America Took Another Path
North America developed a substantial working Border Collie culture before conventional conformation competition became available.
American and Canadian ranchers, farmers, shepherds, and trial handlers imported dogs, developed their own bloodlines, organized trials, and created working registries.
Then came the argument over AKC recognition.
That argument was fundamentally about selection.
Working Border Collie people feared that rewarding appearance would eventually change the dog.
Supporters of AKC recognition believed conformation evaluation could coexist with working ability, health, soundness, and performance.
Full AKC recognition arrived in 1995.
The argument did not magically disappear.
But neither did the working Border Collie.
Instead, the breed moved into a new era with several different selection traditions operating at the same time.
The Modern Border Collie Has Many Jobs
Today a Border Collie may still spend its life moving livestock.
Another may compete in herding trials.
Another may become a conformation champion.
Another may compete in obedience, rally, agility, Barn Hunt, dock diving, FAST CAT, scent work, or other sports.
Some dogs do several of them.
That breadth is not an accident.
It comes directly from the characteristics developed in the original stockdog:
intelligence, athleticism, responsiveness, endurance, adaptability, trainability, and the ability to think while working with a human partner.
The venue changed.
The underlying abilities did not suddenly appear with the venue.
Diversity Has Always Been Part of the Breed
The Border Collie has never been defined by one color or one coat.
Historically, the working population contained considerable variation.
Modern Border Collies continue to appear in a broad range of colors, markings, and patterns, including dogs with substantial white body markings and body splash.
The breed also occurs in Smooth, Medium, and Rough coats.
At JBK, medium coats are deliberately favored, with smooth coats also represented.
The objective is a functional Border Collie coat appropriate to the dog and the environment—not coat for coat's sake.
The same principle applies throughout the dog.
More is not automatically better.
More coat is not automatically better.
More rear angulation is not automatically better.
More reach is not automatically better.
More bone is not automatically better.
A Border Collie should be evaluated as a complete animal.
Structure Must Still Have a Reason
Conformation has given breeders another useful way to examine dogs.
Structure can be evaluated.
Movement can be compared.
Balance can be assessed.
But Border Collie structure should never become detached from the work that originally required it.
The question should not simply be:
Does this look impressive?
The better question is:
Would this construction allow an athletic dog to work efficiently?
That distinction matters.
Trends change.
Anatomy does not change because a particular style becomes fashionable.
A ribbon does not rewrite biomechanics.
And winning does not rewrite a breed standard.
JBK Began Before AKC Recognition
JBK Border Collies began in 1994.
My first Border Collie came from a friend who raised working dogs.
He secretly wrote down which dog he believed would best suit me.
I evaluated the dogs independently.
I chose the same one.
When he opened the paper and realized what I had done, his response was simply:
“Shit.”
True to his word, he gave me the dog.
That Border Collie became the beginning of JBK.
Looking back, the important part of that story is not that I got a free dog.
It is that my introduction to the breed began by evaluating the dog in front of me.
That lesson has remained with me.
JBK Today
JBK now participates in AKC conformation, but conformation is only one part of what JBK Border Collies do.
JBK Border Collies have been represented in:
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herding
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conformation
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obedience
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rally
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Barn Hunt
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dock diving
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FAST CAT
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and other AKC performance disciplines
JBK dogs have also earned Versatility Championships, recognizing achievement across multiple disciplines.
That versatility matters because the Border Collie was never intended to be one-dimensional.
A dog capable of succeeding in substantially different venues demonstrates more than training.
It demonstrates adaptability.
And adaptability is deeply embedded in this breed.
Before AKC — and After AKC
AKC recognition is now part of Border Collie history.
So are ABCA, AIBC, NASDS, ISDS, Australia, Britain, Canada, sheepdog trials, ranches, dog shows, obedience rings, performance sports, and generations of breeders who made different decisions about what they believed the breed should become.
None of those chapters should erase the chapters that came before them.
The Border Collie existed before AKC.
It existed before ABCA.
Before AIBC.
Before NASDS.
Before ISDS.
It existed before the modern breed name itself became standardized.
The dog came first.
Then came the name.
Then came the trials.
Then the pedigrees.
Then the registries.
Then the written standards.
Then the show rings.
Then an ever-expanding world of performance competition.
What Should Remain
After all of that history, the Border Collie's foundation remains remarkably recognizable.
A Border Collie should still possess the qualities that made people keep breeding these dogs generation after generation:
Intelligence.
Athleticism.
Endurance.
Trainability.
Responsiveness.
Adaptability.
Functional movement.
The ability to think.
And the desire to work.
The breed can evolve.
It already has.
But evolution should never require forgetting why the Border Collie existed in the first place.
That is the history worth preserving.
And that is the Border Collie I still keep in mind when I look at one today.
Historical record established through 1996
By Jodie Keener, JBK Border Collies
JBKBorderCollies.com
