06/09/2022
WHY CAN BORDER COLLIES ALL BE SO DIFFERENT? Our breed expert looks at this subject today:
WHY BORDER COLLIES VARY SO MUCH AS A BREED
One of the things that has long fascinated Border collie owners is the infinite amount of physical (as well as temperamental) variety that can be found in the breed. In everything from size, shape and coat colour and texture to size and carriage of ears. And much of this stems back to these dogs' far earlier history as a TYPE of (herding, droving) dog, rather than a more deliberately designed BREED.
As a type of dog - rather than a more specifically designed breed - collies obviously had a far wider and more diverse genetic base, originally, giving rise to many variations in size, build and coat colour or length in individual dogs. A lot of these earlier dogs' descendants are also still around today, be they working in some role, or just living as pets. Frequently they might fit a wider concept in people's minds of what a Border collie is, or looks like, without ever being registered anywhere as such.
WHAT IS A ‘PEDIGREE’ BORDER COLLIE?
When it comes to more official registration, the Border collie as a distinct working breed really took off at the beginning of the 1900s in the UK with the establishment of the International Sheep Dog Society, whose mission was - as it still is today - to ever improve the genetic calibre of Border collies as sheepdogs.
Some of the most legendary sheepdogs who have ever lived - like Old H**p (1893-1901) - were the dogs who founded the bloodlines of numerous working Border collies today, worldwide, and thereafter, also, many of the earlier ‘show’ lines, after these dogs first began to be recognised in the 1970s by the UK Kennel Club – as well as elsewhere – as a distinct pedigree breed.
Today, people can often be confused as to what a ‘pedigree’ Border collie really is. So just to clarify, it is one registered either with a national Kennel Club (sometimes called a ‘show pedigree), or national sheepdog body, like the International Sheep Dog Society in the UK, (known as a ‘working’ pedigree). Some dogs can be dual registered – i.e. registered with both organisations. Anything else is not officially a pedigree BC.
So it is really mostly about the paperwork, as well as having a distinct genetic lineage you are able to track back in any dog.
SHOW VERSUS WORKING BREEDING
Of the different types of pedigree Border collie around today (working or show), the show ones are those whose breeding has perhaps been more noticeably refined in past decades, in order to produce a more uniform looking and perhaps 'flashier' dog. Whereas with pedigree working dogs the highest priority is less looks but how well they work.
The kaleidoscope of colour variations found in the modern Border collie are really only genetic deviations from the basic, or more dominant, coat colours of all BCs throughout time: i.e. black, brown (or red/tan) and white. Though white really represents a total lack of any pigment in the coat, or coat section, concerned. Similarly we may often think that black is a colour in itself, when it is simply a darker concentration of another hue - like red, or blue - that reflects less light. Which is how you get blue Border collies when the denser ‘blacker’ looking pigment, genetically, becomes more diluted. Or merles when greater density or dilution of pigment becomes more fragmented throughout a dog’s coat.
When it comes to more novel coat colours in Border collies, usually these will have arisen from some original genetic mutation, which a breeder then more deliberately selects for, later, to perpetuate; a process that has been going on now for many generations.
WHEN COLOUR MATTERS
People may have more personal preferences when it comes to Border collie coat colours, but one must also be alert to the risks some forms of pigmentation can bring. Too much white, for instance, can sometimes be linked to deafness, genetically, and more sensitive skin. And what no breeder should ever do is mate one merle to another, as this can result in not just deafness, and skin sensitivity to light, but also blindness in the 'double merle' progeny that result.
Similarly, people can get very caught up in arguments about what kind of collie is best or looks best, in terms of physical appearance or build, when in truth they are all likely to have shared some similar ancestors, going back. It’s then just a question of what particular physical attributes become more enhanced in individual dogs, through selective breeding.
There is also so much more to any dog than what it looks like, including what is going on in its head, and the type of temperament and mental outlook it presents to the world, in which genetics can also play a significant part. And this to me, along with health, is one of the most vital considerations ever, when it comes to the kind of dog I would personally choose to acquire or breed from myself. For ultimately the innate nature and temperament of any collie you own determines so much of the kind of life you will live with it, for better or worse.
Meanwhile anyone wanting to know far more about the evolution of the modern Border collie, physically and psychology, and how it came to be the dog it is today, will find it in BOOK ONE (Blue cover) of my BORDER COLLIES: A BREED APART trilogy - SECRETS OF THE WORKING MIND:
https://performancedog.co.uk/.../border-collies-a-breed.../
And in the USA via: https://www.dogwise.com/ #
All text © Carol Price 2022
