42 Fun Facts About Border Collie

The Border Collie takes its name from the frontier between which two countries?

The breed is named for the border between England and Scotland, and the name was adopted to set working sheepdogs apart from the collies being bred for the show ring.

Which breed came last in Stanley Coren's 1994 obedience ranking, the list that put the Border Collie first?

The Afghan Hound came last, yet Coren stresses it was bred as a refined running hunter, a very different kind of intelligence from obeying commands.

Which dog, born in Northumberland in 1893, is regarded as the founding sire of the Border Collie breed?

Old Hemp was so widely sought as a stud dog that most of the early International sheepdog champions carried his blood.

What happens to the family dog Snoop near the end of Anatomy of a Fall?

He is poisoned when Daniel feeds him aspirin to test a memory of how the dog fell ill when his father overdosed.

What made the Border Collie's founding sire different from other sheepdogs of his era?

He worked far more quietly than the louder sheepdogs of his day, and within a few generations his style had become the Border Collie style.

A Border Collie's way of herding sheep is a toned-down form of which instinct?

Stalking prey: generations of breeding kept the predator's stare and chase but dulled the urge to kill, so the sheep get moved instead of eaten.

When his owner fell 70 feet in a California forest in 2022, what did Border Collie Saul do?

Brought help to him: the man had managed to phone for it himself, but the team still couldn't find him until Saul ran through the forest and flagged two of them down.

Which breed was developed from Border Collies?

The New Zealand Heading Dog was developed from Border Collies imported to New Zealand; the country's other sheepdog, the Huntaway, was bred to bark and drive rather than to 'eye' the flock.

What is the most common colouring of a Border Collie?

Black and white is the most common Border Collie colouring, yet two black-and-white parents can have a brown-and-white pup if both carry the recessive liver gene.

Border Collies with two different-coloured eyes most often have which coat pattern?

Merle: the merle gene dilutes dark pigment at random, so it can turn one eye blue, and the Kennel Club standard allows blue eyes only in merles.

Some working handlers avoid dogs with mostly pale coats because of what unfounded belief?

Sheep will not respect a white dog, some handlers believe, yet the American Border Collie Association says appearance is not linked with working ability.

In the cartoon Bluey, which of Bluey's friends is a Border Collie?

Mackenzie's family moved to Australia from overseas, and his parents still cheer for their old country's teams, which leaves him confused.

Glacier National Park's Border Collie Gracie was trained to move which wildlife away from a crowded parking lot?

Goats gather there because crowds keep predators away and leave behind the salt the goats crave, so Gracie herds them back to a safe distance.

What was the leading cause of death in Border Collies in a 2004 Kennel Club survey?

Cancer led the survey, but fewer than a quarter of the owners asked sent back a form, so its authors urged caution over the results.

The MDR1 mutation in some Border Collies makes them dangerously sensitive to which parasite drug?

Ivermectin can cause neurotoxicity in Border Collies carrying the MDR1 mutation, because the faulty gene disables a pump that normally keeps such drugs out of the brain.

After Chile's 2017 wildfires, three Border Collies ran through burned forests wearing backpacks that did what?

Scattered seeds: the dogs cover far more ground in a day than people sowing by hand, and within months plants were growing back.

Border Collie Ruswarp's paw print counted on a 1980s petition because he was a fare-paying passenger on what?

A railway line: Ruswarp's owner co-founded the campaign to save the Settle–Carlisle route, and after tens of thousands of objections the government reprieved it in 1989.

Which body's 1995 recognition of the Border Collie did working clubs oppose?

The AKC moved the Border Collie out of its Miscellaneous Class in 1995, over objections from working clubs that feared the breed would lose its working ability.

The American Border Collie Association cancels the registration of any dog that has done what?

Won a conformation championship: the working registry takes that step because it breeds for herding ability, not for looks in the show ring.

Besides sheep and cattle, Border Collies are used to clear unwanted wild birds from which places?

Airport runways and golf courses use Border Collies to chase geese and other birds away, and at airports that helps keep the runways safe for planes.

What does ABC stand for in the 'ABC' classes at UK dog agility shows?

ABC stands for Anything But Collies: collies dominate the top of large-dog agility, so these classes give other breeds a route to the finals.

Georgia Tech's FIDO project fitted a Border Collie named Sky with a sensor that let her do what?

The idea was to let service dogs warn of danger or summon help if their handler collapsed.

On PBS's NOVA, the Border Collie Chaser showed off her vocabulary to which TV scientist?

Neil deGrasse Tyson watched Chaser at work on NOVA; she knew 1,022 toy names and understood that a name meant an object, not just a command to fetch it.

In a 2021 study, Border Collies gifted at learning toy names did what far more often than typical dogs?

Tilted their heads: the gifted dogs did it when their owner asked for a toy by name, which the researchers suspect is a sign of closer attention to a word that means something.

Rico, a word-learning Border Collie, was studied by which German research institute?

The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology team found Rico still remembered new names four weeks later, and argued that this kind of word learning isn't unique to humans.

Rico picked a new toy by its new name, showing which mechanism toddlers use?

Fast mapping was the researchers' verdict, though Yale psychologist Paul Bloom cautioned that Rico had shown his understanding only by fetching.

Which breed came second to the Border Collie in Stanley Coren's intelligence ranking?

The Poodle ranked second behind the Border Collie in Coren's 1994 ranking, which he built by polling dog obedience judges.

In the film Babe, the piglet is taken in by a Border Collie mother named what?

Fly, the Border Collie bitch, mothers Babe after her own pups are sold; her irascible mate is Rex. The 1995 film earned seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.

Who voiced the Border Collie mother in the 1995 film Babe?

Miriam Margolyes voiced the motherly sheepdog, and the film's mix of real and animatronic animals won Babe the Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

Which Border Collie won the Palm Dog award at Cannes in 2023 for playing Snoop in Anatomy of a Fall?

Messi won the 2023 Palm Dog for playing Snoop, and his trainer's children had named him after the footballer Lionel Messi.

At Cannes 2024, the Border Collie from Anatomy of a Fall was hired to do what?

He was hired to interview celebrities as a reporter for a short French TV series that set out to show the festival from a dog's point of view.

Which BBC sheepdog-trials series, first aired in 1976, drew audiences of over eight million at its peak?

One Man and His Dog began on BBC2 in 1976 with Phil Drabble presenting and Eric Halsall commentating, and peaked at over eight million viewers; from 2013 it became an annual segment within Countryfile.

The Border Collie Shep was the long-time companion of which Blue Peter presenter?

John Noakes's cry of 'Get down, Shep!' became a catchphrase, and the Barron Knights released a song with that title.

In sheepdog trials, what is the dog's first phase of work called?

The outrun comes first as the dog runs out to the sheep, and because sheep must be gathered calmly, a dog that harasses them loses points.

A Border Collie named Jessie narrates the 1999 film of which classic novel?

Animal Farm: the film adds Jessie's narration to Orwell's story, and she watches the pig Napoleon take her newborn puppies away to train them for himself.

Working Border Collies take direction at long range by voice and by what?

A distinct set of whistles for 'come by', 'away' and 'lie down' can carry across a whole hillside.

The Border Collie's coat is described as double and often what?

Thick and prone to shedding: a soft, dense undercoat sits beneath the topcoat, giving the breed good weather resistance.

The Border Collie is a British herding dog of what size?

Medium: the Kennel Club rates the breed medium-sized but says it needs more than two hours of exercise a day, so it can be too much for owners without the time to keep it busy.

Sheila the Border Collie won the Dickin Medal for finding whom in a 1944 blizzard?

A crashed bomber's crew: she led two shepherds to four survivors, and one of her puppies was later sent to America to the family of a crewman who had died.

In 2015, a traffic agency blamed motorway delays on a Border Collie named Don 'taking control' of what?

A tractor, the agency said, adding 'nope, not joking': Don was sitting in his owner's small utility vehicle when it rolled down a hill and across the motorway, and he was unhurt.

Shep, a Border Collie in Fort Benton, Montana, met every train for years after watching what leave the station?

His master's coffin left on an eastbound train in 1936, and in 1994 Fort Benton unveiled a bronze statue of Shep with his front paws on a rail.

Which command sends a Border Collie clockwise around the sheep?

'Come by' sends the dog clockwise around the flock; 'away to me' sends it anticlockwise, 'walk up' moves it straight at the sheep, and 'that'll do' calls it off.