60 free Border Collie trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Border Collie trivia quiz covers the herding dog from the Anglo-Scottish border in depth: the landrace collies it descends from, Old Hemp and Adam Telfer, Wiston Cap on the ISDS badge, Hindhope Jed's voyage to the southern hemisphere, and the 1915 moment the name 'border collie' was coined. There are questions on colours and heterochromia, show-ring standards that forgive battle scars, life expectancy, Collie eye anomaly, the MDR1 drug mutation and 'the wobbles'. The quiz also runs through sheepdog trials from Bala in 1873 to the 800-yard International double fetch, the AKC recognition row of 1995, agility's 'Anything But Collies' classes, flyball world records, mountain rescue, and the famous individuals: Chaser and her 1,022 toys, Rico and fast mapping, Fly in Babe, Messi at Cannes and the Oscars, Shep from Blue Peter and Jean the Vitagraph Dog. Questions run from easy to expert with the difficulty shown on each one, and every answer was checked against a reference page and carries its citation. If you enjoy it, try our Dogs and Australian Shepherd quizzes next.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Border Collie takes its name from the frontier between which two countries?
England and Scotland
The breed descends from the landrace sheepdogs once found all over the British Isles, but the border hill farms shaped the modern type.
Q 02Border Collies are kept predominantly for what job?
Herding sheep
They also compete with great success in sheepdog trials, the sport built around that job.
Q 03The word 'collie' is thought to come from an old Celtic word meaning what?
Useful
The word itself has its roots in the Scots language, and is older than the breed name.
Q 04Who first used the term 'border collie' in 1915 to distinguish working dogs from show collies?
James Reid of the International Sheep Dog Society
The show collies had come from the same working stock but had changed after entering the show ring in 1860.
Q 05Which dog, born in Northumberland in 1893, is regarded as the founding sire of the Border Collie breed?
Old Hemp
Every purebred Border Collie alive today can trace a line back to him.
Q 06Who bred and owned Old Hemp?
Adam Telfer
Telfer said Hemp 'flashed like a meteor across the sheepdog horizon'.
Q 07What made Old Hemp's herding style so different from other sheepdogs of his era?
He worked far more quietly
Within a few generations his quiet, intense style had become the Border Collie style.
Q 08Roughly how many pups is Old Hemp believed to have sired?
200
Shepherds queued for his stud services once they saw how sheep responded to him.
Q 09When the International Sheep Dog Society opened its stud book in 1915, what number entry was Old Hemp?
Ninth
The stud book has since grown to around 300,000 entries.
Q 10Which dog is portrayed on the International Sheep Dog Society badge in the classic herding pose?
Wiston Cap
Born in 1963, he sired three Supreme Champions and his blood runs through most modern lines.
Q 11Hindhope Jed, a Scottish bitch exported in the 1890s, became a trials champion in which two countries?
New Zealand and Australia
She was described as the 'best to cross the equator' and was already in pup when she left Scotland.
Q 12Which breed was developed from Border Collies?
The New Zealand Heading Dog
New Zealand's other sheepdog, the Huntaway, was bred to bark and drive rather than to 'eye' the flock.
Q 13What is the most common colouring of a Border Collie?
Black and white
The breed actually turns up in almost every colour and pattern known in dogs, including lilac and 'Australian red'.
Q 21The MDR1 mutation in some Border Collies makes them dangerously sensitive to which parasite drug?
Ivermectin
Doses that are safe for other dogs can cause neurotoxicosis; the mutation's frequency runs from 1 to 4.8 per cent depending on the country.
Q 22The exercise-induced condition nicknamed 'the wobbles' is formally known as what?
Border Collie Collapse
Some affected dogs cannot fetch a tennis ball without symptoms yet can run for miles, because the trigger seems to be excitement rather than distance.
Q 23A UK study found Border Collies had which condition at 2.67 times the rate of other breeds?
Liver tumours
Q 14Border Collies with two different-coloured eyes have a trait known as what?
Heterochromia
It is most often seen in merle-patterned dogs.
Q 15Some working handlers avoid dogs with mostly pale coats because of what unfounded belief?
Sheep will not respect a white dog
The American Border Collie Association considers appearance irrelevant and judges a working dog by attitude and ability.
Q 16Which of these are not counted against a Border Collie in the show ring, in deference to its working roots?
Scars and broken teeth
Kennel club standards do insist on a 'keen and intelligent' expression and prefer dark brown eyes.
Q 17The height at the withers for a male Border Collie runs roughly from what to what?
19 to 22 inches
Females stand a little lower, at 18 to 21 inches.
Q 18A 2024 UK study found what life expectancy for the Border Collie?
13.1 years
That beat both the purebred average of 12.7 and the crossbreed average of 12.
Q 19What was the leading cause of death in Border Collies in a 2004 Kennel Club survey?
Cancer
Cancer accounted for 23.6 per cent of deaths, ahead of old age at 17.9 per cent.
Q 20Collie eye anomaly, which affects Border Collies, is caused by a mutation in which gene?
NHEJ1
It is an autosomal recessive condition, so a dog needs two copies of the mutation to be affected.
The formal term is hepatic neoplasia.
Q 24The final day of an International sheepdog trial is run over a course of what length?
800 yards
The qualifying rounds and national trials use a 400-yard course.
Q 25In the International 'double fetch', how many of the 20 sheep wear collars and must be shed off?
Five
The 15 uncollared sheep are driven away and the five collared ones are kept in the ring and then penned.
Q 26The first recorded sheepdog trials were held in 1873 in which Welsh town?
Bala
A handler from Scotland took first prize at that inaugural event.
Q 27At the 1883 Hawick trials, William Wallace of Otterburn first controlled his dog with what?
A hiss and a low whistle
Before that, handling involved a great deal of waving, shouting and barking.
Q 28In which year did the American Kennel Club recognise the Border Collie after 50-plus years in its Miscellaneous Class?
1995
Most Border Collie groups protested, fearing show breeding would erode working ability.
Q 29In 2003 the American Border Collie Association voted to delist any dog that did what?
Won a conformation championship
It was a deliberate stand for breeding to a working standard rather than to looks.
Q 30Roughly how many Border Collies does the American Border Collie Association register each year?
About 20,000
That dwarfs AKC registrations, which stood at 2,378 in 2005.