Border Collie

by J McCombie

Title

Border Collie

Artist

J McCombie

Medium

Drawing - Graphite Pencil

Description

A remarkably bright workaholic, the Border Collie is an amazing dog: maybe a bit too amazing for owners without the time, energy, or means to keep it occupied. These energetic dogs will settle down for cuddle time when the workday is done. Borders are athletic, medium-sized herders standing 18 to 22 inches at the shoulder. The overall look is that of a muscular but nimble worker unspoiled by passing fads. Both the rough coat and the smooth coat come in a variety of colors and patterns. The almond eyes are the focus of an intelligent expression: an intense gaze, the Border's famous 'herding eye', is a breed hallmark. On the move, Borders are among the canine kingdom's most agile, balanced, and durable citizens. The intelligence, athleticism, and trainability of Borders have a perfect outlet in agility training. Having a job to perform, like agility; or herding or obedience work; is key to Border happiness. Amiable among friends, they may be reserved with strangers.
The Border Collie is a British breed of herding dog of medium size. Widely considered to be the most intelligent dog breed, they are descended from landrace sheepdogs once found all over the British Isles, but became standardised in the Anglo-Scottish border region. They are now mostly used as working dogs to herd livestock, specifically sheep.
Border Collies are extremely energetic, acrobatic, and athletic. They frequently compete with great success in sheepdog trials and a range of dog sports like dog obedience, disc dog, herding and dog agility. Border Collies continue to be employed in their traditional work of herding livestock throughout the world and are kept as pets.
In general, Border Collies are medium-sized dogs with a moderate amount of coat, which is more often thick and prone to shedding. They have a double coat that varies from smooth to rough and is occasionally curled. While black and white is the most commonly seen colour pattern of the Border Collie, the breed appears in just about any colour and pattern known to occur in dogs. Some of these include black tricolour (black/tan/white), liver and white, and red tricolour (red/tan/white) which have also been seen regularly, and other colours such as blue, lilac, red merle, blue merle, brindle, and Australian red (also known as ee red, blonde, recessive red, or gold) which is seen less frequently. Some border collies may also have single-colour coats.
Eye colour varies from brown to blue, and occasionally eyes of differing colour occur; this is usually seen with merles. The ears of the border collie are also variable — some have fully erect ears, some fully dropped ears, and others semi-erect ears (similar to those of the rough collie). Although working border collie handlers sometimes have superstitions about the appearance of their dogs (handlers may avoid mostly white dogs due to the unfounded idea that sheep will not respect a white or almost all white dog), in general, the American Border Collie Association considers a dog's appearance to be irrelevant. Instead, it is considered more useful to identify a working border collie by its attitude and ability.
Dogs bred for show are more homogeneous in appearance than working border collies since to win in conformation showing they must conform closely to breed club standards that are specific on many points of the structure, coat, and colour. Kennel clubs specify, for example, that the border collie must have a "keen and intelligent" expression, and that the preferred eye colour is dark brown. In deference to the dog's working origin, scars and broken teeth received in the line of duty are not to be counted against a border collie in the show ring. The males' height from withers comes from 48 to 56 centimetres (19 to 22 in), females from 46 to 53 centimetres (18 to 21 in).

Uploaded

October 13th, 2022

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