I came across a joke the other day; He said border collies are expensive to keep because they don’t reach their full potential unless they’re allowed to graduate from an Ivy League school. Since these dogs routinely score at the top of intelligence tests, I can almost believe it. A dog named “Betsy” graced the cover of National Geographic’s March 2008 issue for being able to understand 340 words, while another border collie, “Rico,” is being studied by scientists for its ability to identify more than 200 objects. by name. I think the British have the right idea – in England they occasionally offer performance competitions just for Border Collies, alone and separate from all other breeds. After all, why hurt the self-esteem of 200 other perfectly good breeds?
One of my favorite “Far Side” cartoons made me realize just how much cartoonist Gary Larson understood border collies. Beneath the drawing of a party attended by sheep, the caption read: “Henry! Our party is total chaos! No one knows when to eat, where to stand, what to do… Oh, thank God! Here a border collie is coming!(as the dog arrives at the door).
I read that Border Collies can be traced back to a single dog, “Old Hemp,” who was born in 1893. Old Hemp evidently distinguished himself in herding trials by calmly looking (or “looking”) at sheep and intimidating them into that they move . The sheep (known as “heads”) probably never knew what hit them and would only later ask each other in stunned bewilderment, “How did we get here?”
I lived with a Border Collie for a day. I was in therapy for a month. Going from living with a race that was only reputed to have eyes to spending time with one whose eyes never blinked was more than he could bear. It was like living with a portrait, his eyes following me everywhere. Only the Border Collie’s eyes really followed me around. They were all over me as I chattered into the kitchen. They followed me to the bathroom and then to the garage where I got into my car. Sixteen miles from home and I could STILL feel the dog’s eyes on me. To those who affectionately say that his religion or heritage instills guilt, I scoff. Being watched by a Border Collie, now THAT made me feel like I did something wrong, maybe I didn’t move fast enough from room to room.
The dog was a true love of his breed and had agreed to take care of him as a friend. But towards the end of our stay together, I put some Puli threads over her eyes just to get through the day. I felt a bit better when he ‘blend in’ with the other dogs, but something about him was still different from all the other dogs. I always knew when he saw something of interest from his posture: he didn’t raise his head, nor did he. he put it down. In most of it, he bent his legs in five different places and crouched like a cougar stalking his prey. The first time I saw him do this, I could swear I heard the song from “Jaws” wafting through the air.
Our time together ended, his owner picked him up and they were off. Weeks later, at lunch, he mentioned that his dog had developed some behavioral quirks that seemed to date back to his time with me and my dogs. When he pressed me for more details, I was surprised why he thought the dog had a problem. He sounded like a Puli to me.