There can be few TV viewers who have not been captivated by those sheepdog trials, with the whistlings and odd calls of the shepherds, while the dogs themselves are the most graceful and eye-catching creatures of all. Now a French sporting magazine goes over the top for them, lavishing praise on their intelligence, fidelity and precision. Never before heard the origin of the name as given by the French. First the article tells us that the border collie takes the first part of its name from the frontier between England and Scotland. On these high plateausof tempestuous winds or drenching mist, enormous flocks of blackheaded sheep lived in freedom. These were called "coalies" from the word coal. "Coally, colly, collie, colley ... and so, too, were named the various sheepdogs that were used to guard them."
It suited them well, for all of them had blackened coats. Other colours are permitted, but the black-and-white coats are the norm. The coat is moderately long and not heavily textured - a tail like a fox. But above all, the writer says, the dog is noticeable for "the strong eye", controlling the movements of the sheep from a distance by the intensity of the look he directs at them, as if to paralyse them or to hypnotise them. On the way to today, the collie has absorbed, we are told, certain qualities from crossing with Gordon setters. His slow, crawling approach has something of the game-dog's style. He has, moreover, a sense of smell that leads him to straying sheep.
"Right, left, forward, push on, back, stop." What you hear on television seems more cryptic and, the writer notes, that the master often doesn't have to say anything - just a gesture, a look, and the dog bounds off. (And there are some odd secret-language indications, you would swear.) Even on his own, a kilometre or two away the dog, it is said, takes his own initiative and brings the sheep to his master's feet. Australia, New Zealand, South America, all sheep countries have adopted the border collie.
This writer asserts that to get a pedigree, a dog has to go through his paces with a flock of sheep, under scrutiny. The writer, Dominque Simon, advises people who haven't sheep not to keep a border collie; he likes children, but he needs to work to channel his energies.