Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Border Collies were, unfortunately, recognized by the AKC effective October 1, 1995. The Border Collie Society of America proposed a re-written standard in 2004. (I'm not sure why the standard would need to be "re-written" ... I mean after all ... don't the show people know everything there is to know about what a Border Collie "should" look like in order to work livestock properly? How did that all of a sudden "change"? Were they *cough* *cough* wrong?) The AKC board approved the new standard effective March 2, 2004. What I would like to know is ... what changed? I'd imagine that any changes would have to be slowly implemented, but it's been a few years. I know what the standard says, and I know what it used to say, but where are all these changes?

Here are your 2005 "top dogs" ... (This is one year after the "changes.")

Here are your 2008 "top dogs" ... (This is four years after the "changes.")

Fact of the matter is ... it makes no difference. There is no way to judge a working dog by the way it looks. What good is a dog who has a beautiful "flying trot" if it doesn't "see" livestock? Oh I know ... all the show people say, "Well what good is a working dog if it isn't built right?" Really people? Are you kidding me?

Form follows function.

The hill proves the dog.

When you work dogs to a very high standard, if the dog's body isn't built right, it will break down. As a stockdog handler, you will know it. If the dog's vision is affected, it will be obvious when the dog is going to gather stock at a distance. If its hearing is affected, the whistles will go unheard. Bad hips won't hold up. In the show ring, however, affected vision (yes, even CEA "affected" dogs get their championships), deafness (bilateral or unilateral), and hip dysplasia can and does go undetected. And working ability is completely unknown, at best.

Honestly, it makes me sad that the AKC ever "recognized" the Border Collie. The public sees the conformation version of these dogs and thinks that's what a Border Collie is. People find out that I own sheep and work my dogs, and they say, "Wow, you mean your dogs actually herd sheep?" Ummm ... yes. If they don't work livestock, are they really Border Collies? Aren't Border Collies, by definition, working dogs? I know what you're going to say. If you breed a nice litter of working Border Collies, and one of them in that litter doesn't work livestock, what do you call it then?

I call it neutered.

Happy tails,
JD