Where Did the Border Collie Come From?

Few dog breeds generate as much debate about their origins as the Border Collie.

Was it Scottish? English? Welsh? Did it come from the Cheviot Hills? Was Old Hemp the first Border Collie? Or did the breed exist long before him?

The difficulty is that the modern Border Collie did not appear suddenly in one place, at one point in history, from a defined group of foundation dogs. Its history is the history of a working population.

The most accurate explanation is that the Border Collie developed from the working collies of Britain, particularly those used by shepherds in the Anglo-Scottish border country. The rugged sheep country of the Cheviot Hills was part of this landscape, as were neighbouring areas of Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, selective breeding, sheepdog trials and influential working dogs gradually shaped the population that became known as the Border Collie.

Understanding that history requires us to go back to a time when there was no Border Collie as we know it today.

Before there was a Border Collie

For centuries, British shepherds used dogs to help manage livestock. These dogs were not divided into the carefully defined breeds we recognise today. They were working populations, and their value depended primarily on what they could do.

Historical descriptions of British shepherds' dogs go back hundreds of years. In the sixteenth century, the English physician and naturalist Johannes Caius described dogs used by shepherds to gather and control sheep. His description demonstrates that specialised livestock-working dogs were already well established in Britain, although there is no evidence that these dogs were Border Collies in the modern sense.

That distinction is important.

The existence of ancient British sheepdogs does not mean that the modern Border Collie existed unchanged for centuries. Instead, it demonstrates the much older working tradition from which the breed eventually developed.

Shepherds selected dogs for practical qualities: stamina, agility, responsiveness, stock sense and the ability to control livestock in cooperation with a human handler. Dogs that consistently demonstrated those qualities were valuable breeding animals.

The selection was functional long before it was formal.

The Border Country and the Cheviot Hills

The geography of the Border Collie's development is particularly important.

The Anglo-Scottish border was not simply a political boundary separating two completely different dog populations. Working shepherds, sheep and dogs existed across the wider border region, and the same working traditions extended across what is now England and Scotland.

The Cheviot Hills form an important part of this landscape. Stretching across Northumberland and the Scottish Borders, they are rugged sheep country, with extensive hills and difficult terrain that demanded capable working dogs.

Historical references from the nineteenth century describe shepherds using collie-type dogs in the Cheviot Hills, the Lammermuirs and the heights of Tweedale. These references pre-date the formal use of the name Border Collie and provide evidence of working collies being used throughout this broader border landscape.

The Cheviots therefore deserve a place in the Border Collie's history.

But it would be misleading to describe the Cheviot Hills as the single birthplace of the breed.

The evidence points to a much broader working population spread through the border country. The modern Border Collie emerged from this population over time rather than being created at one particular location.

This is also why describing the Border Collie simply as a Scottish breed or an English breed misses an important part of its history.

Its development took place in a region that is now divided by an international boundary, but the working-dog population was shaped by the same fundamental requirement on both sides: a dog capable of managing sheep effectively.

What was a “collie”?

The word “collie” itself did not originally refer to the modern Border Collie breed.

Historically, names such as collie, sheepdog, shepherd's dog and Scotch sheepdog were used for various working dogs. The terminology was not consistent, and the dogs themselves were not necessarily uniform in appearance.

This is another reason why tracing the breed's history by name alone can be misleading.

A dog described as a “collie” in an eighteenth- or nineteenth-century document cannot automatically be assumed to have been a Border Collie.

Instead, we need to consider the dog's function, location, breeding and historical context.

Over generations, particular working populations became increasingly specialised. Dogs with the qualities most useful to shepherds were retained and bred, and certain families of dogs became particularly influential.

Sheepdog trials changed everything

One of the most important developments in the history of the Border Collie was the emergence of organised sheepdog trials.

The first recorded sheepdog trial was held at Bala in Wales on 9 October 1873. Although the event took place in Wales, it does not mean that the Border Collie originated there. Its importance lies in the way trials created a public test of working ability and encouraged the selection of exceptional sheepdogs.

A successful sheepdog needed much more than enthusiasm.

The dog had to control sheep, respond to its handler, work at a distance, maintain concentration and make appropriate decisions while dealing with livestock. Trials provided a way for shepherds to compare these abilities.

The consequences for breeding were significant.

A dog that repeatedly demonstrated exceptional working ability could become highly valued as a breeding animal, allowing its characteristics to spread through the working population.

This accelerated the selection of dogs for the particular combination of intelligence, responsiveness, stamina, stock sense and controlled movement that became associated with the working Border Collie.

Old Hemp

No discussion of Border Collie history is complete without Old Hemp.

Old Hemp was born in September 1893 at West Woodburn in Northumberland, England. His breeder was Adam Telfer, a Northumbrian shepherd whose family was deeply involved in sheep farming and sheepdog work.

Hemp was bred from working collies.

His dam, Meg, was a strong-eyed working bitch, while his sire, Roy, was a black, white and tan dog described as having a different working style. Hemp inherited qualities from both parents and became an exceptionally capable sheepdog.

His importance was not primarily his appearance.

It was his work.

Old Hemp was noted for working sheep quietly and intensely, using his natural control and “eye” rather than relying on frantic chasing or excessive noise. His working style proved enormously influential.

He became a highly successful trial dog and was extensively used at stud.

The International Sheep Dog Society identifies Old Hemp as the foundation sire of the working Border Collie, and his descendants became extraordinarily prominent in the developing working population.

But even this statement needs to be understood correctly.

Old Hemp was not the sole ancestor of the modern Border Collie.

He was an exceptionally influential ancestor.

The modern breed descended from a much broader population of working dogs, but Hemp's contribution was so substantial that his name appears repeatedly in the pedigrees of later working Border Collies.

Old Hemp was not the first Border Collie

This is one of the most persistent misunderstandings about the breed.

Old Hemp was born in 1893, but the term “Border Collie” was not yet being used as the formal name of the breed.

Hemp was a working collie.

The dogs of his era were part of the existing working sheepdog population, and the breed identity developed gradually around that population.

In 1915, James Reid, secretary of the International Sheep Dog Society, used the term “Border Collie” to distinguish the working sheepdogs registered with the Society from the Collie that was increasingly being developed within the conformation-show system.

The name therefore came after the working population had already been established.

This is an important distinction.

The Border Collie was not invented in 1915.

The name was applied to a working type that had developed over generations.

Working ability versus appearance

During the nineteenth century, another important development was taking place in the dog world: the rapid growth of organised dog shows and formal breed standards.

The wider British collie population began to separate along different lines of selection.

Dogs being bred for the show ring were increasingly selected according to physical characteristics and a written breed standard.

Working shepherds continued to select their dogs according to performance.

These two approaches were not originally completely separate populations. They came from the same broader British working-collie ancestry.

Over time, however, different selection pressures produced increasingly distinct types.

This is one of the reasons the Border Collie has such a strong historical association with working ability rather than a particular physical appearance.

The traditional working Border Collie did not need to conform to a particular colour, coat length, ear carriage or body shape in order to be useful.

It needed to work.

The importance of “eye”

One of the characteristics that became particularly associated with the Border Collie was its ability to control sheep through intense visual focus, traditionally called “eye”.

A dog using eye can influence the movement of sheep through posture, movement, positioning and gaze rather than simply chasing them.

Not every Border Collie has the same degree of eye, and working sheepdogs have always varied in style.

That variation is important because the Border Collie was never created from a single blueprint.

Different shepherds valued somewhat different working qualities, and different dogs contributed to the developing population.

Nevertheless, the ability to work closely with a shepherd and control livestock through controlled movement and presence became a defining feature of the breed's working identity.

So, was it Scottish or English?

This is where modern arguments often become unnecessarily polarised.

The historically defensible answer is that the Border Collie developed from British working collies in the Anglo-Scottish border region.

That region includes what are now parts of both England and Scotland.

The Cheviot Hills cross the modern border.

Northumberland, on the English side, played an important role in the development of the working sheepdog. Old Hemp was born at West Woodburn in Northumberland, and the Telfer family became highly influential in working sheepdog history.

Scotland was equally important to the development and preservation of the working sheepdog tradition, and Scottish shepherds and dogs contributed significantly to the population.

Consequently, describing the Border Collie simply as “Scottish” or simply as “English” imposes modern national categories on a working population that developed across the border country.

The Fédération Cynologique Internationale gives Great Britain as the breed's country of origin.

That is probably the simplest official description.

Historically, however, the more informative description is the Anglo-Scottish border country and its surrounding sheep-farming regions.

What about Wales?

Wales deserves recognition because of its enormous importance in the history of sheepdog trials.

The first recorded sheepdog trial was held at Bala in 1873, and Wales subsequently became an important centre of sheepdog trialling.

But the location of the first recorded trial should not be confused with the geographical origin of the Border Collie.

The trial was a milestone in the development of organised sheepdog work. It was not the moment when the Border Collie was created.

The breed's development involved working dogs and shepherds from across Britain.

When did it become a breed?

There is no single date on which the Border Collie suddenly became a breed.

Breed formation was gradual.

Working collies were selected over generations for their ability to work sheep. Exceptional dogs became breeding animals. Sheepdog trials provided additional opportunities to identify outstanding workers. The International Sheep Dog Society, established in 1906, formalised the registration of working sheepdogs and preserved extensive pedigree records.

The term Border Collie was adopted in 1915.

Formal kennel-club recognition came much later.

The Kennel Club recognised the Border Collie in 1976, and the Fédération Cynologique Internationale recognised the breed definitively in 1977.

This late kennel-club recognition sometimes leads people to describe the Border Collie as a relatively recent breed.

That is misleading.

The breed's formal recognition was recent compared with its working history.

The working population and its pedigree tradition existed long before conformation recognition.

A breed built around a job

This is perhaps the most important point in understanding the Border Collie's origins.

Many modern breeds can be described largely through their appearance.

The Border Collie is much harder to understand that way.

Its history is fundamentally a history of work.

The shepherds who developed these dogs were not trying to create a particular silhouette. They needed a dog that could gather sheep, move them in the desired direction, work at considerable distances, respond to subtle commands and cooperate with a human handler.

A beautiful dog that could not work was of limited value to a shepherd.

A dog that could work exceptionally well was extremely valuable, regardless of whether it had the “perfect” coat, colour or markings.

That selection pressure shaped the breed.

The Border Collie leaves Britain

Once these working dogs became recognised for their abilities, they began to spread beyond Britain.

Working collies were exported to other sheep-producing countries, including Australia and New Zealand, where their abilities proved extremely valuable in large-scale sheep production.

Australia subsequently became an important part of the Border Collie's working history.

But Australia did not create the breed.

The dogs brought here were descendants of the British working population that had already developed over generations.

They arrived carrying the characteristics that had been selected in the British sheep-farming environment.

What genetics can tell us

Modern genetic research provides another useful perspective.

Genetic studies of Border Collies demonstrate substantial genetic diversity within the breed and show the contribution of many ancestral dogs to the modern population.

This is consistent with the historical evidence.

The breed did not descend from a handful of dogs in one isolated location.

Old Hemp was enormously influential, but he was one particularly important ancestor within a much larger working population.

This is why it is inaccurate to describe Old Hemp as the “father of all Border Collies” if that phrase is interpreted literally.

He is rightly regarded as the foundation sire of the modern working Border Collie because of his extraordinary influence, but the breed has a considerably broader ancestry.

So, where did the Border Collie come from?

The answer depends on what we mean by “come from”.

If we mean its distant ancestry, the Border Collie came from the working collies of Britain.

If we mean the geographical region in which the modern working type developed, the answer is the Anglo-Scottish border country and surrounding sheep-farming regions, including the Cheviot Hills.

If we are asking about one of the most influential individual dogs in its history, the answer takes us to West Woodburn in Northumberland, where Old Hemp was born in 1893.

If we are asking when the name Border Collie appeared, 1915 is an important date.

If we are asking when kennel clubs formally recognised the breed, that came much later, in the twentieth century.

These are different questions, and confusing them is responsible for much of the argument surrounding Border Collie history.

The Border Collie was not created by a single breeder, in a single country, from a single foundation dog.

It emerged gradually from a population of working sheepdogs whose breeders were selecting for one thing above all else: the ability to work sheep.

The Cheviot Hills, Northumberland, the Scottish Borders, Wales and other parts of Britain all form pieces of that history. Some individuals became enormously influential. Sheepdog trials accelerated selection. The International Sheep Dog Society preserved the working pedigree tradition. And eventually, the name Border Collie came to describe the working sheepdog that had emerged from that history.

So perhaps the most accurate answer to the question “Where did the Border Collie come from?” is not simply England or Scotland.

It came from the working sheep country of Britain, with the Anglo-Scottish borderlands - including the Cheviot Hills - playing a particularly important role in the development of the dog we recognise today.

And long before the Border Collie became a breed defined on paper, it was defined by what it could do.

It was a sheepdog first.

The breed name came later.

References

• International Sheep Dog Society (ISDS). History, registration and sheepdog trial records.

• ISDS Sheepdog Archive. “The Telfer Family from Northumberland.”

• Border Collie Museum. Historical records relating to the development of the Border Collie and the Bala sheepdog trial.

• The Kennel Club (UK). Border Collie breed history and characteristics.

• Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI). Border Collie breed standard and breed recognition history.

• Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, University of California, Davis. “Genetic Diversity Testing for Border Collie.”

• Soh, P. Y., Hsu, W. T., Khatkar, M. S., Williamson, P. et al. (2021). “Evaluation of genetic diversity and management of disease in Border Collie dogs.” Scientific Reports, 11.

• American Kennel Club Library and Archives. Historical Border Collie breed-standard records.