The Border Collie was beginning as a true breed in the early 19th Century in order to help sheepherders mind and guide their flocks. They were actually bred first to learn to gather up wandering flocks and bring them back to their holding areas from the hills where they fed in Scotland and the highlands of England. A good site to begin learning about this working breed is http://www.bordercollie.org/core.html.
This group is dedicated to educating the public and dog owners about how to train and value a good Border Collie. They look at this breed as much more of a skilled working dog, and highly valued for its superior traits in working with livestock. These traits are invaluable to the shepherds and cattle owners who consider them as a right-hand in their ability to manage and control their flocks and herds. A good Border Collie’s “obsession is its livestock,” they say. These dogs have a purpose well beyond grace and speed. They worth and value is in their work. Anyone who has owned a working dog, as I have, realizes that to treat this type of dog as a house pet or as a show dog is not only an insult to the animal, but it is also will break its spirit and deny it the active and purposeful life it was originally bred for – a true cruelty.
The working dog is energetic, very alert, and very apt to be mischievous if not trained and allowed to exercise its skills on a daily basis. It’s in its DNA. To try to own one and ignore the nature of the animal is pointless and will result in an unhappy dog and an unhappy owner. The best type of person for a Border Collie is someone who is very active himself, who can take the time to exercise with the animal daily and enjoy it and who will commit to having some real jobs for the dogs to do regularly, whether dog sports they are good at or herding. People who are active hikers or joggers make good Collie owners. The dogs require a commitment to strong training and a willingness to put the dog through daily tasks so that it can fulfil its natural instincts. To do otherwise would be a true disservice to both the animal and oneself-in other words, simply pointless.
Because many people have bought or adopted dogs that are not suitable for them and realize it later, there are many Border Collies languishing in kennels across the country, abandoned by irresponsible owners who wanted a house dog and instead realized that they had an active, intensely alert animal who would not and could not adapt to the more sedentary lifestyle of a non-working dog.
Tennessee has a huge support for Border Collie rescue. The one site in West, TN, where I live, is particularly interesting:
http://www.tnbordercollierescue.com/. If you click on the “links” icon to the left you will find a medley of links for all sorts of specialized rescue services for all sorts of animals. It is worth saving this links Url if anyone is interested in animal rescue at all and wants to get involved or adopt an animal. A very useful link on their site gives ten myths about Border Collies which should be required reading for anyone adopting or even purchasing a working dog, because they make suggestions based on real life experiences of people with new puppies or dogs. They also have a web-based “store” where you can order gifts or paraphernalia for your dog and a percentage will be donated to their service. Nice.
There are over a dozen web sites that can be accessed for help with adopting a rescued Border Collie anywhere in TN, but I’ll include just three of them in this article. They all have links to other sites and from these you can navigate all over the place.
Tennessee is actually three states, politically,geographically and somewhat socially. West TN includes Jackson and Memphis. It is flat and really the end of the Mississippi Delta. It is cotton country and is the Democrat stronghold in the state, Middle TN is a mix of Democrat and Republican, but mostly Republican. East TN includes Chattanooga and Knoxville and is heavily Republican and mountainous. Each section is well represented by the web sites with phone numbers and good contact information.
I have given the West TN site at the beginning of this article. The one for East TN is:
http://bordercollierescuetn.com/index.php.
Though I am not aware of any specific locations in Nashville and the surround region of Middle TN, you can search for a location near there by going to this site: http://adopt-a-border-collie.1-800-save-a-pet.com/. You simply put in your zip code and you should get to a site that can serve your needs.
The East Tennessee site is also fun. It has a miscellaneous link that’s interesting and some downloadable adoption forms that you can access to take with you to their kennels. Their Links icon is so interesting. There are many articles on the site that give you a wealth of information about the breed and interactive sites that you can use to answer questions or meet with locals to trade experiences and stories with other Collie lovers.
It’s incredible how popular these herding dogs have become in just a few short decades. You’d think that with the tremendous growth of cities and urban areas that this breed would be really dying out. But in a sense, that’s part of the problem. People buy these dogs because they’re cute, they’re cuddly as puppies, and they’re alert and fun. Then they become dissatisfied with a dog who really doesn’t begin to “calm down” until well after two years of age and then turns all that energy into mischief. Thank heavens for people who love and admire this breed and are willing to volunteer their time to save and protect this magnificent animal.
