Young Scottish Sheep farmer of his 8 Border Collie dog demonstration team


Working collies are extremely energetic and agile dogs with great stamina, well able to run all day without tiring, even over very rough or steep ground. Working collies are of excellent working/obedience intelligence, and are instinctively highly motivated to work. Dogs of collie type or derivation occupy four of the first sixteen ranks in Stanley Coren's The Intelligence of Dogs, with the Border Collie being first. These characteristics generally make working strains unsuitable as pets, as few owners are able to give them the mental and physical challenges they need and, if not well fulfilled, they may become unhappy and badly behaved.[3][4][5] However, in addition to herding work they are well suited to active sports such as sheepdog trials, flyball, disc dog and dog agility. Working strains have strong herding instincts, and some individuals can be single-minded to the point of obsessiveness. They are often intensely loyal.


Size: 5620px × 3733px
Location: Kincraig Farm Strathspey Inverness-shire Highland Region Scotland UK
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: Yes

Keywords: active, agile, areas, black, black--tan, border, breed, breeds, britain, collie, collies, distinctive, diversified, dog, ears, energetic, face, farmer, fast, floppy, friends, fur, gathering, handler, head, herding, instinct., intelligent, landraces, lightly-built, lively, long, medium-sized, merle, mixture, north, originating, parts, patches, pattern, pointed, red, rounding, running, semi-erect, sheep, sheepdog, sheepdogs, short, shoulders, shoulders., silky, sleek, snout, speedy, spread, strong, team, thinking, type, types, types., ultimately, upland, west., white, wise, world