Our dogs and our farm…how it all began

As a long time Lab loving family, we got our first Border Collie, Shep (who passed in 2024), to help us move our sheep from one pasture to the next, and bring them in to the barn when needed.  Shep was a devoted herdsman, waiting tirelessly at the fence line he would quickly return any wandering ewe or lamb to their quarters. I could easily move 40+ ewes and their lambs a 1/4 mi to our farthest pastures, with Shep keeping them in a tight bunch around me.  All with instinct and just the tiniest bit of training. 

Smitten with the breed we agreed to adopt a BC rescue. He was a beautiful dog that was bought when his owner lived in England, he had a strong personality, very little training, and unfortunately had spent way too much time alone. He came to our home with a heap of bad manners, a bad attitude, and virtually zero interest in stock. He quickly manipulated and intimidated Shep and our elderly lab.  As a working farm, with children and frequent guests we didn’t have the time to give this dog what he needed to turn him around, we re-homed him with a dog trainer who had long loved the breed. This was a hard exhausting process, but valuable, as it gave us our first insight into the fundamental importance of the connection between dog and human. I think its likely at the start this dog had the skills to be a great companion, but the wrong human and environment robbed him of his potential.

A year or so later we got Gilley to help move our cows everyday from the fields to the barn for milking.  Shep had the drive and interest, but as a small dog with an intense personality he was too much for the cows. His instinct was to “head” the cows, and keep them in a bunch as the sheep were easiest managed. Dairy cows however are laid back, and actually know and want to go where they are going, they just do it very slowly. A classic Maine hillside farm we have many small fields separated by hedgerows, and it can be a bit of a journey to get from the farthest field to the barn.  With cows having a snack of this and snack of that along the way, this trip could easily take an hour. Gilley is amazing, a big easy going guy, he worked as a “driver” and instinctually moved the herd from the back.  Walking along he’d keep the cows moving, making the trip to the barn a quick efficient process all with minimal verbal commands. He’d step up when needed to increase the pace, running ahead to block any intersection where a calf was known to run under the electric line.  He quickly learned the cows names, knew who needed to move slower because they were older, and who was likely to give him trouble. We don’t milk the cows any longer so Gilley is disappointedly retired from that daily job, but he still helps out on the farm daily moving escaped pigs back to their pasture, herding wandering calves back to their mamas, and quickly letting us know if anything is amiss. He enjoys “checking on the pigs” when we ask him to.

We got Byrdie 2 years ago, at this point not because we needed another herder, but because we we were so enamored with the breed. While their herding skills are amazing what really stands out for us is their intelligence and the connection they form with their people. We have found them very easy to train because they want to please you so much. Sensitive and keen they pick up on the smallest things and respond. Ours never wander, not because they can’t or they know they shouldn’t but because they just don’t want to.

Breeding is the most recent experience in our Border Collie journey, these pups were A LOT of work, but also a lot of fun. We are very proud of Byrdie and the tremendous amount of attention these young pups have been given in the earliest stages of their development. We’ll see what come next.