The International Sheep Dog Society, the ISDS, is the one main Border Collie institution in Britain. As many dogs end up being exported from the UK and to many parts of the world, at some point or another, most keen and interested Border Collie handlers will eventually come across this society and their historic work in supporting and progressing the Border Collie’s great skills. This can be easily seen through the registrations of some of the most famous of sheepdogs.

When I started out working with Border Collies there were always certain well known names that cropped up on the registration papers of nearly all the dogs that I owned. Although these breeding lines still exists in many of todays well bred Border Collies, they are enough generations back that their dominance in the breed may not appear as significant as they used to when looking through the papers of 30 years ago. These well known and formidable dogs were the likes of John Gilchrist’s Spot, Jock Richardson’s Wiston Cap, John Thomas’s Don and McTeir’s Ben. There were many others as well, but these were some of the names. They were dogs that had competed with the best and had risen to the very top.

There were certainly a handful of exceptional dogs and before “a well bred” Border Collie became so popular, these top class dogs usually remained in a smaller number of hands. Today, world wide, the pleasures of competing and handling a well bred working dog have spread to a wide and diverse population and with this there is as wide a use of moderately successful dogs. Rather than those few dominant breeding lines, todays’ registration papers cover a wide expanse of the Border Collie world.

Sheepdog trials remain an important part of the Border Collie world. Each year, and in many countries, championship trials are held and certain handlers and dogs engrave a name for themselves as contenders of great worth.

Border Collie Training Information