The breed gallery
Border Collie
The Border Collie comes from the border country between Scotland and England, and is perhaps the only dog bred not for looks but purely for work. What gave the breed its fame is no coat colour but a gaze: the eye, with which he moves sheep without touching them.
At the workbench that means one thing: this portrait is about concentration. Everything about the head points the same way.
- Origin
- the border country of Scotland and England — a working sheepdog
- Coat
- double, semi-long with ruff and breeches, or short and smooth
- Colours
- classically black and white; also tricolour, blue merle, red and chocolate
- Height
- males roughly 53 centimetres; females slightly lower
- Life expectancy
- roughly 12 to 15 years
- Character
- intense, quick to learn and work-driven — a dog who needs a job
Character
The Border Collie is the quickest learner the atelier sees pass by, and that is not purely a compliment. The breed learns what you mean and also what you did not mean; a Border without a task invents one, and it seldom turns out happily — chasing bicycles, fixing on shadows, gathering children.
Give him work — herding, agility, detection or simply daily problems to think through — and you get back a sensitive, sharply focused companion who needs only half a word.
Appearance and coat
The coat comes in two lengths: semi-long with ruff, breeches and a plumed tail, or short and smooth. Black and white is classic, but tricolour, blue merle, red and chocolate belong just as much; the breed was never selected on colour.
With a Border Collie the coat is scenery; the portrait sits in the gaze.
The head is broad with a clear stop, the ears stand half erect or drop lightly, and the oval eyes are usually dark brown — in blue merles often blue or partly blue. The body is slightly longer than tall and built for endurance.
Care
Two brushings a week suffice, more often during the moult. What this breed truly costs is time: exercise and thinking, every day. A Border Collie who walks enough but has nothing to consider remains a restless dog.
History
The border country bred sheepdogs on performance for centuries. In 1893 Old Hemp was born, a dog who moved flocks more quietly and efficiently than his contemporaries; virtually every Border Collie alive descends from him. The name came into use only in 1915, to distinguish the working type from the show collie.
The portrait
Your Border Collie as an art portrait
The Border Collie calls for contrast: a black-and-white coat is a gift to a portraitist, provided the white does not burn out and the black does not close up. Photograph in side light and let him look at something — the gaze is the composition.
