the fate of those sheep if left to some of the highly strung, excitable dogs seen competing at dog-trials nowadays.’ This needs setting within the context of New Zealand, which he was writing about, and the fact that at one time sheepdogs in that country were expected to stand guard on untended flocks overnight, or even retrieve lost sheep by themselves during the night.
The dogs Whyte spoke of are sports dogs rather than working dogs and he marks the transition of them and their owners from the arena of work to that of sport. Speaking about the early movement of sheepdogs into the dog show arena Whyte clearly predicted the continued movement of the sheepdog from working animal, through sporting beast and to leisure object when speaking of the creation of the sheepdog as a pedigree animal for show (the rise of dog shows will be discussed in detail in Chapter 3). He suggested that the pedigree sheepdog raised for the show arena and leisured lifestyle would become a poor imitation of its ancestors with all of the beautiful looks that are associated with the Border Collie of today and none of the brains that made it such a useful tool on the farm (Whyte, 1927). Similarly, Moore (1929: 25–26) stated that: ‘show qualities in sporting dogs were practically valueless without satisfactory proof of working merits’. Whether this is the case or dogs have simply continued to change in response to the changing requirements of humans is an important question. The working sheepdog can still be found on farms throughout the world; its brains highly valued, its ability to undertake long, hard work unquestioned, its often mongrel appearance and pedigree of little concern. We may in an abstract sense see all sheepdogs as ‘sheepdogs’ with a common root but in reality today those bred for working, for sport and for show are all very different, and different characteristics are more highly valued across the three groups. The important point is that whether the sheepdogs are working in the fields, focused on trials or dedicated to the show arena, they have all been bred and trained by humans in a manner that contextualizes them as objects for work or leisure.
Whether limited or not in their ability to aid the breeding and training of effective sheepdogs for work on the farm, sheepdog trials have become a popular sport throughout the world. This includes countries such as the UK, Australia and New Zealand, as well as Canada and America (Moore, 1929), with the main focus being those nations with a history of sheep farming. Not surprisingly, trials generated an International Sheep Dog Society in 1907 that had organizing and promoting trials and improving the nature of the sheepdog as its twin founding principles (Palmer, 1983). Under the auspices of this organization, betting on trials was banned (Halsall, 1982). Just as watching sheepdog trials is not related to financial gain, nor is participation monetarily driven, at least directly, with prizes of limited value the norm (Halsall, 1982). Though the potential to earn a profit from breeding a prize-winning sheepdog does need to be kept in mind, even this does not appear to be a leading reason for taking part in the sport. Rather, it seems to be for the joy of proving an ability to breed and train a dog and then to work with it.
By as early as 1877 the Bala trials were attracting over 2000 spectators (Moore, 1929), and from 1976 to 1999 the BBC produced the television series One Man and his Dog, which brought the sport of sheepdog trials to a mass, and mainly urban, audience. Such was the popularity of the show that at one time it attracted 7.8 million viewers (Palmer, 1983). From its demise as a regular series to 2013 the show continued as a series of annual specials before becoming part of the BBC’s Countryfile programme in 2013. A similar programme entitled A Dog’s Show ran on New Zealand television from 1977 until 1992 (Jukes, 2003). Why did people watch these programmes? Was it to see the skills of man and dog or to admire the beauty of the idealized rural landscape? The answer is ‘probably a bit of both’ but the result was that in addition to giving urbanites a glimpse into an aspect of rural life the programme helped to place the sheepdog (also known as the Border Collie) as an iconic emblem of this life and the rural landscape.
The televising of sheepdog trials split opinion, with the purists suggesting that in constructing the trials to meet the requirements of television the integrity of the sport was lost as it became pure entertainment. In other words, they were concerned about the loss of the authenticity of the sport and its dislocation from its roots. While not necessarily disclaiming this, the other side of the debate saw it as a sacrifice worth making to bring an aspect of the rural way of life to an urban population and in the process to bridge the gap between rural and urban dwellers (Drabble, 1989). Today, the sport continues to be a popular one with a loyal fan base and a committed group of participants, though it is best described as a niche sport.
Irrespective of the merits of sheepdog trials it is worth noting the following quotation from Jones (1892: 76), who was writing not long after the creation of the first trials: ‘the freedom from the infliction of distress or pain or death upon any of the animals engaged in the operations – a condition too seldom characteristic of the sports and pastimes in which people take pleasure’. When put into the context of blood sports (as discussed in Chapter 3), which were diverse in nature and still popular in 1800s Britain, Jones’ statement about sheepdog trials can be seen as arguably a major step forward in terms of the rights and welfare of animals (particularly of dogs and sheep in this instance).
Today, the sheepdog is not only used in the herding of sheep for farming and sport but also as a tourist attraction. Across the rural landscape of the UK, where the use of sheepdogs has a long history, operators are now offering tourists the opportunity to see demonstrations of the abilities of these animals and their handlers. In this way not only the dogs but also the shepherds are being reinvented, transforming them from agricultural workers to tourism industry employees. For example, one farm in Inverness-shire, Scotland, offers sheepdog demonstrations with a ‘true native highland shepherd’, speaking of an authentic experience for the tourist. This operator, like the sled dog operators discussed later in this section, recognizes the potential to tap into the appeal of puppies by not only putting on demonstrations but offering the opportunity for visitors to meet ‘friendly Collie pups’. In this way also the nature of the animal is being changed, turning it into an attraction and focal point for the affections of visitors and away from its role as an agrarian working animal. These pups for petting, an activity also offered in at least some of the farms in the UK that have opened their gates to tourists, are representative not of the traditional notions of the agrarian working dog but of the dog as part of the family, as a pet. Visitors to the countryside are now also enticed to learn how to become a sheepdog handler, as farms offer the opportunity to learn the skills that have been associated with shepherding. Such an example, known as the Lake District Sheepdog Experience, exists in the Lake District of the UK where the operator provides the dogs, and the experience is open to everyone, from pure novices upwards (Anonymous, 2013a).
Another company, called Shepherds Walks, offers – unsurprisingly – walking holidays, in rural Northumbria (UK). As shown in Fig. 2.1, the company plays on the notion of the shepherd as the knowledgeable country person, depicting the operator of the walks with the tools of the shepherd: his crook and his Border Collie, which by default must be a sheepdog, irrespective of the lack of sheep in the picture. The notion that tourists who undertake an experience with this company are gaining an authentic one is underlined on the company’s website by the knowledge that when the company was set up by the owner in 1999 he was then ‘a full time Hill Shepherd’ (Shepherds Walks, 2013). In this instance neither the ‘shepherd’
