The good-natured, animated Bearded Collie is famous for the “Beardie Bounce,” a bounding yo-yo leap that reveals a Beardie’s joyous, carefree attitude about life. It’s not unusual for some Bearded Collies to jump level with their person’s face unless taught otherwise, but even then, both owner and dog know full well that the dog is capable (and more than willing). Below is a quick glimpse at what this breed can do:
We got to wondering if somewhere on the planet, there hasn’t a Bearded Collie named “Betty” after a scene from the epic TV series, M*A*S*H*:
The “Beardie bounce” isn’t just a nickname for the breed’s happy dance, it’s a working style sometimes referred to as a huntaway style. Actual working Beardies in Scotland often worked in spots – usually thick underbrush on hillsides – that were hidden from sheep, then bounced straight up to keep the herd in sight. It was also a way to handle a recalcitrant ewe or ram, bouncing and barking to get control as needed. Working Beardies were often called “hill” dogs, casting out, gathering the sheep and bringing them to the owner. The breed is still used for herding on British farms.
In an article by Freeman Lloyd that appeared in a 1929 issue of Kennel and Bench, he wrote that Bearded Collie “sheepdogs of Scotland” were the only dogs used around the slaughter houses in east end Montreal, Canada, and other sources confirm that the dogs were commonly used by French Canadian drovers some forty years before the writing of Lloyd’s article. Doing the math results in realizing that Beardies were working dogs in Canada over 100 years ago. It’s a tradition kept up by the Bearded Collie Club of Canada which held its first Herding Instinct Test in 1987. Thirty Beardies took part, and a dog named Ch. Classical Mystique (owned by Bridget Nowak) became the first Beardie to be awarded an H.C. by the Bearded Collie Club of Canada.
Image: “Bearded Collie in Field” by LA Shepherd
www.facebook.com/L.A.ShepardArt
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/lee-ann-shepard.html
www.etsy.com/shop/TheDogLover