Recognizing My Inner Border Collie

Saturday, 12 December 2009 01:30 Written by Lezlie Laws

Sometimes, when we read a good book, we realize we like it because we’re recognizing ourselves in one of the characters.  In fact, that’s what we seek in literature, isn’t it?  Some sort of recognition about who we are.  Usually, we recognize ourselves in human beings.  But recently, I read a book in which I recognized myself as a dog.

     In The Dogs of Bedlam Farms, Jon Katz writes so wonderfully about his love of border collies, a breed with which I’ve had very little experience.  He has two young border collies that he’s training to work his herd of sheep on a small farm in upstate New York.  I love this book for the story it tells about Katz’s own transformation from sedentary urbanite to capable farmer.  But his descriptions of his dogs Orson and Rose are the best part of the book.  I’ve seen border collies working a herd on TV, and it is a sight to behold.  Agile and eager, these dogs are smart and energetic and so beautiful in the way they move through their world.  Katz really captures the character of this breed and tells some very touching and hilarious stories about his adventures with Orson and Rose.

    So when I read about how they are trained, and how training can go wrong, I so appreciated the many fine traits of this breed, as well as their foibles.  I’m not sure exactly when it happened in the book, but by the time Katz was telling stories of the farm in winter, and depicting the challenges that Orson and Rose had in their training, I began to see myself as a border collie.  Now, it is clear that I flatter myself in making this comparison.  But, still, as Katz described the antics of Orson and Rose, I couldn't help seeing myself in some of his descriptions.

Border collies are very loyal and exceedingly responsible.  They are natural organizers; they will gather all manner of creatures together for unknown purposes.  They like to work.  They want to be well-trained in doing their work.  They want to gain the respect of their trainers.  They want to please them.  They need to have work.  If they don’t have work, they will create work for themselves.  If they’re inside the house for too long and not able to be out herding or organizing, they will start moving their toys from one end of the house to the other, as if the fate of the world depended on the task of relocating bones and rubber duckies from the corner of the living room to the back of a closet in the bedroom.  When an early thaw finally allowed them to get outside to play, Katz says of Orson and Rose,

Now chipmunks, field mice, rabbits, and deer had reemerged to keep the dogs occupied as they dashed here and there in an effort to organize things.  Border collies are heroic in their ambition, but doomed to fail.  They simply cannot position every moving thing in the world where they want it to be (217).

      They are naturally enthusiastic and physically agile.  This enthusiasm has to be directed by a higher source.  They can bring laser focus to a task and they can be goofily distracted.   They are amazingly enthusiastic and seemingly happy about living.  However, their natural enthusiasm can sometimes work against them.  A poorly trained dog will run headlong into a herd, dispersing them instead of consolidating them.  Border collies can sometimes be a bit too assertive in their herding.  Once trained, they want their charges to behave and on occasion they bite or pull a recalcitrant sheep in the direction it needs to go, sometimes causing distress or even injury to the sheep.  

     They like to fix problems efficiently.  Though playful creatures, they can be overly serious about their work.  Once he had the herd in place, Orson would hunker down behind them and watch relentlessly for hours.  His evil eye was as useful as his nipping at the elbows of any sheep thinking she could take off on her own.

     Border collies love treats.  Border collies like to rest their chins in the lap of the person they love and rest gently with them.  Border collies are fine looking animals.

Just watch me next time we’re together and see if you don’t see a little of the border collie in me.  I promise I won’t nip at the back of your knees or try to push you into the nearest barn.