Coat isnt an issue, its the construction of the dog too that the working people have changed, completely!

Smaller ears? Are you sure?

Id stick him in there yes. He'd do OK.

Its hard to comment on the CCs as they are not really seen as workers - although were originally bred as ratters on large ships, for food purposes and bed warmers. Apart from the excess hair in the ring now adays the only comformation changes have been for the better, better dentition, stronger front, back ends - and that ratting instinct never goes

I cant show you piccies of the breed back then as it was thousands of years ago and the breed is not well documented, not properly. How ever if you google show champions from the 1960/1970s you will get an idea of what the breed would have looked like one/two thousand years ago, you will also see a wee bit of different to the dogs I have posted on here, and other recent top winners.

If the breed were still used for ratting, food sources and bed wamers. Then I doubt they would be 'that' different to the bred now adays - although of course we have already seen a few changes from the orginal breed. All three purposes of this breed could still be achieved, with success that I am sure of.

I quite like the little cockers - both types, but all the show bred ones I have met have been so undriven that I could never imagine they could do a day's work in a million years. Fantastic little pets - but not workers. Am I totally wrong?

However, lots of the keepers here have the little black working cockers and they are fabulous, busy little dogs.

Moobli your boy is stunning. I don't know how they manage to get the coats to look like that! My boy has a lot of coat but even straight after he's been brushed it doesn't look like that, all floaty.

Thanks Alice. I remember the shepherd/trialler I got him from said he could "enter beauty competitions" The show collie coats are unbelievable aren't they? I wonder how many months of grooming and how many products it takes to get the coat to look like that.

In fact, those show dogs look very much like my son's cuddly collie teddy bear he takes to bed each night. I must groom it up and then take a pic so you can see

A much more accurate collie coat:



:P

I spent AGES teaching Siren how to enjoy grooming as i was expecting her to have an excessive coat...as it is - I have the one who does not need much grooming but LOVEs the brush!

Maces doesnt like being groomed. I thought he was going to have rather a thick coat but seems possibly not from some comments on here!

Working Border Collies can have all sorts of coats, none are wrong. However it is rare to see one with a coat which trails along the ground which is what you will see in the show ring.

Possibly not helped by the fact their legs are too short for their bodies.

I have had a lot of show dogs come for training on my sheep and while some have some instinct, and some might look the right shape, not a single one has had everything. Mostly they lack stamina and drive in the right places.

Another thing I have noticed is a lot of very hyper active Bcs with no off switch, loads of drive but no trainability. Not necessarily show dogs, but usually not bred specifically for working sheep.

A sheep dog is a very complex beastie indeed and hard enough to breed a decent worker when the parents are good workers themselves, how could it be possible to breed 5 or 10 generations and them never be fully trained and working every day but retain all the qualities a good sheep dog needs.

That said I believe in live and let live, I will breed my kind of dog, and others can breed their kind of dog, and each leave the other in peace to get on with it.