WORKING BEARDED COLLIES

GENERAL INFORMATION

The working beardie is a very intelligent breed from Scotland, it is very hardy and tough and was bred to be independent. There seems to be a variety of different lines running today, some being more difficult to handle than others.

This is not a breed for the faint hearted or the fair-weather walker, due to their great need for exercise and stimulation. It would not be fair to leave a working beardie to it's own devices either at home or in a kennel and run all day, they need to be busy and this can be either doing their natural droving work, obedience, agility, working trials/tests or search and rescue.

Whilst purebred strains of working beardies are able to use their skills to perfection and do a full days work, they are also equally able to switch off when not working. Unfortunately some of the Working Beardie lines today have acquired Border Collie blood along the way, which means they have difficulty switching off, are prone to obsessive behaviour, (like the Border Collies), are very reactive, even more inclined to chase, use their eye more and work in a different way to a true Working Beardie.

Some Border Collies have beardie-like coats, showing they have Beardie blood in their ancestry, this is why some working beardies will have Border Collie traits and can work like a Border.

The Bearded Collie breed as a whole (both working and show lines) have the fading gene, which makes them change colour and this is the only breed which has the genes to fade out and then come back dark again later.

Left is a photo of Sparkle age 10 weeks and below is a photo of her faded out at 7 months.

Blacks will go very pale grey and then come back to varying degrees of slate, browns will fade to almost white and come back to varying degrees of brown, fawns will fade to virtually white and then come back to fawn again and blues will fade to a pale grey and then come again to varying shades of blue. None of these colours will ever be as dark as their original puppy colour. The eyes will also match the coat colour, pale dogs having pale eyes and dark dogs darker eyes.

A few Beardies, both Working bred and show-bred will stay black if they were born black, but these are quite rare, most will show some fading, especially around the eyes and hocks.

Working Beardies do not cope well with heat, they love jumping in cattle troughs, puddles and ponds, therefore it is a good idea to provide your WBC with water to play in.

A hot WBC can be a very grumpy, stroppy dog and it can also make them very over-reactive and silly if they get overheated.

If you cannot get hold of a paddling pool, a large dustbin lid will be fine while they are puppies and you can progress to something larger later on.

A hosepipe with spray attachment will provide hours of cool entertainment for your WBC.

This is another way to keep your puppies mind active and you can incorporate training into playing with the water.

This breed may look very sweet and cute as a puppy and many people will be tempted by their "sweet and fluffy" faces, but remember these are WORKING dogs, who have been bred to handle very aggressive livestock.

Although they are very loving with their family, they still retain their dominant and protective instincts, with a very strong desire to herd and chase. They need an awful lot of exercise and both mental and physical stimulation, or they will lose their minds!

They are a breed who are better not going into a home where the children are under 10 years old due to their boisterousness and chasing behaviour, unless the owners are already experienced with working collies. They are also not a dog for the 1st time owner or anyone who has not done their homework!!

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updated 25 February 2005

Tassietay Bearded Collies - tassietay@talk21.com