#making them harder to contol with a dog than without

[fjordfolk]

border collies took a while to get to my area - they came hand in hand with scaling of farming and modern crossbred, more docile sheep. I've read articles stating they had their main popularization in the 1950s, but probably slightly later here - my mother was born in 57 and she remembers when the dog on a farm was a buhund type more often than not. i know farmers whose families have kept sheep for centuries - our group of farms is over 300 years old and considered newish - they themselves have been at it since the fifties or sixties, and they just... never tried a working sheepdog. never got around to it. didn't grow up with it, didn't see the point.

on the other hand, i also know farmers that have kept loads of border collies, two or three at a time for decades. but recently, more farmers have been switching back to traditional breeds of sheep. and everyone i know who's done that, they've also quit border collies.