EDMONTON – Sending Border Collie stock dogs to Scotland is like carrying coals to Newcastle.
But next week, two pups from Bob Stephens’ dog Turk will be going to the Isle of Skye in northern Scotland to help improve the Border Collie breed in Scotland, the ancestral home of the stock dog.
Stephens, of Kamloops, B.C., believes it’s the first time a Canadian Border Collie pup has been sent to Scotland. He sold the pups for $500 US. each and they will be 10 months old when they arrive in Scotland.
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Turk caught the eye of the Scottish judge during last year’s Western Canadian stock dog finals in Kamloops, B.C.
“He liked his strength and his stock sense,” said Stephens while waiting for his turn at the stock dog event at Farmfair. “Few dogs are as strong as Turk.”
Because stock dog competitions are fiercely competitive in the United Kingdom, many competitors breed their dogs for trials, not for working livestock.
Trial dogs are more passive and easy going. Working dogs aren’t afraid to take a nip at a sheep to get the animal moving, but that would be grounds for disqualification in a trial.
“In Britain, they’ve run out of big strong dogs to do the work.”
Stephens, at one time an RCMP dog handler, said when he retired in 1993 he bought Turk, his first Border Collie stock dog.
He now travels 60,000-80,000 kilometres a year travelling to stock dog trials across North America.
