Bearded Collie

For the last 500 years there have been dogs resembling the Bearded Collie as we know it today, a shaggy coated dog used for herding cattle and sheep in the Borders and Highlands of Scotland.

The first breed standard was made in 1912 but Beardie populations dwindled to almost nothing by 1940. The revival of the breed was an accident. Mrs G Willison asked a farmer for a working Shetland Sheepdog. The puppy she received turned out to be a Bearded Collie, which she names Jeannie. So taken with the dog, she searched for a mate, located a dog named Bailey and thus were established the Bothkennar Bearded Collies, providing the foundation for the modern breed. The Kennel Club recognised the breed in 1959.