Ann Witte described the Beardies in Scotland that she had personally viewed
working, and Alan described the "Huntaway" working in the following manner: The
Beardie would go up the hill and often clap in the waist-high brush. The sheep, with their
heads low, grazing, cannot be seen at this point. The "Huntaway" with its acute
hearing would listed for where the sheep stirred. Then, it would bound and bounce in the
brush, often hitting heights of 5-6 feet, all the while turning its head about to locate
the sheep. The bark would only come at the height of the leap (Ann figures that was the
way it used its bark for power). Now the Beardie saw the sheep, so it took off and did a
wide circle to bring the sheep together, then it drove them down the hill. Then the
Beardie would return right back up the hill and repeat the entire procedure until the
entire flock was rounded up. It sounds as though the "Huntaway" had a superior
ability to hear. Since today's Beardies actually descend from the Hill and
Flatland dogs, who, for about 400 years, served Man in a different way, we see a variety
of "styles" that aren't really separate but complimentary in their
purpose.
The true hill Beardie, the Huntaway, would be over-extending his usefulness on the
flats. Mari Taggert used to joke that to truly show off the Tweed's of the worlds'
incredible talent, we would be required to design a trial course that was for Huntaways
only. It would cover a couple of hundred acres, covered with thick brush, rocks, etc., and
the stock would have to be put there several weeks in advance, so that they wouldn't be
too tame. (The judge would have to ride on horseback just to be able to view the dog in
action.)
The Huntaway worked sheep that saw dogs only rarely, didn't particularly like people
much either, but the power and the bounce of the Huntaway would cause the positive effect
of moving the stock as a unit down the hill, whereupon your "lesser dog" (a term
used by Scottish shepherds, it's their pen dog, often a Border Collie or an old Beardie
who couldn't do the hill work anymore) would put them through the chute, or hold them to
be dosed or whatever.
The Huntaway would have to gently and confidently handle the ewes with lambs, face
down the nasties, and get this done without direction or command, since their work is done
well out of sight or sound of the handler!
The flatland dog worked the more "traditional" (i.e., better known and
recognized) manner, and certainly didn't have a problem with gripping as needed to get
their work done.
Tommy Muirhead, one of the last farmers to use Beardies as working dogs died
recently and there was a fear that the breed as a working animal might die out. There
is/was an attempt to revive and revitalize the working Beardie in England. The address for
that association, as passed on by Kevin Sparling is:
Davis Dique
Working Bearded Collie Association
32 Jeyes Road
Giffingham, Kent
ME7 5XD
England
This group does not approve of the show bred Beardies, however.
There are working Beardies in some of the U.K. countries today that came from
ancestry not registered with the U.K. Kennel Club. They have paperwork on these dogs back
to the 1800's. Nick Broadbridge, in Scotland, has the Sallen Kennel. He has U.K.
registered dogs and an unregistered working line. Since Jeannie/Bailey all came from
working lines, it would be interesting to see if they are linked.
It is believed that Nick's unregistered line comes from Blue. Tumbull's Blue, a
Scottish dog, is the only Beardie that is ISDS registered (International Sheepdog Society,
and English border collie registry that will only register dogs with known working
ability). This dog caused the registry to add a third category (they started with sheep
dog - rough, and sheep dog - smooth), that being sheep dog -bearded. Of course Blue had to
win the International several times to be recognized.
In North America, Beardies have participated in Border Collie trial courses
successfully. A tribute to their heart and talent is the fact that, with so few working at
these events they succeeded against overwhelming numbers of border collies. There is a
Beardie who has not only run the Border course with a 400+ year outrun, but also took High
in Trial out of over 40 dogs. She was competing successfully in Redwood Empire trials from
around 18 months and won that HIT at age 6.
That little Beardie bitch was Rougeshollow Twill be HoIm, owned and trained by Linda
Lee Merritt of El Cajon, California. Her sire was Herding Champion Rougueshollow Tweed who
was saved from going to the pound by Roberta Wyloge (Lott) and placed with Mari Taggert.
Her dam was Tiburon Devine Day at HoIm. Rougueshollow Tweed, HCH, earned his HCH from the
BCCA Trial Program in May, 1985. He was handled mostly by Mari Taggert. When Tweed became
a herding champion, the requirement (from the BCCA) was 15 points, earned at any stockdog
trial, with two of the wins requiring "majors", that is: based on the point
scale of the BCCA trial program at the time, he had to defeat more than 15 dogs in a class
(or a whole trial, if he went HIT or RHIT).
Thanks to the following knowledgeable people for letting me use
their input:
Judi Max; Mike Tupa; Joel Levinson; Lori and the Surfsong Beardies
Copyright © 1997[Jacqueline Byrnes]
