This is Old Hemp, the great-great-great-some-odd-grandfather of both of my doggies. All border collies (and therefore all border collie mixes) are his descendants. Old Hemp was born near the border of England and Scotland to two sheepdogs in 1891.
He started trying to herd sheep before he was even weaned and was much more agile, intelligent, and work-driven than any other dogs on the farm. Naturally, his handler took advantage of this and started breeding him to his other dogs, as well as renting him out as a stud. His pups and grand-pups-- most notably his grandson Sweep-- became famous for their remarkable intelligence and their herding ability.
Within just a few years, they became the dominant herding breed. From 1906 to 1951, every single dog who won the International Sheep Dog Society's competition was a descendant of Old Hemp. Today, essentially all agility competitions and sheepdog competitions are won by border collies, to the point that many have separate ABC, or "Anything But Collie" competitions where Old Hemp's descendants aren't allowed, since they have such a tremendous natural advantage over other breeds. They're also consistently found to be the most intelligent dogs, with many of them proven to have a passive vocabulary of hundreds of words.
All because of one bad-ass mutant sheepdog.
Looks just like my border collie, a 2 year old female called Lola. I thought most border collies had that white blaze on the face, maybe not.
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