And G'Day to you, Bob and ALL:
Leave it to Mudcat!!! It would have taken me weeks, if not months to gather all of this information! I expect that at the time of Christ, sheep dogs were held in low regard. Certainly Shepherds were. That's part of the beauty of the Christ story... he was first announced to the low and rejected shepherds and when he arose, the first person he appeared to was a woman(held in at least as low a regard as shepherds and sheep dogs, just because she was a woman) who was a prostitute.

All of this is coming together. Thanks so much. And, it's fun, too.

As for Border Collies, I worked for many years at a museum and nature center where we had a small farm with a herd of Cotswolds. We had a serious problem with Canada Geese, who can strip a lawn of all grass with as much efficiency as a river full of Piranhas can strip an oxen of flesh. We tried everything, and nothing worked until we came across an article in a newspaper about a woman who runs a Border Collie rescue service. Ever since the movie Babe, Border Collies have been a fashion accessory around here. Once people buy them, they discover that you actually have to put something in to them, and when you don't they usually become a real headache. So they take them to the Dog Pound (for you folks across the water, that's a place where unwanted dogs and cats are taken.) I heard over the radio yesterday that over a MILLION dogs and cats are put to sleep every year because nobody wants them. They don't "pound" em, they kill them. The two breeds of dog that are at greatest risk are Border Collies (Babe) and Dalmatians (101 Dalmatians) It's funny, when the made the movie Songcatcher, no one wanted a folksinger.)

This woman is on call at all the dog pounds in the area, and when they get a Border Collie, she takes is. Many of them are in bad shape. She has several dogs that she has trained and makes a living making daily rounds to the corporations who have beautiful lawns and water, to keep the Canada Geese away. The others, she donates to non-profit organizations and spends a week or two training them. We got one, who my staff unimaginatively named Mollie. She was quite timid and withdrawn when we got her, and she recognized Canada Geese about as much as she did refrigerators. Probably less, because she'd seen refrigerators before. I went out when she was being trained, and it was exciting to see her go from "Duh, what's that?" to complete indignation when she saw Canada Geese. It took her a couple of days. That ended our Canada Geese problem, and all the kids who come to the Museum love her. She is not schizoid... just the sweetest dog you've ever met. She's got a wonderful home, and the people down the street with a pond have our Canada Geese.

Those who feel the desire can now go Awwwwwww.

Jerry