Okay so funny/slightly embarrassing story. My agility trainer usually brings two of her dogs to class with her. One is a small, petite, smooth black and white BC girl. The other is a dog that looks like a larger sized rough coated tricolor split face border collie. I just realized TODAY (after 9 weeks) that he's actually not a border collie at all. (That's the good thing about reading your trainer's website I guess.) Embarrassing: 1) BCs are one of my favorite breeds. You'd think I'd recognize when a dog is or isn't a BC. 2) I've met 4 of this dog's relatives, including it's dam and two littermates. It never ever occurred to me that he was a Welshie. Ah well...
Anyways, I've been doing some research because I've loved all 5 I've met. They seem so great and fun and athletic. From my reading they are supposed to be more independent and vocal than BCs. They also are loose eyed dogs, unlike BCs, used to herd pretty much anything. Some Welsh sheepdogs back sheep like koolies and kelpies do. They come in smooth and rough and pretty much any color. The breed almost went extinct and was absorbed into BCs as they gained more popularity but they have recently made a Welsh sheepdog club and are working on keeping the Welsh dogs a separate strain.
Good references:
http://www.lasrocosa.com/aussiehistory1.html
http://www.gis.net/~shepdog/BC_Museum/Permanent/AdelineJones/WelshSheepDog.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Sheepdog
http://www.herdingontheweb.com/welsh.htm
http://www.welshsheepdogsociety.com/
I thought the herding breed enthusiasts might find them interesting. Unfortunately it seems like it is almost impossible to get one unless you live in Wales and have a farm. It seems like a lot of the breed people are against them becoming pet and sports dogs. It's a shame, the ones I'm around are just fabulous sports dogs and very even tempered.
Anyways, I've been doing some research because I've loved all 5 I've met. They seem so great and fun and athletic. From my reading they are supposed to be more independent and vocal than BCs. They also are loose eyed dogs, unlike BCs, used to herd pretty much anything. Some Welsh sheepdogs back sheep like koolies and kelpies do. They come in smooth and rough and pretty much any color. The breed almost went extinct and was absorbed into BCs as they gained more popularity but they have recently made a Welsh sheepdog club and are working on keeping the Welsh dogs a separate strain.
Good references:
http://www.lasrocosa.com/aussiehistory1.html
http://www.gis.net/~shepdog/BC_Museum/Permanent/AdelineJones/WelshSheepDog.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Sheepdog
http://www.herdingontheweb.com/welsh.htm
http://www.welshsheepdogsociety.com/
I thought the herding breed enthusiasts might find them interesting. Unfortunately it seems like it is almost impossible to get one unless you live in Wales and have a farm. It seems like a lot of the breed people are against them becoming pet and sports dogs. It's a shame, the ones I'm around are just fabulous sports dogs and very even tempered.