A LONG HISTORY OF COLLIES

Lace was a brilliant sheepdog and worked seamlessly alongside another collie my Mum had bought that was already trained, taking the pressure off us both to get all the sheep in.

Over the years we’ve bred, kept and trained lots of collies, from red and white to tri-coloured, long- and short-coated. Bob, the latest, has made a few appearances on Countryfile during lockdown. He’s the perfect blend of a worker and a family dog, which is wonderful most of the time. But not so much when he jumps on the sofa next to my son after we’ve all been outside in a muddy field. A sign that my kids have the same connection that I did all those years ago.

See ‘A breed apart’, page 54