> This is certainly not correct. The Border Collie registries register dogs
> whose parents are registered, not by their color. At one time it was the
> case that you could "register on merit" meaning, if you could pass a
> working test or placed in the top ten in x-number of trials, your dog
could
> be registerd whether or not it's parents were registered. This may be
still
> possible, but is not done terribly often anymore.

Which registries are we talking about here, and specifically,  when did
they close their books
and do they still accept registered dogs from other, still open registries?

This is likely very rerely done nowadays, as you can't hardly find a OTFS
or mix thereof that has not been registered as either a border collie or
aussie, depending on color.  I believe that the first female Aussie that we
 got in 1970 was half OTFS, the type from Arkansas, and not the type from
the west.  She was a tri and looked just like Old Shep the dog from Montana
that met the train and was erroneously called a border collie in the
article about him.  (her tail had been bobbed, though).

I saw a twin to the midget collie we had when I was little walking down the
street the other day,
I stopped and inquired-she was a registered border collie.    She moved
like a border collie.  She was white with the pale cream sable ears (milk
sable).

I had a black and white mixed breed dog that I gave to the county agent
when my house burned, and she was subsequently registered as a border
collie.  (I do not know which registry).  She was half aussie and  part
terrier and farmshepherd.  This was 1990.

I bet that there are a lot of ACD mixes in the border collie genepool.  I
see it as a good thing for the border collies, but I would love to have an
OTFS or ES that had the looks of the sable/white border collie, but I don't
want the eye and the stalking, I want a dog that considers the livestock to
be part of the family.

The open, performance border collie registries will produce better dogs
than the closed AKC will.

Elaine Reynolds
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