Markets In Everything: Sheep For Border Collies

Fun story. So many people now have dogs from herding breeds that there is a demand for sheep to herd, just to occupy them, and I suppose to a larger extent, keep the owners amused. (pic: Leah Nash for the WSJ)

For our next dog I've kind of got my heart set on an an Australian Cattle Dog, hope we can find one for a reasonable price.

In a Tale That Wags Dog Owners, They Rent Flocks for Bored Collies - WSJ.com: "Compulsive Sheep Herders Need a 'Job' to Entertain Them; 'That'll Do'. BATTLE GROUND, Wash.—Sue Foster knew what she needed to do when her border collie, Taff, was expelled from puppy school for herding the black Labs into a corner. He rented some sheep. Then she bought another border collie and rented some grazing land. Then she bought some sheep of her own. And a third border collie. Now, like the old lady who swallowed the fly, Ms. Foster keeps a llama to chase off the coyotes that threaten the lambs that go to market to finance the sheep that entertain her dogs. Once upon a time, Americans got dogs for their sheep. Now they get sheep for their dogs. "I never dreamed it would go this far," says Ms. Foster, 56 years old. Border collies, first bred along the frontier between England and Scotland, are compulsive herders, with instincts so intense they sometimes search for livestock behind the television when sheep appear on screen, says Geri Byrne, owner of the Border Collie Training Center, in Tulelake, Calif. Left unoccupied, they'll dig up the garden, chew up the doggie bed or persecute the cat. Herding experts—yes, there is such a thing—say it's increasingly common for people who get border collies as pets to wind up renting or buying sheep just to keep their dogs busy. "It's something that's snowballing all the time," says Jack Knox, a Scottish-born shepherd who travels the U.S. giving herding clinics."