jody9
shepherd and flock
What we’re seeing here exists somewhere in the misty borderland between myth and history, somewhere between utility and ritual. Humans and dogs have been working team-handed for twenty thousand years, and the ultimate expression of that partnership still abides in the same place it began — out on the hill with a herd.
They’re called border collies because they were first bred in the border region between Scotland and England. They were bred for three traits: a keen intelligence, a sturdy constitution, and an almost manic desire to gather in a herd. Nobody cared what they looked like. Color didn’t matter. Long coat, short coat…didn’t matter. Flop-eared or bat-eared…didn’t matter. Big dog, small dog…didn’t matter. All that mattered was that the dog could work the hill.
The always-practical Scots have a saying: There is no good flock without a good shepherd, and there is no good shepherd without a good dog. The saying is deceptively simple. The community depends on the flock to survive; the flock depends on the shepherd; the shepherd depends on the dog. The dog does not depend on the shepherd. The dog works out of love; love for the shepherd, love of the work.
In twenty thousand years, the dog has never betrayed that love.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, greg fallis and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
