the origins of sheepdogs

I’ve always understood that the origins of the Border Collies that I work with, date back a few hundred years, to a time when various hunting breeds of dog were crossed and slowly the herding instincts of sheepdogs started to develop and become honed into a distinguishable breed. However a visitor to one of our sheepdog displays this summer suggested that the history of the herding dog stretches back far longer than a few hundred years.

Kristin Armstrong Oma visited the display a few weeks ago, she is studying past farming societies at Oslo University, and she bought with her the fascinating photo below. It is of a painting in a cave in Valhaug in South Western Norway. It depicts what is undoubtably a man driving sheep or deer but with the assistance of what appears to be a dog in the foreground. Amazingly this cave painting dates back to between 500 and 2000 years BC.

It’s strange to think that the same instincts that I work with now were recognized and harnessed by bronze age farmers, and I can’t help but wonder as I look at the picture whether the dog in the carving is called ‘Fly’  and the farmer is having dreadful trouble in getting her to stop!!