The hardworking sheepdog is the backbone of New Zealand's sheep industry.  

This is 'Old Hemp', who is a common ancestor of many New Zealand and British sheepdog lines.

(photo taken from the book "Working Dogs Breeding, Feeding, Training and Care" by Neil Rennie)

This is a book written by a New Zealander about NZ Sheepdogs and was published in 1984.  He has a long chapter about the origins of sheepdogs in New Zealand which I won't quote in it's entirety!  But basically our heading (eye) dogs are derived from the Scottish or Border Collie.  The author goes into detail about how the names came about.  There further developed many different types and strains over the years after having first been imported into NZ in the mid 1800's.  A lot of NZ heading dogs go back to one dog, Old Hemp, who was born in England in 1893.  In NZ a smooth coated heading dog is preferred.  There are many different types,
small, medium and large and various colours and working styles.

The huntaway was developed from the Border Collie and I will quote from the book "The huntaway was developed as a direct result of the enormous change in New Zealand farming heralded by the advent of refrigerated shipping.  The change in emphasis from all wool to wool and meat production, meant the Merino was supplanted by the heavier-woolled English breeds like the Leicester, Lincoln and Romney.  Shepherds found they needed a dog with noise, capable of pushing these more sluggish breeds of sheep - and so they 
developed the huntaway.

Among the first dogs brought to New Zealand were some with natural noise, and the huntaway was produced by selective breeding from these early dogs. One strongly identifiable strain in the huntaway is the Beardie.  By
comparison with the Border Collie the Beardie has a much squarer head and body, very shaggy coat and full natural tail."  Further along "What is remarkable is the rapidity with which the huntaway was stabilised as a
breed.  It is unlikely serious attempts to develop this type of dog were begun before the 1870's, yet by the 1890's several famous huntaway strains were established with all the characteristics the breed still shows today.  Later huntaway strains have received infusions of other blood including black and gold Labradors.  Some people looking for maximum noise experimented with hound blood.  This resulted in a type of huntaway often seen today - a great big heavy-jowled dog with almost non-stop noise and a tremendous hound-like bay."

The above photo shows a huntaway on the left and a heading (eye) dog on the right, but there are many variations on both types of dog and you will see an example of this if you have a look at our eye dog, Ruby, who could almost pass for a huntaway in size, she is certainly much bigger than the heading dog in this photo.

Sheepdogs in New Zealand are generally regarded as essential but expendable and many of them lead very harsh, comparatively short lives.  The lucky ones are retired to small acreages to live out their last few years doing what they were bred to do,  but at a slower pace.  There is an old adage in New Zealand that if you make a pet of your sheepdog then it won't work for you.  Well, our Ruby is a wonderful pet, but she loves to work.  Her main problem is me!  But we bumble along.  In different hands she'd probably be a cracker of a dog, but as it is, she's very easily managed, nice laid back temperament and great company.  She suits us well and we're lucky to have her.

There are quite a good selection of web sites to do with Border Collies and sheepdogs.  Here are links to a couple of sites which have many more links on them.

This page last updated October 3rd, 2000.