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Border collie watching sheep on a hillside

Border Collie breeders

The Border Collie is a medium-sized herding dog in the RKC’s Pastoral group.

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Advertise your Border Collie puppies, litters and stud dogs

Breed Border Collies? List your kennel on caninebreeder.co.uk and reach people searching for Border Collie puppies for sale across the UK. Advertise Border Collie puppies for sale, promote your Border Collie stud dog, and show buyers your eye examination and DNA results, your RKC or ISDS registrations and the work your dogs do, from the farm and trials field to agility and the show ring. If your kennel is already listed, claim it and add your own details; if not, create a listing. Licensed breeders can show their licence details on every advert.

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Create your free breeder profile Advertise a litter Advertise a stud dog

Is it free to advertise here?

Yes. A breeder profile and your litter and stud dog adverts are free. Premium profiles, featured placement and sponsored articles are optional paid extras; see pricing.

Do I need a licence to advertise puppies?

In England you need a dog breeding licence from your council if you breed three or more litters in 12 months or breed and sell dogs as a business, and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own schemes. Licensed breeders show their licence number and issuing council on every advert. Puppies must be at least eight weeks old before they go to new homes.

Is my listing already here?

We add licensed breeders from councils' public registers. Search for your kennel name; if it is listed you can claim it and edit everything.

About the Border Collie

The Border Collie is a medium-sized herding dog in the RKC's Pastoral group. It takes its name from the border country of England, Scotland and Wales, where it was developed to work sheep and cattle in the hills, and it is still bred and trialled as a working sheepdog. The International Sheep Dog Society (ISDS), formed in 1906, registers more than 6,000 Border Collie puppies a year for its members and publishes a stud book of working sheepdogs each year. The breed's speed, intelligence and versatility have also brought it success in obedience and agility, and it has been used to detect explosives and drugs.

Size and build. The breed standard asks for a well-proportioned, balanced dog with enough substance to suggest stamina, and it penalises both coarseness and weediness. The body should look athletic. The ideal height for a dog is 53 cm (21 in), with bitches slightly smaller. Movement should be smooth and tireless, with very little lift of the feet, giving the impression that the dog can move fast and stealthily.

Coat and grooming. There are two coat types, moderately long and smooth. Both have a dense top coat over a soft, dense undercoat that resists the weather, and the longer coat forms a mane, breeching and a well-furnished tail. The RKC suggests grooming more than once a week, and the breed sheds. A variety of colours is permitted, provided white never predominates.

Exercise. The RKC puts the breed's exercise needs at more than two hours a day and recommends a large garden, although it lists a small house as enough indoors. Walks alone are not enough: the RKC stresses that a Border Collie needs to be kept engaged, mentally as well as physically, to live a fulfilled life.

Temperament and suitability. The standard describes a keen, alert, responsive and intelligent dog that should be neither nervous nor aggressive. The breed suits active owners in town or country who enjoy training and want a partner for agility, competitive obedience, sheepdog trials or farm work. It is a poor match for a household with little time to give. Expected lifespan is over 12 years.

Litters may be registered with the RKC or the ISDS, so ask which applies before you commit. Browse Border Collie breeders, puppies and stud dogs.

Border Collie health tests

The RKC lists a long set of health screening for the Border Collie. Under the RKC Health Standard, the Good Practice test, which the RKC strongly recommends as a minimum before breeding, is an eye examination, including gonioscopy, under the BVA/KC/ISDS Eye Scheme (run by the BVA). The Best Practice list adds eight DNA tests plus hip, elbow and hearing screening.

Two points are specific to this breed. The DNA test for severe goniodysgenesis and glaucoma risk, announced by the RKC in July 2018, looks for a candidate mutation that is strongly associated with the disease but not proven to cause it, so the RKC asks breeders to keep presenting their dogs for gonioscopy through the Eye Scheme. Separately, the RKC will not register puppies born on or after 1 January 2013 from a merle-to-merle mating, because of the risk of impaired sight and hearing linked to the merle gene. The Border Collie is in Breed Watch Category 1, meaning no breed-specific points of concern have been flagged for show judges.

  • Good Practice: eye testing, including gonioscopy, under the BVA/KC/ISDS Eye Scheme
  • Best Practice: DNA test for Collie Eye Anomaly/Choroidal Hypoplasia (CEA/CH), an inherited disorder of eye development
  • Best Practice: DNA test for Ceroid Lipofuscinosis (CL)
  • Best Practice: DNA test for Imerslund-Gräsbeck Syndrome (IGS), in which vitamin B12 is not absorbed from the gut
  • Best Practice: DNA test for Multi-drug Resistance (MDR1)
  • Best Practice: DNA test for Trapped Neutrophil Syndrome (TNS), which leaves affected puppies with a weakened immune system
  • Best Practice: DNA test for Sensory Neuropathy (SN), a progressive nerve disease
  • Best Practice: DNA test for Severe Goniodysgenesis and Glaucoma Risk (GGD)
  • Best Practice: DNA test for Raine's syndrome (dental hypomineralisation), which leaves teeth weaker than normal
  • Best Practice: BVA/KC Hip Dysplasia Scheme
  • Best Practice: BVA/KC Elbow Dysplasia Scheme
  • Best Practice: KC BAER Scheme hearing test for deafness, including litter screening
  • Breed Watch: Category 1

Choosing a Border Collie breeder

A careful Border Collie breeder will show you the parents' paperwork rather than just describe it. For RKC-registered dogs you can look up recorded DNA results and screening scheme grades yourself on the RKC Health Test Results Finder; for dogs registered only with the ISDS, ask to see the certificates. Expect the breeder to explain what the parents do, whether farm work, trialling, showing or sport, so you understand what the litter has been bred for.

A good breeder will ask you as many questions as you ask them: about your routine, your garden, other pets and what you want to do with the dog. In England, anyone who breeds three or more litters in 12 months and sells any of the puppies, or who runs a business breeding and advertising dogs for sale, needs a council licence. Under the licensing conditions, a licensed breeder may not sell a puppy under eight weeks old and may only show a puppy to a buyer when it is with its mother. Read our guide to buying a puppy safely before you visit.

  • Can I see both parents' current eye examination certificates, including gonioscopy?
  • Which of the Best Practice DNA tests have the parents had, and what were the results?
  • Are the parents hip and elbow scored, and has the litter been BAER hearing tested?
  • Will the litter be registered with the RKC or the ISDS?
  • What do the parents do day to day, and how do they behave at home?

Border Collie questions

How much exercise does a Border Collie need?

The RKC puts the breed's needs at more than two hours of exercise a day and recommends a large garden. Mental work matters as much as walks: the RKC says the breed needs to be kept engaged, so training, games and activities such as agility, obedience or herding are part of daily life with a Border Collie.

Which health tests should a Border Collie puppy's parents have?

The RKC Health Standard's Good Practice test is an eye examination, including gonioscopy, under the BVA/KC/ISDS Eye Scheme. Its Best Practice list adds DNA tests for CEA/CH, CL, IGS, MDR1, TNS, SN, severe goniodysgenesis and glaucoma risk, and Raine's syndrome, plus hip and elbow scoring and BAER hearing testing.

What is the difference between ISDS and RKC registration?

The International Sheep Dog Society keeps a stud book for working sheepdogs and organises the main national and international sheepdog trials. The Royal Kennel Club registers the Border Collie as a pedigree breed in its Pastoral group. Registration with either body does not by itself show that a dog is healthy, so always ask for the health test results.

Can two merle Border Collies be bred together?

The RKC will not register puppies born on or after 1 January 2013 from a merle-to-merle mating, because of the associated risk of impaired sight and hearing in the puppies.

More for Border Collie owners and breeders

Official sources