Since Inauguration Day, I've been distracted by a competition I signed my dog up for, on a whim. She ultimately didn't win, but went farther than I had ever expected, landing in 8th in the Top 10—missing the Top 5 round by three spots.
As part of my drumming up votes, I did one of the "for every like you get a fact about her, her breed, or dogs in general" on LinkedIn. I enjoyed the writing and wanted to preserve what I wrote.
So! Here're some facts about my Border Collie, Freyja.
One of Freyja's favorite things to do is "watch."
As a puppy, she'd sit at the balcony window at a upper-floor in Amsterdam's City Center. She'd spend hours watching humans on their legs, bikes, boats, and cars.
Freyja's a carer.
At the dog park, she'll run between and try to break up any play that's getting a bit too aggressive. She'll leave her pursuit of the ball to make sure things settle down.
When staying with a much older dog, she'd walk up the stairs with the other, acting as a "shoulder to hold" for her elder. She'd wait until the other's confidence and gait was built up, then go up lockstep.
And again with another elder dog, who had problems going up and down the stairs.
That's just for other dogs—she also takes care of her humans too.
I never thought a Border Collie would be my "first dog."
It wasn't until I went to a leadership training where some World Champion herders visited and showed off their skills.
Two groups of sheep herded in less than 30s. Shepherd communicating by whistle.
Then we humans had to herd the sheep: blindfolded, arm-in-arm in groups of three, with a "yeller" at the other side of the field telling us where to go. (There were three different groups and yellers all trying to herd the same two groups of sheep.)
I learnt a LOT about leadership and communication—with some humble pie thrown in after the dogs had done it so well.
Years later, here we are.
Freyja's extremely communicative.
Any light research on the breed talks about the Border Collie Stare. She looks deep into the soul to communicate what she wants you to do—like how they herd sheep. If she barks, you know there's something up because it's relatively rare.
If she sees something interesting out the window, she'll come and get us. She'll run over, look us into the eye. "Do you want to show us something?" more stare "Okay, show me." then we follow. Happens for cats, humans, and deer. Sometimes a random howl.
But, the frustrating bit is when we know she understands and just...decides not to listen. The Stare works both ways, and the comprehension of discussion is visible, as is her decision to not do the thing being asked of her.
Freyja's lived in more countries than I have.
She was born in Hungary, then moved to Amsterdam. As we were in the process of moving to the United States, she was living in Spain. Now, she's here!
She can understand, and has conversations with humans, in English, Spanish, and Catalan.
We have to spell, sometimes, so she doesn't understand what we're talking about.
There are two famous Border Collies that most people may know.
The first: Fly from Babe. The sheepdog-mom of the sheep-pig.
The second: Chaser.
He earned the breed the "most intelligent dog" moniker after winning a Guinness World Record for uniquely identifying 1,000+ toys by name.
He was a 76-year birthday present to a professor of behavioral psychology, John Pilley. At five months, he thought, "Chaser's understanding names of things...maybe there's something to dog memory and language."
Changed how people around the world thought of dog cognition forever.
Shepherd's Lanterns
Border Collies get their name because they were bred on the borders of Scotland and England.
The white tips of their tails are excitingly named "Shepherd's Lanterns." Supposedly that, at dusk —when the day's work is finished—the shepherd would use their tail to help guide them home (the dogs herding sheep from the back and shepherd following the dog and flock).
We spent quite a while choosing her name before she arrived, landing on Freyja.
Freyja is the Norse god associated with, "love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future)" (Wikipedia).
We thought she was a beautiful dog and would be smart, strong-willed, and all that comes with learning about her breed.
We went with the -yj spelling because I like the typographic pairing.
Fun fact: Freyja is also the origin of the word Friday, or Freyja's Day, in the same way Thursday was Thor's Day and Wednesday was Odin's Day.
Why Shadowstorm?
She's an extremely quiet walker, and likes to be where stuffs happening. We'd not notice, then turn around and trip over her.
She's our shadow (when she feels like it).
When a puppy, Freyja had many Zoomies—or Storms. As the day's light faded, our anxiety rose. That energetic dog breed that needs to expend energy, we thought that was normal.
Nope.
We were overextending her and she was exhausted. Once we figured out—fewer storms.
But, the moniker was set, and sounded cool: Shadowstorm.
Freyja Shadowstorm.
Communicating impatience
Of the various ways of communicating, if she really wants our attention she'll level up her tactics.
Her most successful is putting her head on whatever we're looking at: Switch, phone, book—doesnt matter what.
The photo is of her impatience with me while k was at the start of an exciting scene in Fourth Wing. This week I read Onyx Storm and she did the same pose...but I wasn't quick enough to get a photo. 😅
Black & White isn't the only Border Collie coat colors.
There's also:
- Blue Merle,
- Red & White,
- Red Merle,
- Tri-color,
- Blue,
- Gold, and
- Lilac.
There's some chatter in the Border Collie community about the connection between coat color and personality type, trying to identify what aspect of the herding job their predisposed to be good at.
It's not actually true—using coat judge personality type. However, when they are puppies and they're intended for their breed's trade, trainers do take special focus to see who the dog is so they can specialize in specific aspects of herding (especially when herding with 1+ dogs).
Hide-n-seek
Freyja's true to the Border Collie name: herding basketballs, "stalking" her flock (humans), and ever watchful.
Another way we engage her intelligent, herding brain is through hide-n-seek!
She loves it.
We all go hide and ask Freyja, "Where's $name?" She'll go around the house, up and down floors, searching everywhere—very sight-oriented. She won't stop till she finds us.
We can use any of her regular-interaction-human names and she knows who we're talking about.
I liken Freyja to an embodied, furry manifestation of ADHD.
If she doesn't use her brain or body enough, she'll get anxious, depressed, or destructive. There's the watchful-ness of "ah! That thing over there moved. Just a blade of grass but it moved!"
She enters her hyper-focus mode when playing or "working." The kids in the neighborhood may want to come, pet, and say hi to play—but if she's playing with her basketball, that's the only thing she cares about in the moment.
I've learned more about my own needs from watching & seeing how her own needs align. She's been with me from near the beginning of my burnout, all the way through to today—essential learnings, especially at the particular time.
Shepherd's Whistles
Something really cool from sheepherding side of things is the Shepherd's Whistle. It's this specially designed whistle so humans can create a wide variety of modulatable and consistent sounds to communicate with the dogs.
They take a lot of practice to just make sounds—been working at it myself (can reliably produce sound but not there yet on communicating with Freyja through them yet).
A fun reference site I've bookmarked is this page by a whistlemaker, Logan Whistles, that gives both standard command and whistle combination to learn & practice at home!
thebordercollie.co.uk/collections/whistle-command-sounds-and-how-to-use-a-sheepdog-whistle
Watch them herd
It's amazing to watch a trained Border Collie herd, and it's deep inside their souls.
Whenever Freyja sees someone she's interested in, or needs to spend some time figuring out how to approach them, she lays down. It's her "watching and waiting stance" that passerbys compliment, "WOW, you've trained her well!"
"No...it comes as part of her programming. She's always done it." and I have to clarify as well, "It's not aggression. She's curious and wanting to see if you'll say hi and be a new friend."
Bonus, here's some Border Collies herding some ducks.
Freyja's favorite toy is her ball.
In the house, this is a small children's soccer ball that's wholly speckled with teeth indentations & tears from play.
Outside, it's her basketball. I regularly play basketball with her—e.g. passing back and forth, dribbling past her while she tries to steal it. At the dog park, I throw and punt the ball and she races across the field to make the ball stationary.
Then she lays and watches the ball until I get to her. Repeat.
Freyja's the biggest reason we know any of our neighbors in the States.
She knows all the people and other dogs, interacting with them.
She's made friends with some teenage girls, who practice volleyball at a street intersection. They'll pass to her—as a volleyball or as a soccer ball—and she'll pass it back.
The one time she's gotten out of the house without a leash was when she got so excited about the prospect of play and ran out before the leash clicked.
Sleeping positions
One of Freyja's favorite sleeping positions is in a corner, on her back, with her legs touching the walls. It's cute, awkward, and looks extremely uncomfortable but works comfortably for her.
That's all well and good, apart from when she's having more...active dreams. Have been woken numerous times to her "running on the walls", as she's chasing something in her dream. This is exclusive of the sleep howling, snoring, barking, etc. :D
One of Freyja's favorite sleeping positions is in a corner, on her back, with her legs touching the walls. It's cute, awkward, and looks extremely uncomfortable but works comfortably for her.
That's all well and good, apart from when she's having more...active dreams. Have been woken numerous times to her "running on the walls", as she's chasing something in her dream. This is exclusive of the sleep howling, snoring, barking, etc. :D