Once they become AKC registered, the newspapers will become

Donald McCaig once warned with sorrowful foresight: “Once they become AKC registered, the newspapers will become flooded with ads for them. And you’ll see Border collies in pet stores and animal shelters.” His words, though plain in form, carry the weight of prophecy. They speak to the tragedy that comes when living beings are reduced to fashion, when noble creatures are commodified by human vanity. For McCaig, a shepherd and a writer, knew well that the Border collie was not an ornament but a worker, a partner, a spirit forged in the fields. To strip them of this dignity, and to turn them into merchandise, was to betray both the dog and the bond between man and beast.

The AKC registration, a mark that elevates breeds in the eyes of the public, is here seen not as an honor but as a curse. Once a breed is given prestige, it becomes a commodity. Breeders rush to profit, families rush to purchase, and the newspapers, once filled with ordinary stories, become crowded with advertisements for puppies. Yet behind this flood lies a tide of tragedy: homes unprepared for the intensity of the breed, shelters filling with abandoned animals, and lives cast aside because humans desired fashion more than responsibility.

The Border collie, more than most, bears the burden of this truth. For they are not a dog made for idle companionship alone, but for labor, discipline, and endless work upon the hills. Their minds, sharp as flint, crave challenges; their bodies, bred for stamina, hunger for wide fields. When such creatures are confined to apartments, neglected by owners who did not understand their nature, their brilliance becomes their torment. And thus the prophecy comes to pass: the shelters overflow with the very dogs once so proudly advertised.

The ancients would have understood McCaig’s lament, though in other forms. They spoke of the danger of luxury: how rare spices, once sacred, became cheapened by excess trade; how the warhorse, once noble, became a toy for parades; how honor itself, when commodified, lost its power. The fate of the Border collie is but a reflection of this eternal truth—that when a thing is pursued for its name, rather than its nature, corruption follows.

History gives us vivid examples. In the days of the Dalmatian craze, when movies made the spotted dogs famous, families bought them in droves. But soon, unable to handle their energy, they abandoned them. Shelters filled with Dalmatians, not because the breed was unworthy, but because humans were unready. So too with the husky, sought for beauty, but too often surrendered for being wild. McCaig’s warning fits into this lineage of folly: the fate of the Border collie would be no different once the allure of prestige outweighed the burden of stewardship.

The lesson is as sharp as a shepherd’s whistle cutting across the hills: love animals for what they are, not for what they symbolize. Do not seek a breed because it is popular, or recognized, or fashionable. Seek it only if you are ready to honor its nature, to meet its needs, to live in covenant with it. For every creature, whether humble or noble, carries within it a spirit shaped by centuries of labor and survival. To ignore this is not only ignorance—it is betrayal.

Practical action must follow. If you would welcome a dog into your home, first study its nature. Ask not, Is it beautiful? but Am I prepared for the life it demands? Do not be swayed by advertisements or by names in the registry. Instead, walk among shelters, look into the eyes of those already cast aside, and let compassion guide your choice. If you choose a Border collie, know that you are choosing endless work, endless energy, endless devotion. Only then can the bond be true.

Thus Donald McCaig’s words become timeless counsel: When society exalts a breed, beware. For the flood of desire often ends in a flood of abandonment. Let us learn, then, to see animals not as commodities but as companions, not as status but as covenant. In this lies the wisdom of stewardship, the salvation of the shelters, and the honor of humankind.