Border collies are lovely, intelligent dogs – but they don’t always make the ideal family pet. STEPHEN LEWIS visits a rescue centre near York that aims to find a new home for dogs that have proved too much of a handful as pets.

NAP the 13-year-old border collie is a picture of concentration. He’s crouched low, eyes fixed on the herd of Swaledale sheep ahead of him in the unblinking stare shepherds know as the ‘sheepdog eye’.

He’s herding the small flock towards a pen in the corner of the field; but for some reason they’re reluctant to go.

“Come by!” calls Nicki Oliver, signalling Nap to swing around the flank of the flock. “Come by! Good lad! Good boy!”

Gradually, the flustered sheep inch nearer to the pen. One tries to make a break for it along the field’s edge. Quick as a flash Nap races to cut the animal off, moving in short bursts of speed, crouched low to the ground.

The sheep rejoins its fellows; and before long the entire flock is neatly penned in.

Nap gets an affectionate pat from Nicki in gratitude, and looks up at her happily, his tongue lolling from the side of his mouth.

Welcome to Border Collie Rescue. Based on ten acres of land at an isolated farmhouse a few miles from York, this national charity is dedicated to the rescue, training and rehoming of border collie sheepdogs.

At the moment, the farm is home to 18 dogs. Some sleep in the slate-flagged kitchen; others in the outhouses outside. It’s not favouritism, stresses Nicki: some dogs just prefer to be outdoors.

Eighteen border collies can seem quite a handful: they’re active, intelligent animals with a lot of energy to burn.

Since the charity was established in the 1970s, however – long before it moved its headquarters here – it has helped find new homes for thousands of dogs.

Some, like Nap, became homeless after the farmers who owned and trained them died. Others were puppies from unplanned litters and were of no use to the farmer. And many came from ordinary homes: family pets that didn’t adapt to home life. “A lot of people ring up and say ‘I cannot cope’,” Nicki says.

The thing about border collies, she adds, is that they are working dogs, bred for generations to herd livestock, particularly sheep.

That herding instinct goes deep. Pen them up in a small family home, and these intelligent animals are liable to become frustrated and excitable: the classic ‘naughty pet’.

They might, for example, start to try herding things they shouldn’t herd, such as the family cat or even children. “One of the biggest reasons they’re brought in is because of their herding instinct,” Nicki says. “They may have nipped the children, perhaps nipping them to keep them upstairs when they wanted to come down.”

Other border collies are fine indoors, but get overexcited when you take them out for a walk – herding (for which read chasing) cyclists and even cars. Noises and movements set them off, Nicki says.

Whatever the animals’ backgrounds, Border Collie Rescue aims to find them the perfect home.

New arrivals are assessed for the strength of their herding instinct. The charity has its own flock of Swaledale sheep, which Nicki uses to train and evaluate the dogs which come in.

For animals brought up as domestic pets, the first sight of a flock of sheep can be magical, she says.

“You can see them standing there, thinking ‘this is something special’.”

But border collies are all different. Natural herders or those young enough to be trained can be placed on working farms, where they will be happiest.

Others can be trained as rescue dogs or placed as companions with appropriate families, usually in rural areas or on smallholdings.

A few, such as Nap, stay on at Border Collie Rescue, where they help train other dogs.

Wherever possible, the idea is to place them in a home where they can make use of their instincts and abilities, says Nicki’s partner Mike Cooke, who is the charity’s administrator.

Many border collies are never happier than when out working with sheep all day.

“There will be careers for those that have the need for one, that have the drive,” Mike says.

But each border collie is an individual, with his or her own temperament, Mike and Nicki say.

So Stan, for example – an 11-year-old who was a family pet until his owner had to go into hospital – will be more suitable as a companion. Mike and Nicki hope to have found him a home on a smallholding.

Like everyone involved with the charity, Mike and Nicki are volunteers. Mike is a sound engineer in his professional life, Nicki a graphic artist.

The charity takes dogs from all over the country and has a network of volunteers nationwide.

But they are always desperate for more volunteers, particularly at the York centre, for all sorts of jobs, says Mike – everything from helping out with the charity’s website to looking after the dogs.

You only have to see Mike and Nicki with their ‘family’ of dogs to see how much both sides get out of the arrangement.

So if you love dogs, why not find out more? One day it could be you out here, working with dogs like Nap.

• To find out more about Border Collie Rescue, phone 0845 6044941 from 2-5pm weekdays, or visit bordercollierescue.org.uk

• Mike and Nicki will be bringing some of their dogs to Robert Fuller’s gallery at Fotherdale Farm in Thixendale on Sunday May 12 at 7.30 for a talk entitled Border Collie – A Useful Dog. Tickets £9.50 from robertefuller.com