Meet Ozzie

This pup is just 11 weeks old and his new owner of just three weeks is my friend with a farm across the valley. She lost her old collie - Oscar - a few months ago so this is Oscar the Second or Ozzie for short.

She tells me he is a cross between a border collie and a Scotch collie. Since I didn't know what a Scotch collie was I asked - " A long haired rough coat collie?"

"No" she said, "a Scotch collie - the ones with the long noses."

So of course I went to Wikipedia which says: The origin and history of the Scottish Collie dog breed is not entirely known, but we do know that it included ancestors originating in Scotland and northern England. Before this time, however, the breed has an ancestry that spans thousands of years as the Scottish Collie's ancestors had been used to herd sheep and cattle for many centuries in both the Highlands of Scotland and throughout early England.^{[citation needed]} The word "collie" is thought to come from the word for "black" or "coal" in Old English. But the word could also trace to Gaelic or/and Irish, in which the words for "doggie" are, respectively, càilean and cóilean. It is also possible the word collie is of mutual English and Gaelic derivation.


The Scottish Collie breed consists of both the Rough Collie and the Smooth Collie. The ancestor of the Scottish Collie was short, somewhere around 14 inches or so at the shoulders with a broader head, and black or black-and-white. The dogs that came to be the Scottish Collie had been used to herd and guard the flocks and herds of their caretakers...

Although the Scottish Collie and its ancestors had been used for several centuries as a working dog herding sheep and cattle, it was in England in the 19th century that the dog became popular as a pet and show dog rather than a working dog breed. Queen Victoria took an interest in Scottish Collies and the rest of the country soon followed suit. It was also at this time that the dog became larger through cross-breeding with breeds such as Borzois...

A surge in popularity occurred in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s with the release of the movie "Lassie Come Home" in 1943 and the subsequent television series that began in 1954 and ran for seventeen years.

Of course my friend was born and raised here in Canada on a nearby farm, as were her mother and father, but their parents came "from the old country" which explains the use of Scotch collie to me.


And this wee fellow will likely be a great herder and companion for my friend and her grandsons. He chased me chewing at my ankles with his sharp little teeth and we had a grand time running around the property, him sometimes following, more often taking the lead.  


Puppies are wonderful, soft and cuddly, wriggly and busy. Endlessly curious. I believe my friend has her work cut out for her with this pup, but he obviously adores her, sitting between her feet and then making a mad dash for the ATV which she uses to travel around the farm. He apparently sits up on the companion seat like a small king when she's about her chores. when they're not travelling he hides underneath, out of the sun. Already a smart dog.


It will be fun to watch him grow and I'm glad for my friend to have a new companion. She's been missing her husband for a few years now and a puppy will be good company.