Taking the rough with the smooth

With the initiative to rescue sheep and the daring to question its master, the rough collie not only lives up to its heroic reputation, but is always right

- Katy Birchall

WHEN the Beast from the East swept across the UK in early 2018, Wiltshire-based shepherd Jess King had a serious others, in trying to escape the drifts across the fields, had gone up onto a bank and got caught in brambles. They were stuck and it was too steep for me to reach them.' Luckily, help was on hand in the form of her farm dog, rough collie Tully.

'As I stood there trying to work out what to do next, Tully climbed up the bank and, without any instruction, began to pull each sheep free of the brambles,' she recalls. 'He did it for hours, calmly taking the lead in the situation.

Tully has always been able to figure anything out-there have been so many times that he has saved the day.' Although it may be sadly unusual to see a rough collie out herding in the fields, if there's one thing this level-headed breed is famous for, it's coming to the rescue-and Tully has proven to be no exception. Now 10 years old, he still works sheep and cattle a few times a week alongside a team of border collies.

'He's a fantastic farm dog. He would work all day, every day if he could,' Ms King says. *Not all rough collies have the working instinct any more, but there are still some traditional lines out there. They don't like a lot of schooling: Tully questions me more than a border collie, but, in the end, he's always right. Their working style is similar to a Welsh sheepdog; they're loose-eyed and upright, and use their voice, which is useful for big groups-I've moved 4,000 sheep on my own with Tully.'