objectives board bylaws activities application

The USBCC was first conceived in June 1975 at the International Sheep Dog Trials at Fair Hill, Maryland. A group of Border Collie owners who were attending the trial as spectators, most of them competitors with their dogs in AKC obedience trials, met informally to discuss their concerns over the recent rise in popularity of the breed. Their discussions led to a meeting in October of that year, where nine obedience trials Border Collie owners formally organized the USBCC. Ethel Conrad and Carol Lingenfelter were elected co-presidents.

Over the years, the USBCC's primary focus has been to provide and share information about the breed with Border Collie owners and the general public. It organized one of the first sheepdog handler's clinics in North America in 1976, and has continued sponsoring or supporting stockdog training and handling clinics around the country every year up through the present. These clinics help Border Collie owners learn to train their dogs for farm or ranch work and trials competition, and also give non-herding owners a chance to learn about this vital part of their dogs' heritage. The Club put on its first sheepdog trial judging clinic in 1983, and it has sponsored numerous herding demonstrations, including a command performance on the Mall in Washington, D.C. before the Secretary of Agriculture in 1984. The USBCC has also fulfilled its educational mission through its newsletter dealing with all areas of interest to Border Collie owners, and by responding to hundreds of individual requests for information about the breed every year.

The Club is not and has never been a registry, though it has cooperated as closely as possible with the three U.S. Border Collie registries (the American Border Collie Association (ABCA), the American-International Border Collie registry (AIBC), and the North American Sheep Dog Society (NASDS). It also cooperated with the AKC over the years in fielding requests for information from the public about Border Collies and in resolving problems that arose in obtaining Indefinite Listing Privilege (ILP) numbers for Border Collies whose owners wished to show in AKC obedience and tracking competitions. Because the USBCC opposes AKC registration of Border Collies for showing in the breed ring, the USBCC's de facto breed club status came to an end when the AKC voted (over USBCC objection) to fully recognize the Border Collie and begin registering them in 1995.

The USBCC has been incorporated and as of September 1995 it was accorded tax-exempt status by the IRS. Over the years the USBCC's membership has grown and extended across the country, and it now stands at approximately 500, including farmers and ranchers, competitors in sheepdog trials, obedience, agility, tracking, flyball, and the whole range of canine pursuits, as well as pet owners who do not enter their dogs in competitions.

Last updated April 21, 2001