Command Performance
Putting a Border Collie to work means whetting your whistle.

Border Collies are born and bred to herd sheep. All they need are operating instructions. Sheep don’t much care for Border Collies. In fact they see them as a threat and spend a good deal of their time trying to avoid them.

Sheep that see a Border Collie lying on the ground see a low-level threat. A Border Collie that is standing is a higher threat, while a Border Collie that is running toward them is the highest threat of all. This, of course, is why shepherds can use Border Collies to move the sheep in any given direction. Experienced shepherds use a series of spoken or whistle commands to get the dog to stand up, lie down and run toward or around the sheep.

Spoken commands are normally reserved for pen and barn work when the sheep and dogs are in close quarters. Whistle commands are used in the field where they are more audible to the dogs. Shepherds also prefer whistle commands because they don’t reveal emotion - so, the dog understands the command more clearly.

Since shepherds often use three or more dogs for a single flock, the same commands are issued to each dog but using their own unique whistle.