The border collie is a herding dog. This dog works on a warm and herds sheep, cattle or goats. They watch and protect their herd which means this dog does not sleep. A border collie is a responsible herding dogs and you should never trust a sleeping Border Collie by thinking you can cut through the yard without disturbing them.

A few years ago my 14 year old Border Collie was sleeping on our back patio. This dog had arthritis but he would got to the back patio where the heated bricks were and sleep comfortably.

Cats could come into the yard, groundhogs and raccoon, my dog did not care. He did not bark and he did not bother to get up and chase them. But that did not mean that he was going to let a stranger come into our yard.

One day a utility worker was checking the power lines and instead of knocking on my door to see if it was okay to come into my yard, this worker opened my side gate. He ignored the beware of dog sign because he glanced at my yard and saw no dog.

Know that this worker did not realize that there was a sleeping dog in my yard until it was too late. My dog awoke when he heard the latch on the side gate and he ran like the wind to stop the stranger.

The utility worker was startled and tried to run back to the gate, but my dog nipped him in the butt, just like he would do to a sheep that was trying to escape the herd.

I heard the ruckus and ran outdoors only to find that my old border collie had the utility worker backed into a corner. Of course my dog did his job, because the utility worker never should have entered my yard.

My neighbor observed the incident and told animal control and the police that the worker was in the wrong. He could have gotten to the lines from the park, but wanted to take a shortcut through my yard. But none of this mattered, animal control ceased my dog because they said the nip was a bite. My border collie was taken to quarantine for ten days.

I believe the worker was in the wrong, for opening my side gate and ignoring the beware of dog sign. He never should have assumed that my yard was safe because you just cannot trust a sleeping border collie.