Dogs have the potential to undertake a vital role in the development of children through play. The place of play in leisure has long been established, as has the notion that play can and does act as a significant learning tool/environment in which childhood development can occur. It is a widely held belief that children and dogs are natural bedfellows in many ways and that the presence of a dog in a family will aid the development of a child as it grows up and they spend time playing together. In addition, the term ‘pet therapy’ (which can also be referred to as animal-assisted therapy) was coined in 1964 by the child psychiatrist Boris Levinson when he realized that children who were struggling for one reason or another could potentially be aided by dogs, through play (Herzog, 2010). Here then we see the dog as a potential tool, employed either formally or informally to aid the development of the child through play; a significant driving force behind the decision my wife and I made to bring our first dog into the family.
A recent development in the roles adopted by working dogs in the leisure experience is that of ‘canine ambassador’ or ‘meet and greet dogs’ that are beginning to work in airports. One of these dogs works at Miami International Airport as a volunteer alongside her owner. Her role is to help soothe the nerves of the frazzled traveller by simply being there to receive a pat, cuddle or gentle stroke. In effect this Golden Retriever, Casey as she is known, is a therapy dog and as such is doing work similar to those that visit hospitals and retirement homes. The work may seem easy for a dog; after all, most love a stroke and a show of affection. Yet as Casey’s handler points out, this is actually hard work for the dog. Being placed in an environment where there are huge numbers of people and being subjected to approaches from numerous strangers, not all of whom may approach her or touch her in a manner she is entirely comfortable with, can be extremely stressful for her (Hess, 2012). The canine ambassador programme is also operating at Los Angeles International Airport and Mineta San Jose International Airport in the USA (Kleven, 2013).
Changing Role of Working Dogs: From Work to Sport
One of the oldest forms of work for the dog has been on the farm, herding animals in general and sheep in particular. Such was the need for the sheepdog that its breeding and training became a specialized activity and the best dogs highly prized assets. Here arguably is the foundation on which modern sheepdog trials is based; as an avenue by which the quality of sheepdogs may be improved, tested and demonstrated (Moore, 1929; Halsall, 1982). Yet the underlying rationale for sheepdog trials may be more simply viewed as a competition between human owners to see whose dog is best (Halsall, 1982). In this way the sheepdog trials are arguably little different from any other sport and the dog is clearly an object within the context of the sport. The trials offer breeders and owners a chance to demonstrate the ability of their dogs and – arguably, more importantly – their own skills in breeding, raising and training their dogs. In this way any benefit to the development of the breed actually becomes of secondary importance to the competition and status to be gained by the humans from winning. While the UK was the home of the first sheepdog trial, the exact location has been a matter of some debate though Bala in North Wales is clearly the leading contender, hosting a trial in 1873 (Jones, 1892; Moore, 1929; Drabble, 1989).
While fine in theory, sheepdog trials are arguably limited in their ability to develop a working dog or prove the worth of a dog as a successful sheep herder. Indeed, Whyte (1927: 112) has stated that:
A mere win at a dog trial does not necessarily provide absolute proof of a dog’s usefulness, for he may have been kept for the purpose of trial work only and trained to concert pitch by an expert at the game with an undue sacrifice of time and labour. Great dogs perform their greatest feats not necessarily always on the trial field; but perhaps more often when mustering on the mountain ranges.
Whyte (1927: 115) further questioned the reliance on sheepdog trials as a means of ensuring the breeding of working sheepdogs by asking his readers to: ‘Just imagine what would be the fate of those sheep if left to some of the highly strung, excitable dogs seen competing at dog-trials nowadays.’ This needs setting within the context of New Zealand, which he was writing about, and the fact that at one time sheepdogs in that country were expected to stand guard on untended flocks overnight, or even retrieve lost sheep by themselves during the night.
The dogs Whyte spoke of are sports dogs rather than working dogs and he marks the transition of them and their owners from the arena of work to that of sport. Speaking about the early movement of sheepdogs into the dog show arena Whyte clearly predicted the continued movement of the sheepdog from working animal, through sporting beast and to leisure object when speaking of the creation of the sheepdog as a pedigree animal for show (the rise of dog shows will be discussed in detail in Chapter 3). He suggested that the pedigree sheepdog raised for the show arena and leisured lifestyle would become a poor imitation of its ancestors with all of the beautiful looks that are associated with the Border Collie of today and none of the brains that made it such a useful tool on the farm (Whyte, 1927). Similarly, Moore (1929: 25–26) stated that: ‘show qualities in sporting dogs were practically valueless without satisfactory proof of working merits’. Whether this is the case or dogs have simply continued to change in response to the changing requirements of humans is an important question. The working sheepdog can still be found on farms throughout the world; its brains highly valued, its ability to undertake long, hard work unquestioned, its often mongrel appearance and pedigree of little concern. We may in an abstract sense see all sheepdogs as ‘sheepdogs’ with a common root but in reality today those bred for working, for sport and for show are all very different, and different characteristics are more highly valued across the three groups. The important point is that whether the sheepdogs are working in the fields, focused on trials or dedicated to the show arena, they have all been bred and trained by humans in a manner that contextualizes them as objects for work or leisure.
Whether limited or not in their ability to aid the breeding and training of effective sheepdogs for work on the farm, sheepdog trials have become a popular sport throughout the world. This includes countries such as the UK, Australia and New Zealand, as well as Canada and America (Moore, 1929), with the main focus being those nations with a history of sheep farming. Not surprisingly, trials generated an International Sheep Dog Society in 1907 that had organizing and promoting trials and improving the nature of the sheepdog as its twin founding principles (Palmer, 1983). Under the auspices of this organization, betting on trials was banned (Halsall, 1982). Just as watching sheepdog trials is not related to financial gain, nor is participation monetarily driven, at least directly, with prizes of limited value the norm (Halsall, 1982). Though the potential to earn a profit from breeding a prize-winning