Sheepdogs helped forge 150 years of farming connections between Wales and New Zealand, according to new research by Cardiff University.
Making Sense of Sheepdogs is the first academic book to explore how the relationships between sheepdogs, farming cultures, rural identities and agricultural have spread and evolved across the world. The book traces the movement of dogs, shepherds and farming knowledge between Britain and New Zealand over the last 150 years, showing how sheepdogs are part of much bigger stories about migration, empire, breeding, disease, belonging and agricultural change.
Professor Gareth Enticott, who carried out the study in partnership with the University of Waikato, said: "At its heart is a simple idea: sheepdogs do more than move sheep. The relationships between dogs, shepherds and landscapes have helped shape distinctive farming cultures, from the silent stare of the Border Collie to the bark of the New Zealand Huntaway."
These two breeds reveal the links between Wales and New Zealand and offers a fresh perspective on the history of the modern countryside.
The modern sheepdog – the Border Collie – emerged from nineteenth-century sheepdog trials that celebrated Victorian ideals of beauty, order and improvement. The International Sheep Dog Society played a key role in spreading these values across the British Empire, exporting a standardised vision of the ideal sheepdog.
In New Zealand, however, shepherds resisted what they saw as an imported dog unsuited to local conditions, sparking fierce debates about breeding, working styles and what made a good sheepdog. The New Zealand Huntaway was a product of these arguments.
Professor Enticott explained: "This is the first global history of the Huntaway, which was more than a breed. Rather than emerging from a single breeder or bloodline, the Huntaway developed through generations of experimentation and practical shepherd knowledge.
"As New Zealand agriculture expanded during the twentieth century, the dog became synonymous with the country's 'grasslands revolution'. More than a breed, it became a symbol of New Zealand farming itself: a 'practical dog for practical men'.
"One of the book's most surprising finding concerns James Lilico, one of New Zealand's most influential sheepdog breeders. The book describes in detail Lilico's influence on New Zealand's sheepdogs in the early twentieth century. Lilico planned to import Welsh sheepdogs in an attempt to reinvigorate Huntaway bloodlines. The experiment never happened, but it reveals previously overlooked links between Welsh sheepdog traditions and the development of New Zealand's national sheepdog.
"These days, shepherds compete in 'bark-ups' around New Zealand, with the loudest dogs taking the prize. The book shows how a bark is not just about volume. Huntaway breeders and shepherds developed sophisticated ideas about what constituted 'good noise'. A good Huntaway is not simply noisy, but uses its bark effectively, applying pressure at the right time, in the right way and with the right intensity.
"As New Zealand farming evolved, so too did ideas about the ideal Huntaway voice. Yet many shepherds now worry that the Huntaway's 'natural noise' is giving way to more uniform and 'robotic' dogs, raising questions about what might be lost as breeding priorities continue to change."
Across ten chapters, Making Sense of Sheepdogs explores the invention of the modern sheepdog, the origins of the Huntaway, the politics of breeding and sound, and the circulation of dogs around the British Empire. More than a history of dogs, it is a story of the relationship between Wales and New Zealand, a history of farming, migration, and belonging. It shows how sheepdogs helped build the modern countryside and why their story matters today.
Professor Enticott added: "The Huntaway's growing popularity tells a much bigger story. For decades, British shepherds have travelled to New Zealand and returned with new ideas about farming, stockmanship and rural life. The influence can be seen in everything from sheepdog handling and grazing systems to clothing, hairstyles and attitudes towards farming itself. The Huntaway became the most visible symbol of this exchange."
Once dismissed as an annoying barking dog, it has gradually settled into British agriculture, alongside the wider spread of New Zealand farming culture. In a twist of history, a dog that evolved in response to imported British sheepdogs is now helping to reshape farming culture back in Britain.
"Sheepdogs helped build the modern countryside, but what happens if that countryside disappears? Across both New Zealand and the UK, sheep farming is facing growing pressure from forestry and carbon markets, with sheep stations and hill farms being converted into trees.
"For many, the issue is about more than land use. It is about the future of rural cultures, skills and ways of life that have developed alongside working dogs for generations."
As one type of rural soundscape falls silent, the question remains about whether there will still be a place for sheepdogs in the future.
The research for this book grew from a successful Cardiff–Waikato Collaborative Seed Fund in 2022, established through the universities' strategic partnership agreement . Building on shared interests and connections between Wales and New Zealand, the partnership supports joint research, student and staff exchanges, and collaboration across areas including themes such as Welsh and Māori language and culture, health and environmental change.
Cardiff has supported 34 collaborative projects, generating joint publications, further research funding and cultural exchanges.
