Border Collies in Fiction

It's no secret I love border collies. They are beautiful dogs and have always been a part of my life. I've had three. First, there was my big sister Laura, who died when I was seven. Then there was Dillon, who was my lifelong dog. I had him from age 9 through to 24, when at the ripe old age of 15, Dillon moved over to the rainbow bridge. No longer crippled by arthritis, he could chase tennis balls to his heart's content. After losing him, I realised how I had always had border collies and that I needed another one. So, I got Jacob, my first dog of my own. He's a little rascal, but I love him dearly.

​Generally, I love dogs in books. Give the character a dog and they've got added appeal. But when I opened up Fiona McCallum's Saving Grace, a book that had been sitting unread on my shelf for years, and discovered there was a border collie in it, I was hooked. I realised, I need to find more books with border collies. Hence, this list was inspired. A list of fiction novels featuring beautiful border collies.

Grace in The Button Jar Series, by Fiona McCallum

Grace is adopted as a puppy by Emily, who feels she needs some companionship while in the middle of a crisis with her abusive husband. Don't get distracted by the title with this one though, or fear for Grace's safety in the home of a mean man. She doesn't stay there long and Fiona would never kill off a dog like that.

Grace is the last of Sasha's puppies to be adopted as she's the runt and timid, which isn't what one wants in a border collie in sheep country. However, Grace isn't allowed near the sheep ... even though I think she'd love to herd them all day. Before she and Emily leave Emily's husband John, Grace manages to sneak her way inside, hiding in the kitchen as she wishes to be close to Emily. She absolutely refuses to be an outside dog. Of course, Grace wins in this case, especially when Emily and Grace move out and begin their adventure of independence in a rundown farm house. 

Grace is a playful pup who enjoys going on walks with Emily and pouts when she's left at home on her own. She plays a vital role in helping Emily make her decision to leave her husband and keeps Emily on track with her life during the first book of the series, Saving Grace. As Grace is, indeed, Emily's saving grace.

Bandit in The Millionaire and the Maid, by Michelle Douglas

Bandit is a gorgeous border collie rescued from the dog shelter by Jo when his elderly owner needs to move into a nursing home. Or so Jo's led to believe. 

At first, Bandit appears to miss her previous male owner and initially bonds with Mac, the brooding chef who seems in need of some canine company. Bandit plays a vital role in bringing Mac out of his self-imposed seclusion. Bandit falls beautifully into the relationship between Mac and Jo as they take walks along the beach, where Bandit enjoys chasing waves - just like my Jacob! Bandit also loves chasing tennis balls and sneaking food off plates. Author Michelle Douglas does a fantastic job at capturing the character of a playful, hyperactive border collie as Bandit isn't short of energy or showing affection to her two owners. She pines as much as her human does when the other human is away. 

​Bandit is a border collie any border collie lover will fall in love with.

Murphy in The Finn Factor by Rachel Bailey

Murphy arrives in Finn and Scarlett's life when Scarlett's hippie parents pick him up on the side of the road - lost! Poor Murphy...but Scarlett and Finn's little sister are both keen to give Murphy a loving home, despite Finn's protests.

Murphy is a funny dog and helps bring Scarlett and Finn together. One thing I love about him is that he pretends his paw is sore to get symphony from Scarlett. But Finn isn't fooled. He's forced to take Murphy to the vet to check on his apparent 'sore paw' but the vet cannot find anything wrong with it, of course. Round one to Finn! But eventually, Finn softens and falls in love with Murphy as much as Scarlett and his sisters do. And Murphy becomes a part of the family.

Bounce and Bess in Mardie and the City Surgeon ​by Marion Lennox

We meet Bounce on a stormy night. He's deadly afraid of the thunder and lightning and snuggles in bed with his owner Mardie. Blake is driving in this storm on the country roads when he sees Bess standing in the middle of the road, swerves, and crashes his rented Mercedes into a tree. But Bess is okay! The car's not though. Oh, and Blake is fine.

But it turns out that Bess is blind, which was why she was in the shelter van that crashed and allowed all the dogs to get away. Never fear though, Blake is an eye surgeon (for people) and knows a great vet. So they take the risk, take Bess to Sydney, and she has cataract surgery to get her sight back! With a happy ending for both owners and the two dogs, this book is definitely one for border collie lovers.

Socks/Bob in No Judgments by Meg Cabot

Socks is a dirty, mistreated border collie mix who is faithful to is owner Rick, as dogs are despite how many times their owner kicks them. But never fear! Sexy hero Drew says 'Did you just kick that dog?' Rick says 'Of course not.' Drew says, 'If you do it again I'll lay you out flat.' Well, Rick kicks the dog again and next thing, he's on the floor and Socks has a new owner. 

Socks is renamed Bob - new life, new name, Drew reckons. Except, Drew actually names all his dogs Bob - including the three he already had at home. So now, Drew has four Bob's. At first, it feels like he does this because he doesn't care that much...but turns out he's actually quite smart. Dog's are 'pack animals' apparently and therefore do not need individual names. And when Drew says, 'Bob, sit,' all four dogs sit, so it's actually kinda cool. Not that I'd do that. Dogs do need individual names. But Bob spends the hurricane (the central plot of the story) with Drew and his new pack of friendly canine companions. This book is definitely one for all dog lovers.

Other Border Collies

In addition, here's a list of books that feature border collies but they either are only mentioned once or are not central characters to the plot.

Boomer in The Cattleman's Ready-Made Family ​by Michelle Douglas - Boomer is Cam's active border collie who loves to chase tennis balls! "He'll fetch for longer than you'll be prepared to throw," Cam tells the two children who are staying at the rental on his station - and that's something I can relate to.  The border collie who loves to fetch - not staying on a station. Boomer only really appears once though and doesn't really creep back into the story much.

Darkening Skies by Bronwyn Parry - three border collies are featured in this story and do save the hero's life once when she sniffs out a bomb, but apart from that, we don't see much of these gorgeous doggies.

Gerry in Jenna: The Brides of Wirralong by Barbara Hannay - Gerry is mentioned once, I think, and is Sam's furry friend, but she doesn't contribute much to the story.

The Country Wedding by Barbara Hannay - Mitch has two beautiful border collies, but they are merely mentioned, get to run around, and that's about it.

The Nanny Who Saved Christmas by Michelle Douglas - there is a border collie puppy who accompanies Nicola on one of her morning runs...but sadly it doesn't really get mentioned again.