i always wanted a Border Collie..now not so much.
 

my mutt is part BC. i thought he was fast and hyper. he isnt.

my perspective got adjusted. i met a rancher lady yesterday to buy some meat. she had a border collie outside. i pull up and i could see that dog quivering. i get out and his head snaps back and forth. he would check out surroundings and snap his head back on me. fast fast head snaps. i called him and he blasted over to me, and sniffed my hand. blasted away. wife and i start walking to the ranch office. the dog herds us there! he did lead a few times. just sprinting back and forth. FAST! just a tiny, fast dog. the dog had two speeds. "stop" and "fast".

i tell the lady, "i think your dog just herded me to the door"
"oh, he did. he will lead you back to your truck afterwards".

sure enough, he did. he remembered which truck was ours. he rushed off to show the next customers to the door when we climbed in ours.

i dont think i have enough "jobs" to keep a border collie from shredding my couch. what a dog!!

a family tried to give me their 7 month old Belgium Melanois..checked that dog off my list as well. "brown-fur lightning!". i still think the Border Collie was more intense.

i know my limits.

Yeah, BCs can be that way. Corgis are also herders, and need jobs to do or they start freelancing.

We got a border collie on Craigslist several years ago... Pretty sure the young woman we got the dog from had boyfriends who either beat her or the dog or both. Once home the dog would not come to me for weeks and would bark at and get aggressive with any men who got out of their car at our house. It ended up biting a couple of people (friends and family). We had to have him put down. That dog was fun but was a psychopath.

Yep, they almost need a ranch or open spaces and a job to do.

I now have two "friendly" psychopaths.

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They can be a handful!
Ours is a lovely girl though. Loves people especially women and kids.
She is one that has an off switch and not many BCs have that feature.
I work ours every day at least once and she is very content to lay in the sun after her workout.
YMMV.

We had a yellow lab that when I was not home, would let men know that they should wait right there until my wife said it was OK. We now have a yellow lab that the garbage guys and delivery drivers have to chase down to give her a treat and a beagle that yodels and grumbles if I forget to put the trash out and they skip us and his treat.

I had a beagle BC mix growing up and there was not a puzzle he could not solve to get where he wanted to go.

I have had great experiences with Border Collies. Best was 1/2 BC, 1/2 Cattle dog. If you have 2 they will entertain themselves. One alone would likely be a hand full.

Our BC is almost 2 years old. She will go from trying to chase flocks of Canada Geese flying over the marsh, to trying to get the horses running on the other side of the fence to chasing the waves on the riverbank.
Then she will conk out at your feet and sleep through the night.
We got lucky.

Best
Les

Couple down the street have two rescue BC's. They walk them every day. But like me, they live on a barrier island - no ranch lands here. Or farms.

While all herding breeds love to do jobs, I think that can be accomplished in a domestic environment and once you get past the first year, the nipping and chewing part really dwindles - at least it did for my two girls.

Herding breeds aren't for everyone but that's why there are so many other breeds out there. One size doesn't fit all.

Here is the little bugger... After a few months with us, he was great with all my kids/grandkids but he could not be trusted when male "strangers" pulled up and got out of their cars. It was sad to put him down, but it had to be done as he was not trustworthy and did some real damage to one of our friend's leg.... He was a lawsuit waiting to happen.

R.I.P. Bandit

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Bandit is cute!!

i almost..man, almost took one for free. what stopped me was his name. "LIGHTNING!" wtf? he got that name for his energy.

If you like the Collie breed, Scottish Rough coats are a good alternative. Here's mine

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Oh yeah, he can even sit on the wall.....

BC's need a couple of acres and 30 sheep to burn off their energy.
If you haven't got the acres and sheep, you'll have to find other ways to burn that off...

<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="a991Jp4"><a href="//imgur.com/a991Jp4">Homemade dog treadmill</a></blockquote><script async src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Similar experience to Tims with my Parents dog. Bit the cleaning lady, but my good friend Rees in the ass, chased and bit a customer . They had it for 10 years, it saw me everyday, and it wanted to chew my face off. I was never mean, or unkind to him in any way.
The last couple of years of his life, I really made an effort to give him treats, and let him know I was a friend, he never warmed to me .
I was relieved when they put him down ( old age ) . I was just waiting to be sued . He took a nice chunk out of the lady that cleaned my office . She was a dog lover, and a good sport , thankfully

My Lab puppy won't update my phone, so I can't post pics :(.

Tim...man that sux about yer buddy....but those are two good looking dawgs....what breed?

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I could not imagine not having my girl. She has made me a happier person. My wife and I take her on a couple mile run every day. With the hot weather we take her out on the boat and she swims after the ball for hours.

My BC is a couch potato.

Siberian Huskies, look like... blue eyes are common.

I've only been around a couple...decades ago...cool dogs...pretty rare in the south :)

I always wince when I see folks here in Houston walking their Huskys and Malamutes. It seems almost cruel to have those sorts of dogs here in Houston.

Cruel is when humans walk their dogs in the middle of the afternoon and especially on a black top road or path.

Especially in the sunbelt.

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Dear friend has a BC she trained for her agility hobby. Husband is a car nut pal.

I stay at their house for long weekends every once in a while. Ever feel like you are being watched or not trusted?

I throw the stuffed toy from the couch out ten feet. Dog gathers and returns. After about twenty of these volleys I tell her I am trying to wear him out so he will sleep. Bwa ha ha ha. NOT!

Also they have a big Macaw parrot. Dog will stare at it without moving right at the base of the parrot's perch. It's unnerving to witness.

Something to keep in mind is that a rancher's border collie is probably the best of multiple litters rather than representative of the average border collie.

This is how border collies have herding power; their stare unnerves the herd and gives the otherwise smaller animal ultimate power.

A bigger herding dog a like a Pyrenees doesn't have to have the stare, they can just lump around in a carefree posture.

my mutt has the same stare, and that forward crunch-crouch. he will fetch until he dies.

but his energy is diluted by something much more slow. :D thank goodness. he's quick enough.

Once saw a Border Collie at a local Soccer field when there was an under 5 game on.

We call it magnet ball - 20 players all following the ball around like its magnetic and two goalies watching planes fly overhead.

Add one Border Collie who thinks they need herding into the goals and it's great entertainment for about 10 minutes until the parents realise the dog is nipping their heals to get the stragglers to move.

Can't believe nobody has posted this one yet.

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my uncle has a mutt collie, not 100% pure, it waits for me to show up because then it get's to do more tricks that his own hoomin don't do.
The dog never tires from learning tricks, or doing tricks.. you can't ever tire it cause he don't have the acres or the sheep :D There are 'some" signs it might be slowing down a bit now it's 11 years old.. but we are slowing down too, so the nett result is the same :D

Yep they are Siberian Huskies. I had one in college and when we had to put the Border Collie down, my daughter decided I needed another dog and surprised me with a male Siberian puppy on my 50th birthday. One of my wife's coworkers had a female the same age that had been given to him and he was getting tired of the shedding in his garage so we agreed to take her as a companion to our male.

They live outside in a kennel with a doghouse by day while we are at work and then have free run of our 5 acre yard with pond (underground electric fence and shock collars) until night time when they stay in cages in our garage. They seem pretty happy both when it is -5 degrees and windy in the winter and when it is 90 in the summer. They both swim in the pond when they want and always have shade/shelter available.

Bodey #1 in about 1991 http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1560424788.JPG

Bodey #2 2016
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Very rarely do they use their doghouse no matter how cold or windy
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They both like to swim
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Great pix!

Lily was a recovery dog! A pure bred apricot Sher Pei. Who would toss out an expensive breed out the door as a puppy? We ended up with her and she is definitely a ONE PERSON dog. Plagued with several health issues (poor skin, folding skin in the eyelids leading to surgery - Entropion, crazy temperament, etc), this bread was used as Chinese Temple Guard Dogs for centuries. They can be tough to socialize, insanely dedicated to the owner and probably the best guard dog on the planet, these costly dogs are not for everyone. But if you ever consider one, make sure they come from a loving family. All they want to do, is protect you! http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1560430065.jpg