# Anyone have experience with Border collies?



## For Want of Poodle (Feb 25, 2019)

I would love to hear people's thoughts on border collie temperament. 

I grew up with border collies. Or, at least, I thought I did. We had two border collie crosses, my best friend had a border collie and 3 of her half border collie offspring. 'Border collies', and their crosses were everywhere in that small town. Confident, calm indoors and tons of energy outdoors, great with children and other dogs/animals, friendly if a bit aloof, whip smart, always one step ahead of the owners, and wanting to do things with their people. All farm bred, not papered, not a one had been to a formal obedience class. 

My dream adult dog was... You guessed it, another border collie. Couldn't see how anyone would settle for anything less. 

I am kinda starting to wonder if those dogs I grew up with weren't border collies after all. 

The last 3 border collies I have met have been pretty neurotic, anxious, fear aggressive messes with a lot of obsessive behaviour. A trainer (didn't meet her dogs) admitted her border collies weren't dogs you would want to live with unless you were in competitive sports. All have been, admittedly, closer to breed standard than the collies I grew up with. 

Is this common for border collies, or just a case of some bad lines here in southern Ontario?


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Those dogs were probably BC or BC mixes, but theysound as though they were working dogs with plenty to do. I would never in a million years keep one since I know they are too high energy, too unstable if they don't have excellent ways to fulfill their drives and I know I can't provide those things. The young woman I used to take agility lessons with had had CKCS when she was young and then got BCs. That worked out well since her fmaily home had a huge back yard and she had an ample agility course set up in the back half of the yard. She taught agility and worked her dogs all day everyday. By the time I was coming to terms with not being able to run agility anymore she actually was seriously considering an mpoo as her next dog. She wanted a fast dog in a lower jump class.


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## ThePoodlesMoody (Nov 2, 2020)

Border collies vary a lot, but they are all SO very needy of stimulation. Almost every border collie I've met who wasn't an agility champ or a full on herding dog had learned atrocious behaviors because they were so bored. Border collies really aren't made for being a family pet - unless that family owns a ranch. I grew up with free ranging collies in my semi-rural neighborhood. They were lovely dogs and made great pets, but that was in the time where people just let their dogs roam. Some of them also helped bring in cows.

I'm sure many of the pets you met would not have been behaving that way if they had a flock of sheep to move every day. Everything about border collies is just drive, drive, drive and laser focus. To keep one as a city pet you'd have to do lots of agility or trick training or SOMETHING to use that brain or it will turn into neurotic obnoxious behaviors.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Neighbours had a BC that had proved too soft to work sheep - she was a sweet dog, but very nervous. I remember she once got cornered under a sofa by next door's cat and it took quite a while to persuade her out again. She got two long, off leash country walks every day, and was a good pet, but atypical for a BC. They have been bred to work, and things can quickly go wrong if they don't have enough to do. Not a breed I would consider unless I had sheep, or intended to take up agility or a similar dog sport semi-professionally!


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## cowpony (Dec 30, 2009)

Someone I know got a pet shop border collie about 20 years ago. A neighbor she had never met before paused, looked over her fence at the gamboling puppy with a thoughtful expression, and quietly asked, "Have you ever had a border collie before?" The response being negative, the neighbor said, "Collies are more dog than most people can handle. Here's my card. Call me if you get to where you are thinking of rehoming him." With that rather grim warning in mind, the family doubled down on finding appropriate tasks for the dog. They finally hit on the idea of releasing all their pet rabbits into the yard twice a day. The dog then spent a satisfying half hour driving the rabbits back into the hutch.


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## Yellow (Sep 24, 2018)

We lived rural and I got a BC. her job was to keep the cats in the barn, horses in the corral, and neighbors dog away from our property.. I took her to a free sheep herding lesson with top herding BC to learn and she failed miserably. Growled at the sheep and only wanted to play fetch. She was an excellent farm dog and stayed on our property. We could leave her out when we were gone. .And we now live in a city. She did come to the city with us and at age 10 and did well. My husband did take her often hiking/swimming Very loyal would I get another one, no, like poodles better


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## Liz (Oct 2, 2010)

For Want of Poodle said:


> The last 3 border collies I have met have been pretty neurotic, anxious, fear aggressive messes with a lot of obsessive behaviour. A trainer (didn't meet her dogs) admitted her border collies weren't dogs you would want to live with unless you were in competitive sports. All have been, admittedly, closer to breed standard than the collies I grew up with.


Is it possible that these BCs were bred for agility? As agility has become more competitive, people are breeding BCs with traits that either turn them into national team contenders or make them so neurotic that they can't be run at all. Unfortunately the traits that make dogs super successful in the ring can also turn them into nightmares.

One of my former trainers got very serious about agility and purchased a dog from a successful agility kennel (money and distance were no concern), just to have the dog turn out too keyed-up to ever perform. Without an audience, he was perfect, but with another person around - or even worse, a dog - he would lose it on the course - very aggressive, and a definite risk to life. It was only when she was really struggling with handling him that other people came forward to say that this has happened before. She was able to rehome him to a farm, but how many dogs get that lucky?


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## Michigan Gal (Jun 4, 2019)

A real hard working border collie should be going nonstop. When they work sheep in the hills they are constantly paying attention to the sheep and the handler. British hill sheep are not very gregarious, which means they do not naturally stick like glue to each other, as continental sheep do. Merino are easy to herd, Black Welsh Mountain sheep are not. When I had Black Welsh Mountain sheep my border collie was, at times, worth his weight in gold. However, he would have gone nuts had he been a city dog.

A farm dog that is allowed to free range outside, this is what your neighborhood had. Probably someone had a really nice dog and everyone wanted one of her puppies. Basically, breeding for temperament.

Go! Go! Go! Get everybody moving and stopping and round up. Go! This is what people look for if they want to_* show *_their dog in herding trials or agility. These are the dogs that literally fry their brains if left in a kennel and end up useless for anything.

Other border collies have less go go go. They are active, but not insanely so. Like the dogs you remember 

I was very lucky with my dog. I got him from a woman who raised sheep and bred her dogs to herd sheep. No crazy as a loon dogs for her. Hamish had an impressive pedigree with numerous herding champions. He was contemplative. He was very good with my rescue dogs. Intelligent breeding practices are very important.

You have to be really careful when getting a border collie because different people want different things. Even if I wanted an agility dog, I would not get a hot wired border, I would get a relatively calm border because nobody does agility 24 hours a day.

Get a poodle.


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## Fenris-wolf (Apr 17, 2018)

For Want of Poodle said:


> neurotic, anxious, fear aggressive messes with a lot of obsessive behaviour


That's how a lot of Australian Shepherds are too if not bred right too. I don't have any experience with Border Collies, but I heard that Aussies are just as intelligent as them, but tend to goof off on tasks or try to make them more fun and are protective.

Are you thinking about a Border Collie as your next dog?


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## For Want of Poodle (Feb 25, 2019)

Hmmm.... Thinking of the border collies I knew, yes, all of them had acreages they pretty much free roamed, although none worked sheep. We were on 100 acres, surrounded by thousands of acres of forested crown land, my friend was on a 100 acre hobby farm with horses.

The nerves is the thing I am surprised by. I don't remember any of them being nervous. The most nerves I remember seeing was one day, while walking mine in town (she went in town maybe every few months) and a small yappy dog was snarling at her from an open window of a parked car. She cowered behind me, having never heard such language from a fellow canine in her life!



Fenris-wolf said:


> That's how a lot of Australian Shepherds are too if not bred right too. I don't have any experience with Border Collies, but I heard that Aussies are just as intelligent as them, but tend to goof off on tasks or try to make them more fun and are protective.
> 
> Are you thinking about a Border Collie as your next dog?


Umm... Probably not? Although I do LIKE them. Really depends on what my life looks like when I am ready for a second dog. I would be very surprised if I didn't end up with a rehomed collie or collie cross at some point though. I have so far owned two and had two more try and come home with me.

Mostly just curious, because the dogs I have seen lately are so different than the dogs I grew up with.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

For Want of Poodle said:


> Mostly just curious, because the dogs I have seen lately are so different than the dogs I grew up with.


Sadly, I feel like this is a trend across many breeds. And maybe even dogs in general.


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## Fenris-wolf (Apr 17, 2018)

Ditto what PTP said. I was going to say that as well.


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## Tatltail (Oct 11, 2020)

We had a border collie pit bull cross when we lived out in the country, she was one of our first dogs, along with her half brother a GSD pit mix. Her job was to stick to my younger siblings like glue because they liked to run off into the woods, neighbors pasture, the cemetery across the street etc. We would call her and she would take us directly to them. XD. Her only flaws we're snapping treats, and swimming in the septic tank.


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## cowpony (Dec 30, 2009)

Tatltail said:


> Her only flaws we're snapping treats, and swimming in the septic tank.


Ewww. Did you have an open cess pool?


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Tatltail said:


> We had a border collie pit bull cross when we lived out in the country, she was one of our first dogs, along with her half brother a GSD pit mix. Her job was to stick to my younger siblings like glue because they liked to run off into the woods, neighbors pasture, the cemetery across the street etc. We would call her and she would take us directly to them. XD. Her only flaws we're snapping treats, and swimming in the septic tank.


Ohmigosh ew!!! Lol. But perhaps a small price to pay for an otherwise wonderful companion. 

One of Peggy's playmates is a pitbull border collie cross. He has the most wonderful silky hair.


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## Tatltail (Oct 11, 2020)

cowpony said:


> Ewww. Did you have an open cess pool?


We did it was in East Texas, very close to Texarkana, the water table is high and the soil is pretty much all sand so most of the ones in the area ended up with at least a small pool from them. Eventually it was fenced off, but we had just moved in when we first the dogs so nothing had been done. 

Annie got hosed off in the garden on a regular basis Lol.


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## Mufar42 (Jan 1, 2017)

My brother has border collies, his are great dogs and settle down but they also work and without any formal training. He has about 100 acres and raises beef cattle. The dogs will heard the cattle on command however when they come into the house they just settle down and are quiet. My niece has aussies, she has goats and horses. They are good with her small child and will follow the horses on trails. Hers are ok in the house but really want to be more outdoors. Both have acreage .


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## Pearl Grey (Nov 20, 2019)

Agree with all the above comments about working lines v. sport lines. The latter tend not to have an off switch and can be hyper.
I had working border collies for years. But mine were all pretty sensitive to sound. I figured that was a breed trait since you direct them by different whistles. 
My Violet was extremely sensitive to loud noises and a thunderstorm would send her scurrying for cover - except one day, when we were out working sheep and a storm blew up. She never even noticed!
I've also known some working dogs who had, erm, idiosyncrasies. Sensitivity to light/shadow (would fling themselves at glass doors); sensitivity to other animals (would obsess over another dog or cat in the household) and one who inexplicably and obsessively attacked tree limbs.
I love the breed but decided not to have another since I have horses and chickens. I want a dog who can go around the farm with me. Collies have to be kept out of sight of the stock if they're not working. (And horses don't generally react well to being worked by collies.)


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