Border Collies

**Sophist** · 02-19-2007, 02:46 PM

Please pay close attention to even the really long posts about these dogs. I have never owned one, personally never would for a couple of reasons, but they are fabulous dogs for the right people.

Just make sure you can offer it all the stimulation it needs, because I have almost never seen a dog more miserable than bored, frustrated, cooped-up border collies.

**Canis-Lupess** · 02-19-2007, 03:07 PM

Cali - Yes, that just about sums it up for working strain Borders They know how to relax when nothing is happening but can go for hours if something is happening. Ours have generally been like that.
I like the working strain best partly because of this and partly because they are the most intelligent and manipulative, usually the most stubborn and persistent, they need that with livestock, and also as variable in appearance as any breed of dog is likely to ever be. I don't like them all to look the same.

Still, even though they do know how to relax during the quiet times, they are still certainly not for people who would leave them with nothing to do for too long or people who don't really understand dog behaviour.

With regards to the fetching thing, I chuckled when I read about other BCs fetching anything they could find because mine are the same. Our Jess and Mist would fetch anything they could find too and they often didn't have trouble because our Jess had an unexplainable built in ball radar. she'd find all the balls and toys that other dogs and people had lost. In fact, most of the toys and balls they had at home were stuff they'd found. I hardly ever had to buy them anything, haha. She'd just be trotting along and then, all of a sudden, she'd turn to the side like she was on some mission, rush off about 30 yards into the grass and bushes, pull some lost tennis ball or a toy some other dog lost out of the undergrowth and then fetch it to me, dropping it in front of where I was about to step and then standing back in that typical BC stance with her eyes fixed on the object she'd found. How she knew they were there is anyone's guess. They were often too far away for her to have smelt them and she just seemed to run straight to it like she knew it was there.
She also used to fetch tiny fragments of what used to be a football. She seemed to know it used to be a ball even though it was only a tiny piece, haha.

Sometimes, if they went up to another person for a fuss, Mist would start hanging back and watching in a certain way and you knew she wanted to have something thrown then. Jess would realise and she'd start trotting round looking for something and mist would just watch her intently. As soon as Jess did find something, she'd grab it and run straight back to the person she'd met and drop the object at their feet, haha.

There was one time, I was walking them before an evening shift at work and there was a nasty squally shower dumping it's load on us at the time. I had my waterproofs on and my hood up and fought my way along in the driving wind and rain on an exposed hill with my head bowing forward so I could just see the ground in front of my feet. As I walked along, I came across an old walking boot right in the middle of the path. I didn't think much of it and just stepped over it and carried on.
I few yards further along, I came across another walking boot. Thinking it must be the other one to the one I came across before, I still didn't think much of it and stepped over it to carry on. A little further along, I came across another walking boot, identical to the previous ones. This time, I wondered being as nobody has three feet. I stopped and looked round behind me where I'd just come from and the path was totally clear, no walking boots. I turned forward again and lifted my head up to see our Jess waiting in her stance and staring at the boot. I just laughed out loud for ages. The whole time, it was our Jess placing the boot right in my path hoping I'd kick it or throw it when I reached it but because I had my hood over my face and had my head bowed, I didn't see her do it. When I stepped over it, she'd rush back in, grab it then run ahead again and place it on the path right in the middle in a hope I'd kick it for her next time. The funniest part was that I had no idea she was doing it because I couldn't see for my hood etc.... I just thought I was running into a couple of old abandoned walking boots. That incident always makes me smile when I think about it.

There's only a Border collie would do that, haha.

Also, she makes me laugh when she finds an object to have thrown like an old plastic bottle but then she sees another bottle laying somewhere else later and she goes up to have a look to see if it is "Better", than the one she has. She'll have a look and if she likes it more, she'll grab that one and leave the previous one. Sometimes, the first one is better so she'll have a quick look at the second one then go back to the first one and grab that again. There was one time, she could hardly make her mind up and she kept moving her head from one to the other several times, going to pick each up before changing her mind and going back to the other then changing her mind again, haha. What our Jess decided made a bottle "Better", is a secret I haven't figured out yet. I know she doesn't like squashed ones though. She prefers them to be in their proper shape and in as good a condition as possible.
I remember one time when she trotted along with a plastic bottle in her mouth and she trotted past a plastic carton and "checked it out" as she went past. It was the way she looked just to see if it was, by any chance, better than what she had already.

**BorderColliez** · 02-20-2007, 12:07 PM

Thank you all so much. You all were definetly a big help.

This is the breeder I want one from. She breeds Working BCs...
White Road Border Collies

**borzoimom** · 02-20-2007, 01:06 PM

THIS SHOCKED ME BADLY!!! NO WAY in Gods' green earth would I let strangers around 4 week pups!!! NOOOOOO WAY IN THE WORLD.. http://www.hctc.com/~jwms/buy.htm

**BorderColliez** · 02-20-2007, 01:43 PM

Originally Posted by borzoimom

THIS SHOCKED ME BADLY!!! NO WAY in Gods' green earth would I let strangers around 4 week pups!!! NOOOOOO WAY IN THE WORLD.. http://www.hctc.com/~jwms/buy.htm

..Excuse me?

**Canis-Lupess** · 02-20-2007, 05:54 PM

It says in the site that the breeder allows potential buyers to view the pups in person from 4 weeks of age but whether they actually allow people to handle the pups or just look, it doesn't say.

**BorderColliez** · 02-21-2007, 12:20 PM

Originally Posted by Canis-Lupess

It says in the site that the breeder allows potential buyers to view the pups in person from 4 weeks of age but whether they actually allow people to handle the pups or just look, it doesn't say.

I don't see why there is a problem with potential buyers looking/handling pups