Why did you decide on a Border Collie?

[Sarah_42]

I am wondering why you chose the Border Collie for a pet, working dog, etc.

 

What first attracted you to the breed?

[JaderBug]

Well, my BC addiction started before I was born actually. My dad knew Dewey Jontz, who brought Border Collies to Iowa from Scotland, and got a dog from him, Mae. We've always had Borders since her- after her was Duke, then Joey, Cody (all RIP), Rocko & Sasha (current) and now my own Jade. So, I grew up with BCs. They were never more than just good companions and farm dogs, though they weren't working farm dogs. Jade is my own dog and we are away from the farm (for now) but she is the first that has been formally trained, she is getting obedience trained and is taking herding lessons to compete.

 

I love BCs because they have such great personalities. They are high-energy and fun to be around, they're highly trainable and are pretty much the all-around dog, they can do anything (liken to a Super Dog! ) If you're going to have a dog, why not have one that's the best at everything On top of all that, they're gorgeous! I also think it's important to preserve/support a breed that is being changed (AKC vs. ABCA, USBCHA, etc).

[DTrain]

I grew up with BC's. My grandparents had several of them. My father came from Scotland and loved to work with the dogs. Something about them I love and trust. I feel a connection to them of what I can't describe. I have always loved how well they train and the amazing things they are capable of. I have a picture of me when I was four years old with my first BC. He was actually my dads dog and very well training. Oddly enough in the picture I am sitting in front of an old Chevy car wearing a kid harness and attached to the front bumper, the dog was free. My dad told me once that it took him almost fifteen years to get me to about the same level of training as the dog.

[JaderBug]

...wearing a kid harness and attached to the front bumper, the dog was free. My dad told me once that it took him almost fifteen years to get me to about the same level of training as the dog.

 

LOL!

 

 

I'd also like to add that (especially) since getting Jade, I've discovered a new obsession with dogs and dog activites. I've never searched or shopped for so much dog-related stuff before, most of my 'obsession behavior' went towards horses and/or art before. I never knew just how huge the dog world was!

[setsail]

Actually border collies chose me. I spent a summer living with a border collie and while I fell in love with him, I quickly put border collies on my short list of "breeds I would never own". About 4 yrs later, Jackson came into my life. I knew what I was in for and worked from day one to not only deal with a border collie, but a fearful feral one at that. Along the way I fell madly in love with the breed. The intellegence, the drive, the looks. Now I can't think of owning another breed.

[mum24dog]

I'm not going to be very popular but we got one despite what I know of their traits.

Personally I don't get much satisfaction out of training a dog that actually wants to work with me - give me a hound any day.

Maybe I'm just a masochist. or just plain weird.

However, my daughter is a very able agility handler and her style suited a BC so, after years of nagging we let her have one.

We didn't go for the easy option and get a purpose bred biddable type - just a manic farm dog that had spent his first few months in an unsuitable home, but even with his lack of socialisation and headstrong ways he's still been easier to train and a better house dog than my others. Motivation just isn't a problem.

Having said that I don't like having things too easy, I am getting on in years and by the time I'm in a position to consider another dog I may not have the energy needed to train a dog that can take or leave people, so I wouldn't rule out getting another BC in the future.

 

Pam

[JohnLloydJones]

I grew up in an area with lots of sheep and my childhood dog (about 2 months older than me) was a BCx. I was imprinted with the knowledge that there were only two types of dogs in our place; sheepdogs and "other breeds". So, when it was time to get a dog, it never occurred to me to consider anything else. I know them; I feel I understand them; they seem to understand me; it doesn't feel like home without one lying close by my chair.

[Root Beer]

This is not the most admirable of tales, but it's the truth, so that's that!

 

We got Sammie from the pound and they told us that he was a Boxer/Lab mix. He is neither, but we didn't know any different at the time. A year later when we decided to get another dog, I wanted another one that looked like him. We looked around at different breeds, but none looked like him.

 

One day I was in a pet store and I spotted a puppy that was almost identical (no, I no longer shop in pet stores that sell puppies, but I did then - and we did not buy the pet store puppy!) and I asked the guy working there what kind of dog it was. He said it was a Border Collie and he got the puppy out for me to see. I asked what they were like and he said that Border Collies are smart and are fantastic family dogs.

 

Well, I went home and told my husband that I wanted a Border Collie. He wanted a dog from a breeder this time around, so he found a breeder, we went and came home with Speedy.

 

Two days later it struck me that I'd like to know something about Border Collies, so - with my sweet puppy under the desk chewing on my toes - I finally did some research. I was quite impressed to learn that Border Collies were still used on farms with sheep. I didn't think there were any dogs that still did what they were originally bred to do!

 

It's funny because I would never recommend that anyone get a Border Collie knowing as little as we did then, but in our case it all worked out really well. Speedy was meant for me and I was meant for him. It was challenging at times, but I was 100% committed to making it work and I did. We added another Border Collie mix from rescue six months later, and two Decembers ago we adopted another Border Collie. I always want to have at least two!!

[jamesqf]

Simple answer: I wasn't the one that chose. I've never chosen any of my dogs: they - or fate - have chosen me. Sometimes they got dumped near my place, sometimes friends of friends wanted to re-home them, etc.

[twmoose82]

We had a Border Collie growing up and like some others that have posted here we did not know that much about the breed. He ended up being a great dog and my whole family fell in love with BCs after that. I did not expect to get another BC because I live in a Condo in Chicago and I did not think I would be fair to have a high energy dog in a condo. I got Moose at a shelter event and I make sure that he gets in plenty of exercise everday to ensure that he is a happy pup. It is a lot of work, but worth every minute of it.

[Kayleegator]

When I was nine, permission was granted for me to get a puppy. BUT FIRST, I was required to spend my whole summer vacation "working like a slave", doing house and yardwork without complaint, to demonstrate to my Mom that I was mature enough to care for a dog. Well, my birthday's at the end of August, so we went on down to the animal shelter, and there was a litter of b&w pups, and we were assured that they wouldn't grow up to be very big...

 

and being the great-hearted girl that I was, I picked the little runt of the litter, and named her 'Lucky'. Lucky was mostly b/c, but had a bit of Spitz in her: curly tail and thicker coat, good for the Maine winters.

 

I actually did do all the care for her, cleaning up after her, housebreaking, feeding and training her all by myself, with instruction from books. I was even allowed into the surgery when she was spayed, having earnestly explained that I wanted to be a vet when I grew up. I was tall for my age, I'm not sure they realized how old I was! I was absolutely fascinated by that glimpse of vivid, colorful innards, shiney and alive and full of purpose.

 

Lucky was my heart dog. I have many, many memories of Lucky and me, tramping through field and forest, rousing woodchucks or squirrels or just generally playing. I confess, I do have an old photo of her baby self dressed up and bonneted, asleep on her back in a neighbor's doll carriage. Once, in an enthusiastic attempt at a backyard circus, I trained her on an 'agility course' made of old planks and wooden boxes, which she would dutifully walk, with no enjoyment at all. She was smart and funny, constant and stubborn, loved the snow and hated the mailman.

 

I've wanted another b/w masked marauder ever since. And it turned out that my husband has had two bcs in his life, and wanted one, too. And in spite of all that, we didn't know what we were committing to, and are still learning.

[mbc1963]

I definitely decided NOT to get a border collie. I read "A Dog Year" a few years before I got a dog, and read all the warnings about how BCs aren't for the faint of heart, yadda yadda. I filed the information away in my brain and refused to look at dogs with any BC in them.

 

But then Buddy showed up in the shelter, listed as a "2-5 year old BC/Aussie mix", and he was so pathetic that I brought him home, thinking he was just some random mutt. The shelters mess up on breed guesses all the time, right? Buddy was smaller than the BCs in "Babe."

 

Then I went online and Googled images of Aussies and BCs, and found a few BCs that looked JUST LIKE BUDDY, and got a little queasy. I remember calling my sister and saying, "I think he's a real border collie." She assured me that, in dogs and kids, you just take what you get - you don't get to select the peculiarities you end up with. (I think that actually, with dogs, you kind of DO get to select!)

 

Anyway, it all worked out for the best. I got a nice low-energy (though weird enough) BC who needed a nice, quiet, stable house, and that describes mine to a "T."

 

I often think I'm a BC convert... but by the time Buddy goes, I'll hopefully be into my retirement, ready for knee replacement surger. I might go for something a bit smaller, that doesn't need so many hikes in the woods. I'm meeting a lot of papillons lately - they seem like they've got great personalities, and none of them have their ears ploofed out into that weird butterfly thing. They look like tiny versions of all the BCs in here!

 

Mary

[JaderBug]

I definitely decided NOT to get a border collie. I read "A Dog Year" a few years before I got a dog, and read all the warnings about how BCs aren't for the faint of heart, yadda yadda. I filed the information away in my brain and refused to look at dogs with any BC in them.

 

A little O/T, Though somewhat good books, I hate how Katz portrays BCs as these manic, unloving creatures that you must have a degree to be able to handle/own. His books should come with a disclaimer that 'no, Border Collies are not little terrorizing monsters to live with. No, they're not for everyone, but they're also not only for a select few.' I can certainly see that he's not liked around here, not that I would say it's not deserving!

[esox]

I have always liked the herding breeds. I researched the different ones and chose a BC. Originally I wanted a German Shepherd, but no one else in the house was thrilled about that. Even with research I got more than I bargained for, good and bad. We've worked through the bad and are enjoying our good times. Now I'm hooked on the breed.

 

Esox

[RaisingRiver]

Always wanted one (they look cool) and my first dog as a child (age 3) was a BC mix - and after starting agility with my non-BC (I was 30), I realized I had a venue to work with a BC. So I got a puppy - trained her in agility and now at 2.5yrs she's learning freestyle frisbee (discdog). Have added 2 more since. Shortly after I got my first, I read a quote from an agility guru about his border collie, 'I wanted a breed I could put 100% into and get that back in return' - it described me perfectly.

[FoxgloveBC]

I trained a couple of dogs in agility when I was younger, but never thought I could handle a Border Collie. I was always in awe by their speed and ability... I just never thought I could actually own one.

 

Fast forward to about 10-15 years and I got a Sheltie which I thought was the perfect breed for me, until I realized I wanted a bolder dog that liked to do more things (my Sheltie only likes agility, and can be frustrating with his moods)

 

I then decided, I have always wanted a BC, why not get one while I was still young and still a fast handler? Here we are, I have had Foxy for half a year, and we have already accomplished many things. She is exactly what I wanted. Thats what made me decide that I am a BC person forever =)

[bcnewe2]

Cause I was just about done raising my kids and liked the challange of them so figured a bc would be close! I just didn't know how close they were going to be! But having expereince with unruly kids made training my BC's a walk in the park!

 

In truth they were my favorite dogs from childhood. My Great Uncle had 2. I loved those dogs dearly. But really didn't know about them till after I got one. Now I figure I'm just the BC type.

 

Kristen

[border_collie_crazy]

like a few others here, I had actually put BCs on my NOT to get list lol. I had researched them, I liked them, but I didnt think I would be able to handle one. I wanted a little dog, like a Skye Terrier or a CKCS, or just any old shelter dog, I almost adopted a pointer, only reason I didnt was because someone else adopted him first. well my mom wanted to do dog sports, and figered I should get a BC, only she would pick out a nice submissive calm one that would not be overly hard for me to handle. I wound up with Happy, and I have been addicted to BCs ever since lol. Happy is not like any other dog I know, she has been tough sometimes sure, but Happy is so incredably amazing, and has done so many great things(I mean actual world things, like teaching kids how to treat a dog properly, and helped frightend kids over their fear of dogs, kids with behaviour problems fall so much in love with her, that they will work hard to control themselves just so their Happy playing privilages are not taken, she has returned, and helped return many lost dogs, that kind of thing) I just look at her every day in amazment and think "she is a Border Collie". Misty is my other BC, and while she is a lot differnt from Happy, there are still things about her, that just dont compare to my other breeds and mutts. you could say that after Happy, I can offically be considered a BC addict lol

[painted_ponies]

A BC? No way!

 

One of my horse friend's DH is a Myrtle Beach police officer, and while he was on patrol duty one day, he saw a black and white blur running down the side of the King's Highway. He pulled over, opened the door of the cruiser, held out a doughnut. amd told the dog to get in. She did. When he saw he had a classically-marked BC, he asked her for the standard obedience commands, and she knew them all. So, with a heavy heart, he took her to the Grand Strand Humane Society, because he just knew some vacationer was looking frantically for their pb obedience trained BC. He put up posters, too.

 

Two weeks. No response.

 

So the police officer took her home, and he and his wife started trying to convince me I needed a border collie. I don't know why, exactly. I've asked them, and they say it's because they thought Violet and I were very much alike.

 

I thought BC were hyper dogs who all looked just alike. But then, I 'd spent my youth at AKC shows (handling chow chows ), way before BC were recognized, but where dogs were defined by appearance, not ability.

 

It took my friends a year, but they finally convinced me to let Violet Border Collie come for a weekend visit to my farm. She's still here. Since then, I've begun volunteering with my state's BC rescue and now have two more BC I've pulled from shelters - Faith, the little tri munchkin in my avatar, and Scot, my sheep farm love-child (BC/maremma cross). Faith and Vi have both been started on sheep.

 

I guess I didn't really decide on a BC. But once I got to know my first one, I couldn't imagine having any other kind of dog.

[juliepoudrier]

I've told this here before, so I'll try to keep it short and sweet. I knew I wanted a herding breed because of my wonderful childhood memories of a Belgian tervuren we had in the 70s. But I also wanted to go through rescue, and I ended up getting a dog through a group called the Pet Assistance League, which basically took any breed out of local shelters when their time was up. I was looking for a female dog, but through a series of coincidences ended up with a blue merle border collie/aussie mix. He was my only dog for about three or so years, but when I decided to move, I wanted to get him a companion and this time went to border collie rescue (because I really liked Indy's border collie traits and I was looking for an athletic dog to be my jogging partner). That's how I got Willow. After moving, my vet had a special case dog in need of a home, another border collie, and that's how I ended up with Farleigh. It was Farleigh who led me to stockwork (in a roundabout way), though he turned out to be unsuited for it. Willow became the first working dog I trained, followed by Boy (another adult I sort of rescued), and I started trialing with both of them. I then got Twist as a pup, later followed by Jill, a retired open dog, given to me to learn from. When Jill was injured, I bought Kat so I'd have another dog to run along with Twist (who was in P/N at the time). After Jill retired and I was running Twist and Kat in open, I got Lark to bring along as my next working dog. Then I bred Twist and kept two puppies from that litter, which is how I ended up with Pip and Phoebe. I now have a farm and raise rare breed sheep.

 

So really I didn't consciously choose a border collie, and in fact had seriously considered a couple of different breeds, but that mixed rescue named Indy started it all for me.

 

Here's Indy, in a photo taken several years ago (he is 15 now):

 

J.

[Anda]

Julie, until you posted this picture of Indy I forgot he was yours. I think I remember falling in love with this picture of him that you posted long time ago. What a gorgeous dog!

[sweet_ceana]

Chris had always wanted a BC and loved watching them do agility. When we first met i had never had a dog, let alone knew what a BC was. He would always put on agility competitions for me and point out the BC's until I started to become firmiliar with the black and white furry faces that would leap and sprint on command. When we bought our first house we decided that we wanted a puppy. We did a lot of reaserch, a lot of which came from lurking for months on these boards. Unfortunetly for Chris, his love has a history degree, and I love nothing more than reaserch. Before we could even see a dog i emmersed myself in the BC everything until I felt confident that we were at a place in our lives to give a BC a good home. When we came across Ceana on a farm in Colorado at 5 weeks of age we knew it was right. We saved our money and a week later Chris put in his two week notice so that he could stay home the first few months with Ceana. A year and 1/2 later we got Poke and 6 months after that we have our first foster.

[Bo Peep]

Well,

I'm sure I told this story before, but here goes. I lived on 5 acres. My neighbor had Aussies. One "show" Aussie and 3 working ones. We were great friends and being a woman, I didn't want to "copy" her, so I wanted a herding breed and thought, ok ....a border collie. I snatched one out of the paper. After research and, what a great dog, I went back to the breeder and asked questions. They didn't want the male, that was papered. He was in a kennel. He paced and they didn't like that. I bought him for $50.00. He was VERY well bred, shy and took me almost a year to earn his trust. In the mean time, I had been quite addicted to the breed.

I started off in obedience, then I saw my first sheepdog trial- WOW!!!! If ONLY I could do that- the ultimate training. I got sucked in and over the years I've worked my dogs, mostly on the farm, but now in home and now as service dogs.

 

BTW- that "neighbor's" hubby is a crew chief for NASCAR- you can see him interview almost every Sunday- LOL.

[vaporflowers]

I read Jane Burton's book "A Dog's Life: A Year in the Life of a Dog Family" as a child so many times that it wore out. I fell in love with the breed from the pictures and stories. They struck me as intelligent, playful, and fascinating. I really fell in love with the color of her dogs too; they were sable.

 

I grew up with a Cairn Terrier due to my mother's allergies. I always knew I would have a BC some day. I met several individual BCs who were intense, focused, and smarter than their owners. When I moved out on my own, I adopted a pit bull/maybe BC mix that reminded me of one of Jane's dogs. Then I got another sable BC mix. After my pit bull mix passed, I purchased baby Scorchie from a breeder and the rest is history.

 

Wolfie and Scorch now:

[Bordercentrics]

I have owned Bouviers, a miniature Schnauzer, Wirehaired Fox Terriers and Bull Terriers. After reading Jon Katz and Donald McCaig, I knew I never wanted a Border Collie. I also didn't want any more female dogs. Then I retired and started taking pictures of shelter dogs for PetFinder. I took Meg's picture four years ago and I flat fell in love. She was happy, loving, and she had a self possession and thoughtfullness that I had not seen before in a dog. She didn't get adopted so we took her home to foster, and I couldn't give her up. She is the most devoted dog I have ever had, or will ever have. Since then we have pulled 46 Border Collies out of shelters for rescue, and kept two more girls, Ruby and Molly because we couldn't give them up either, though we were supposed to be fostering them.

 

Why Border Collies? They are high maintenance and need lots of attention, as McCaig and Katz warned, but they are extremely loving, inherently biddable, and so quick-minded that training them is almost too easy. They are always focused on us and they have intense, unique personalities. They are a convenient medium size.

 

I'm still taking pictures for Petfinder, and I have handled and photographed more than 7,000 shelter dogs. I see dogs I really like weekly, but I would only own a Border Collie.

 

Steward Robbins