Why did you decide on a Border Collie?

[Soda-pop]

I wanted a dog to do some stock work and I had flunked out with my mixed breed. Soda just fell in my lap at the shelter and I couldn't say no. She's a terrible sheep dog, but a wonderful companion and I can honestly say I'll never not have a border collie. The more bc's I meet, the more I want more. It's also nice to have a dog that thinks working for you is awesome. My other great love is Alaskan Malamutes and yeah, they really don't care what you think.

[vanillalove]

Well this isn't very admirable either, but I was 9 and I was allowed to get my first puppy. A very pregnant Border Collie ended up at a shelter in town and we were told about them and we decided to go see them just out of interest. I was very knowledgeable for a 9 year old, and I knew what a herding breed was, what a Border Collie was, but nothing really much more than the basics. Anyways, we took little Petey home. Since then, the traits I love most about him are traits I was soon told to be from his mother, the BC. And now I am forever changed.

 

My adventure with this breed may have just begun but there is only forward, and I will never go back.

[Boon]

I’m sure the BC purist will love why I decided on a BC

 

I grew up with GSD, pretty much my whole family have GSD, so right after college I of course got a GSD. He was absolutely my best friend in the world, such a great dog Juneau was! He lived 12 years and when he left I was DONE! At that time I could not imagine ever having another dog.

 

Fast forward 1 year:

 

My wife decided she wanted a dog, DONE was my attitude so she got a JRT. She is a cute little girl but not my dog, I’m DONE.

 

Fast forward 2 years:

 

Well guess I wasn’t DONE, just took 3 years to get over Juneau. So I found myself at a farm where a breeder was keeping some 10wk old GSD pups. I explained to him I was looking for a hiking companion who likes to play disc. He seemed to think all of them were natural disc dogs and would be great on trail. For whatever reason it didn’t feel right, none of the pups “jumped” out to me. On the way back to my truck I was met by the old women who owned the farm, her name was Sylvia. Sylvia says “Young man why so blue?” I said “Oh, I’m not blue just heading home”, Sylvia “No, your blue honey”, I said “Nah I’m not blue just looking for a dog and its tough decision” her response and I will never forget “Why do you want some dirty old dog when you can have a Border collie?”

 

Long story short, she had Border collie pups, I got one and named him Blue and will never own another breed of canine!

[Skyler]

I have been around them for as long as I can remember. I grew up with half of my family being farmers. Though my parents werent farmers I spent a lot of time on my great uncles farm. He had rough collies and border collies only. Being around those dogs changed my life forever and they instilled a wonder in me that has never changed. It has allowed me a special connection to dogs (especially BCs) because those dogs were all I could think about. I loved to go and see them and totally ignored everyone for however long I was allowed to stay and hung out with the dogs - a huge farm with woods, a stream and a highly trained BC is every boys dream!!!

 

I have never wanted another kind of dog since. Besides, once you own one there isnt anything else to be had in the dog world. I may get flamed for that even on this forum but a BC is leaps and bounds above any other dog IMO. They are absolutely the best looking, one of the most agile, hands down the smartest and as loyal as a dog can be.

 

Ryan

[afrancis]

"Why do you want some dirty old dog when you can have a Border collie?”

 

What a shameless marketing ploy.

I guess it worked, eh?

A.

[theshine]

Another person here who had decided NOT to get a Border Collie.....I always liked the look and intelligence of them, but I had heard so many stories about how difficult they were...that's why I was drawn to shelties initially, I wanted "bc lite". But someone on a site I was looking at posted a pic of a pretty merle dog with a big caption "URGENT, has until 5 pm tomorrow"...I see a million of those pics, but this one was at a shelter 10 minutes from me and I liked the look of him. I thought he was an aussie from the pic, but during the meet and greet my husband asked if they were sure he was an aussie, and the lady said no, they thought he was a bc. After an initial bout of fear, we decided to take him, and the rest is history. Now I'm still a sheltie girl at heart, but my DH is talking more and more about a classically marked black and white bc, so another one may be in the far far furure, who knows.

[JaderBug]

...but my DH is talking more and more about a classically marked black and white bc, so another one may be in the far far furure, who knows.

 

(O/T- Sorry, I'm usually pretty good with acronyms on here but this one is stumping me... what is DH?? I assume it has something to do with 'hubby', but that's all the farther I get )

[Cool Dave]

When my ex-wife divorced me and took her bc with her (the first bc I ever knew). Actually, thats not quite true, it was actually the day the divorce was declared final and I realized there was not going to be any reconcilliation. In any event, I'd rather have Sassy than my ex any day!

[NorthfieldNick]

Moving five friendly sheep with a bucket of alfalfa pellets is easy. Moving 100 un-tamed sheep is nearly impossible without a BC. So I got one

 

Really, unlike many people, I had sheep before the dog.

 

DH= Dear Hubby, usually. Sometimes it's Dumb, etc...

[clara]

I always wanted a BC, without knowing much about them or why I wanted one, it was just a feeling I had. But I was shelter dog girl, and the dogs that we found and fell for when we were ready to adopt new family members were just never BCs (A Lab and a Springer). Then 12 wk old Ling somehow managed to get hit by a car on an isolated country road when my sister was trying to find her way back to my house, sis picked her up and brought her to me. THEN I learned all about BCs! And if I have my way, I won't have another breed, ever.

[Bailey]

Just want to say hello to everyone. This is my first post

 

We got our first dog from our local rescue center. I was not sure i really wanted a dog as I had 3 young children who kept me really busy. However, the family were desperate and so off to the local rescue centre I went and there was Ben 4 months old and a collie cross. We took him home and I was determined not to get too close. However, he turned out to be my best friend. I loved him as much as I did my own children. Nothing fazed him. He joined in all the family activities he could and was a great camping dog and companion. Sadly, at 16yrs I had to say goodbye to him. It hurt so much.

 

The house seemed empty even when we were all at home. The mornings were especially bad as that was exclusively our time.

 

It’s now been 6 months since we lost Ben and we now have Bailey. A 10-week-old Border collie. He’s adorable, mischievous, funny, loving and clever and that empty space has now been filled with laughter and the frequent sound of 'NO Bailey'..lol

 

I have another 3 weeks before I can start puppy training classes and taking him over the fields for long walks and I simply cannot wait to show him his world.

 

 

Sue

[Seelie Fey]

When I was growing up, we had black labs. I wasn't really into dogs, and pretty much ignored them. As an adult, I did volunteer work at the local humane society and, even though I wasn't a dog person, I hated seeing the dogs just locked up and left in the cages. So, when I realized I could take a dog into work with me and spoil it properly, the idea of giving a home to one of those abandoned dogs haunted me. I thought and thought about it, and decided that, if I were going to get a dog, I would want one that would be active and demanding and make me play with it, take it for walks, and give it the attention it needed.

 

So, I researched and decided on an Australian Shepherd. On my birthday, I went to the pound and there was an aussie cross, so I took him home. He's been a great dog, but when I started working at a place where I could not bring the dog, he would guilt me horribly about being put outside before work. In the effort to keep the hyper driven monster entertained, I had gotten involved in flyball and other dog sports and most of the other dogs on the team were border collies. They had the traits I loved in my dog: high drive, high energy, manipulative, wanting to do stuff, demanding. He got along well with them in the play sessions after practice and they stood up to him just fine with no fighting, so, I went to the shelter and got a border collie puppy to keep him company. She's been a lot of fun - though I kind of agree with what a previous poster said about being "too easy to train." She's been a dream, but I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop or the rebellion to kick in.

[Skyler]

Just want to say hello to everyone. This is my first post

 

We got our first dog from our local rescue center. I was not sure i really wanted a dog as I had 3 young children who kept me really busy. However, the family were desperate and so off to the local rescue centre I went and there was Ben 4 months old and a collie cross. We took him home and I was determined not to get too close. However, he turned out to be my best friend. I loved him as much as I did my own children. Nothing fazed him. He joined in all the family activities he could and was a great camping dog and companion. Sadly, at 16yrs I had to say goodbye to him. It hurt so much.

 

The house seemed empty even when we were all at home. The mornings were especially bad as that was exclusively our time.

 

It's now been 6 months since we lost Ben and we now have Bailey. A 10-week-old Border collie. He's adorable, mischievous, funny, loving and clever and that empty space has now been filled with laughter and the frequent sound of 'NO Bailey'..lol

 

I have another 3 weeks before I can start puppy training classes and taking him over the fields for long walks and I simply cannot wait to show him his world.

 

 

Sue

 

Very nice story and I completely understand. I lost my best friend and soul last year as well and I now have 2 BC pups. Although I love them dearly I still think of my Skyler every single day. Some days are better than others and even though its been almost a year I still get choked up.

 

Im so glad you have found love in another dog. They can never replace the one we have lost but they each bring their own joy into our lives. The wonder and love of dogs....

 

Ryan

[grinning.girl]

I just want to say that I HATED BORDER COLLIES!!!! [gasp!]

 

yes it is true I wanted nothing to do with this awful breed, they are snobby, only care about their ball and their owners. and I wanted nothing of the sort!!!!

 

and then I met Shelby. at the time she was just puppy #4 at the pet store. and she melted my heart. and I love her very much. I have a respect for dog that I never had before, my bc x has taught me alot about life. and I think that getting her was one of the BEST desisions in my life. it may be tough some times, but having a dog that is as wonderful as this breed is so rewarding at the end of the day

[Debbie Crowder-BaaramuLuke]

Now, THAT'S funny, 'cuz I HATED THEM TOO!!!

Swear to you, I did. Not actually hated them, but I had met a few obedience people who made me dislike them out of reverse snobbery, as in, they think they're real special, don' they. Then the old horse lady I worked for had a BC fixation and claimed her chow mix was one, and she read all Nops Trials and suggested I read it. I did, and knew he wasn't one, but a nice old guy anyway, but Donald McCaig made me feel darn sure I had no business having one. I had a great lab mix, Carly, who was my one and only 24/7 companion dog, and I was looking at getting into obedience with a Bernese Mountain dog or a Malinois maybe IF I ever got a purebred anything.

Long story short, worked for a grooming shop as a (you guessed it) groomer, Carly was diagnosed at 9 with lung cancer in May, had to put her down in July (oh, this is July, July 16, 1993), groomed two BC for Karen Lacy on July 19, Rip and Midge, LOVED them to death, some horrible instinct in me asked her if she had any pups (sniff, sniff), she had ONE. Tuesday went out to see HIM, gave her a check in a blind catatonic state, went home and cried some more, picked him up Friday July 23 and the rest is (my) history. Another story.

Changed my life. I named him Calvin after the line in Donald McCaig's book ("Emminent Dogs...") about border collies surely being Calvinists, predestined to their worldly fates. Never thought I'd ever meet Donald McCaig, let alone tend his sheep at his beloved Occasional trials the past few years.

[haleigh]

I grew up watching Babe over and over and over to the point of obsession because of the BCs. When I was five *haha*, I did as much research on borders as possible.

 

When my parents divorced when I was 4, I live with my mum. Then, when I was 8 (or 9) I move in with my dad. Mum always was and still is the laid back pet person. Daddy's always been a little uptight, so me and my sister were surprised when he let us take Hannah our wolf hybrid. when she passed, we wound up getting a malinois name Mo, who shortly died of cancer. Later that summer (2 1/2 years ago) dad decided I was responsible enough for a puppy, and gave me the task of picking out a dog. I jumped at the opportunity of saying a border could be right for us, but he was all worried about one having a 'job'. So I pretty much convinced him that agility and tracking would suffice, and he gave in.

 

Basically, we needed a dog who was loyal, bonded easily with people, could spend hours upon hours outside and engaged in family activites, easy to train...etc. and we picked a border collie. And despite everything that goes on, I honestly don't regret it.

[Skyler]

I grew up watching Babe over and over and over to the point of obsession because of the BCs. When I was five *haha*

 

 

 

STOP IT!!! .......youre making me feel old

Ryan

[haleigh]

HAHAHAHA! Sorry bout that..

[berocca]

I decided I wanted a BC when I was about 10. A good friend of mine had one that I absolutely fell in love with. Not sure exactly where she came from but she had MAJOR aggression issues with anyone who wasn't family so I never even got the chance to pat her, I simply admired her from afar They didn't have her for very long (although my memory of the time isn't that great) so Im not sure exactly what happened to her. All I knew was that I wanted a border collie called Chloe too

 

My parents wouldn't allow us to have a dog growing up so it wasn't until I moved out with my ex (I was 20) that I was able to get one. I still had my heart set on a female BC called Chloe but I really didn't know that much about the breed. At the time it was purely a looks thing and I cannot describe the feeling in me that it was the breed for me and I knew I would adapt my lifestyle to suit the needs of my dog. I had never heard of any dog sports although I had a vague idea that there were classes you could go to that taught them how to sit. I had no idea it was a competitive thing.

 

Pretty much my preparation was everything that we hate to see with BCs. I liked the looks, researched them with a "well it doesnt sound like me at the moment but I can change that part of my life" attitude, and then just started calling people from the newspaper. I wanted a female and the only reason I didn't end up with one of those newspaper puppies was the fact that everyone had only males left. Then my aunt mentioned someone she knew with show dogs who had ended up with an "oops" litter of BC x ACDs. I went out there and they only had a male left but he melted my heart immediately. I couldn't exactly call a male dog Chloe so he became Cody

 

If anyone had known me and also understood border collies they would have had alarm bells going off in their heads. I told myself I would change my life for my dog but that was something I said about a lot of things and never actually went through with it. I have also had no luck keeping pets (despite being a huge animal lover) as I have a tendency to get lazy with their care. Luckily for my dogs they seem to be the exception and I put their care above my own.

 

Well as it turned out I had finally found the animal for me. I threw myself into caring for Cody as best I could, I finally tracked down an obedience class when he was 9mnths and that led to agility. Cody developed fear aggression issues and I started researching ways to help him, that then led to discovering raw diets which gave me a new passion. Dog sports very quickly became my life and I met many border collies who confirmed that they were the breed for me. I started thinking about my next dog and finally getting that female border collie I wanted (although I figured I couldn't call her Chloe as it would have been too confusing). Cody was almost 2 when I got Delta and I began training her straight away. A month later Cody died and I don't know how I would have got through that without my dog sport. I just kept looking towards the next training day when I could see doggy people again.

 

When Delta was about 5months old I started thinking about a companion for her. I don't particularly like keeping a dog on its own while Im at work, I prefer to have at least 2. I knew I wasn't ready for another puppy so I started looking at rescue. None of the border collies jumped out at me and I ended up with Charlie (kelpie x cattle) figuring he would be similar. There is absolutely no comparison, I love him to bits but he just isn't a border collie.

 

I can't imagine not having at least one border collie running around here. I just love everything about them and I have no doubt they are the breed for me. I have known since I was 10

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

LOL! I think I grew up watching Adventures of Natty Gan (sp?) over and over on...get ready for this...BETA!

 

Anyway, deciding on a bc was an accident I'm sure! My best friend and I had moved into a house together (if your best friend can be your soul mate, that's us!) and she decided she wanted a puppy. Naturally, the animal lover that I am couldn't resist. It would give me a reason to stay home and "grow-up"! She had all kinds of ideas, tea cup this or something poo that. Being friends for this long already, I knew that ultimately I would be in charge of what ever insanity we brought home, so I couldn't let her get something that I could sit on and kill. After god knows how long searching and searching we found some bc/malamute puppies. I grew up on a farm(chickens) of sorts and I had experience with tons of dogs, so I figured, "how hard can this be?!" When we went to see them, most of the males were twice the size of the females and classic mal markings and all the girlies were pretty little bc's. Daisy came up to us, sat down and waited for one of us to pick her up. And so we did. I soon found out that a bc was a little more than your average farm dog! We've gone through so much together that I couldn't imagine life without her (It's a pretty huge deal when your best friend gets married and you have to live with a boy!).

 

I love the intensity, the way they want to please, their intelligence, and yes, even the fact that I can't go to the bathroom without her!

[sluj]

I'm *still* waiting for circumstances to allow me a BC. I've been waiting, I think, since I was about 10. My Mom took us kids to see some sort of agricultural fair that included a sheepdog trial. Between that, and the SAR demo, I was hooked. I just loved their intensity and focus. We had a very sweet and well-mannered dog, but ... well she was the sort of dog you could fool with a flashlight. It took about six years to talk my parents around to getting a second dog: a bc/acd pup who'd been returned to the shelter a few days after the rest of his littermates were adopted, because "he intimidated the child". We'd never heard of an ACD until then (nor was I able to identify the mix until more recently), and weren't prepared for his intellect or attitude. The only difficulty in teaching him tricks is that several he considered beneath his dignity. Unfortunately, I had to leave him with my parents when I went off to college. Not that I can claim any great experience, but only with Squire and Allie do I feel that the dog and I really understand one another.

[blackNwhite]

There doesn't seem to be an introduce yourself area so this seems as close as I'll get...

I have been herding for about 6 years with Shelties and I've enjoyed it and learned a lot from my dogs. I've trialled in all four herding venues here (AKC, AHBA, ASCA and USBCHA) although I don't see my shelties getting past PN in an ISDS type trial even with the greatest effort. I've become seriously addicted to herding. I started with two dogs going to working 'herding club' meetings once a month and now have five dogs, own a farmette, sheep, part of a co-op that owns sheep, haul sheep for folks, etc. etc (amazing what a slippery slope it was!) I started feeling like while I was still learning with my dogs, I was seeing some diminishing returns and I knew that shelties would never teach me about 'eye' or strong instinct, etc. So I opted for a border collie. I hope that when I'm 80 I'm still learning about herding and still enjoying it just as much. I just wish I had started about 20 years ago!

Shelby

[bc4ever]

After seeing and being with my brother's BC/Aussie mix, I knew. Unfortunately, my husband wasn't as sure. We had had dogs growing up--one, a gorgeous Collie named Duchess (looked just like Lassie!) who died having puppies..she had a hot date one night with a St. Bernard and the puppies were too big for her to birth. At least that's what my mom told me. We couldn't afford a vet at the time. I was heart broken for a long time over that.

 

Anyway....In our search for a Border Collie, we scoured the papers almost daily, and it seemed every time we'd find one, they were all gone by the time we called. I contacted a breeder but she wasn't going to breed for a while. I talked to other BC owners. Then one day my aunt called and told us about an ad she'd seen in a different paper. We called. We went. We bought! The middle of January! What were we thinking?! It seemed to make everything more difficult, especially the potty training. But we managed, and Scooter learned quickly to adapt to the weather conditions and our inexperience, and took to training very easily.

 

My husband now says that getting Scooter was the best idea I ever had. I think so too.

[GnlLeeNTrouble2]

Dumb luck! There was an ad in the Sunday paper, these people giving Lee away. He's registered, but apparently too high maintenance for them. They obviously had a lot of money, I swear the TV completely covered the wall. We'd never had a BC before, didn't even have a dog at the time. When I first saw Lee's head pop around the corner of the door where he was in the back yard, I was a goner. They let him in the house, told him to go get the baby (a raggedy monkey toy) and he went straight for his rope ball toy. I'd never seen a dog so intense. He finally took a break from the ball, jumped up on me and I knew he was the dog. I didn't like dogs. We had a lab when I was a kid that was my best buddy. He got hit by a car the year I turned 15 and after that I didn't want anything to do with a dog. For some reason Lee got my attention, even though a newspaper. He's my best buddy now. We got Trouble November last year. She's the baby now, my husband's favorite, but that's because she used to sleep on his chest when she was little.

[tripsis]

When I was little, our handyman had a red and white Border Collie that he would bring to our house whenever he came over to fix something. "Bogie" was always a lively, happy dog who would play soccer with me in the driveway and chew up all my toys In addition to falling in love with Bogie the red and white Border Collie, I also fell victim to the movie Babe.

 

I haven't been able to get a Border Collie of my own yet, but it is something that I look forward to doing in hopefully the near future.