I met a BC snob....

[Grizel]

They aren't too happy when I tell them to be suspicious of a lot of color, either.

[speckle-legged dog]

Oh, gosh, I used to think that myself because the only time I saw Border Collies was at obedience or agility shows and they were so intense and incredibly focused. I thought they were always like that. Combine that with all the cautionary tales out there that Border Collies need hours of exercise a day and that they will destroy your house from the floorboards to the roof shingles if you do not keep them entertained. Based on they horror stories (what I sometimes call the Border Collie Hype) and only seeing the dogs in a setting where they were very jazzed up, I wanted nothing to do with the breed. It was only after I got to know some Border Collies that belonged to club members and heard what they were like to actually live with, that I became interested in getting one myself.

 

I had the same fears! I started reading that "hype" after we brought our Border Collie mix home from the shelter and it really worried me. But after her puppy stages were done and we settled on agility as her "job", I can't imagine having a better dog, and neither can my husband, and he has much more dog experience than I do.

 

One time, when Layla was about a year old, I took her to the outdoor farmer's market one Saturday and she was sitting quietly by my feet as I picked out some kind of veggie and a guy came up behind me and pointed at my sitting dog and said "Border Collie?" and I said, "yea, a mix, but mostly BC", and he shook his head and said "They're CRAZY".

[maggiesmommy]

One time, when Layla was about a year old, I took her to the outdoor farmer's market one Saturday and she was sitting quietly by my feet as I picked out some kind of veggie and a guy came up behind me and pointed at my sitting dog and said "Border Collie?" and I said, "yea, a mix, but mostly BC", and he shook his head and said "They're CRAZY".

 

I hear that all the time, too. Any intelligent animal or person goes crazy with too little stimulation. Border collies are "crazy" if you don't give them what they need, but the best dogs you can imagine if you're willing to invest time and effort into making them happy and healthy.

[GentleLake]

I don't think I've ever had anyone say (to my face, at least) that BCs are horrible or any of the other snide and derogatory things people here have heard.

 

But if it were to happen, I hope I'd be wearing my NEBCR T-shirt that says "I've been adopted by a border collie . . . and my life will never be the same. (Thank goodness!)" on the back so they could read it as I walk away sniggering at them.

 

I did, however, get a comment once that floored me. When I got my first BC, back in '81, I started out doing obedience competition with him. (It wasn't long before I gave that up and got sheep!) We were at a dog show and a woman walked up to me and said, "Border collies are such nice dogs. It's too bad they don't have a standard." My response was, "They most certainly do have a standard!" and went on to explain that it was a performance standard rather than one for appearance. Sadly, she just couldn't wrap her little brain around that.

[geonni banner]

I was walking my dog in Denver many years ago. She was a tricolor rough collie. A father and son duo were walking toward me and the boy said, "Look Daddy, a Collie." The boy's father shook his head and said, "No son, that's not a Collie. Collies are red and white, like Lassie."

 

The boy obviously wasn't about to contradict his father, but he was clearly disgusted. I said, "The boy's right. This is not only a Collie, she took best of breed at a show last weekend."

 

The father looked very surprised, and then put out, to have been proven wrong. The boy gave me a 100 watt smile and gave my dog a hug.

 

I had it again and again with that dog. People were just dying to tell me how I got sold "a bill of goods".

[brady's mom]

Whenever we meet people at a dog centric place the question "is he a border collie?" is almost always immediately followed with "what else is he mixed with?" Most people believe me when I assure them that he's all border collie but there are some who I think would refuse to believe me when if I showed them his papers. He's not that "alternative" looking either, so the mix question always throws me. To me, he has a fairly classic look minus the big patch of white across his hips.

[rushdoggie]

 

I hear that all the time, too. Any intelligent animal or person goes crazy with too little stimulation. Border collies are "crazy" if you don't give them what they need, but the best dogs you can imagine if you're willing to invest time and effort into making them happy and healthy.

 

"oh my gawd, why would you ever want a crazy dog like that!"

 

"they are sooo hard to live with!"

 

"its cruel to have a dog like that and live in the city"

[arf2184]

I had a nice conversation at work last week. An older mentally disable gentleman was excited because he was going home 'to see his dogs' that day. I asked him what kind they were and he told me he had a "Backwoods" and a "Girl" and described their personalities to me. I think that was a far greater response than telling me their breed or how they look. I learned more about them and him that way. I told him I had two dogs at home too. He asked me what kind so I told him I had a Bear and a Meg. He smiled and asked if my Bear and Meg chased cats. I said no, they like cats. He smiled again and said his dogs liked to chase them.

 

Best conversation I had all week.

 

Anyone can have a lab or a border collie, but there's only one Backwoods, Girl, Bear, Meg.

[Sue R]

Back when I used to take Celt and Megan to the rehab for therapy dog visits, we met an older gent one evening. He'd been a farmer or raised on a farm, years and years ago, and had had working sheepdogs. He had an accent and I think he was originally from the England, perhaps, but long ago.

 

His eyes just lit up to see Celt (the dogs took turns going in) and while he stroked and stroked my not-very-sociable boy who was being a model therapy dog, his eyes got a bit misty and his memories were vivid, and he told me about the collies he had known and how much he had loved them and missed them.

 

He wasn't the only one with tears in his eyes that evening, and a shared love of the dogs.

 

PS - Having been a farmer and knowing working sheepdogs, he had no trouble identifying Celt as a purebred. Funny thing, that. Celt is pretty "classic" I think but he's always identified as "mixed with what" by most people who only know Westminster and show dogs.

[terrecar]

Real Border Collies don't have a standard; they have a calling.

[gcv-border]

Real Border Collies don't have a standard; they have a calling.

Like! I would like that on a T-shirt.

 

Jovi

[Alchemist]

Like! I would like that on a T-shirt.

 

Jovi

Totally agree!!!

[Falon's Mom]

I would snatch that T-shirt up in a heart beat! Would also look good printed under a photo. *wink,wink*

[ncsugrad54]

You could easily make a shirt on Zazzle that says that. I just customized a BC shirt on there last week

[Gideon's girl]

I would support that fund raiser too!

[Sue R]

Real Border Collies don't have a standard; they have a calling.

 

Either Soldier Hollow or Meeker has been having a call for slogans for their advertising banners (check on FB on their page). You ought to submit this one!

[urge to herd]

Totally agree!!!

 

Me, too.

 

Ruth

[highway61]

Resurrecting this old thread because I recently leaned some unfortunate news

 

Over the past year I have on occasion run into the "snob" who has turned out to be a nice guy after all (his name is Sam, not to be confused with my BC Sammy). We kinda share the same school yard to off leash our dogs but until last week we've never had any lengthy conversations as he's always there with his teenage daughter and they're pretty engaged in the ball activity with their three BCs. My Sammy once got into a tuss with his highly-ball-focused "Blue". Not a fight but close and Sam was very cool about it as he explained that Blue doesn't care much for other dogs and would rather stay on the ball activities.

 

But last week when I took Sammy to the play field I noticed Sam was without his daughter and minus one of his collies (first time I has seen that). When I asked where Blue was he explained that due to an unfortunate accident, he was no longer with us. He went into a detailed explanation about how a week earlier Blue had jumped a little extra high for a ball and came down lame. Can't remember some of the medical terms he used but the long an short of it was Blue had some serious spinal issues that were so severe they couldn't save him. Sam told me its pretty rare for BCs as they usually are pretty sound regarding spinal health so it sounds like a freak occurrence. Although my own BC is ball crazy and love running to the ball, he doesn't seem to jump in the air a lot. But the frisbee is a different story. I'll be very careful with that now!

[Lizabeth]

I met someone who says "A REAL BC is 20 in, weighs no more then 25 to 30 pounds, is black and white, has 2 iced blue eyes, or one brown eye and one blue eye. All others are mix breeds!!!! I chuckled and told this person that they are very mistaken. They pointed to their 4 drop dead beautiful BC"s and said see! I said yes they are quite beautiful and all but they are not the only type of BC that is pure! these were awesome to see at work! I loved watching true cattle dogs at work on the ranch.

 

It makes me wonder, how many people have a BC with iced blue eyes? And how many have a BC with one blue and one brown eye here? I did try to tell them about looking up BC in a site for color and all, but they knew it all and I was just stupid. To me that was quite a bit snobish.

[MIRK]

It's likely many people who've had sheepdogs over a number of years will have had an occasional wall eyed dog,

but it'd be taking things a bit far to say that blue eyes were a breed standard ha ha!

I do confess to a twinge of guilt reading through this thread, for I don't much care for the very short coated Scottish dogs that seem to be becoming the trial "standard" here in the UK.

Just don't like the way they look, and prefer a bit more fur (doesn't have to be a lot more... just a bit more...).

Everything else, I'm pretty happy go lucky with.

Apart from a high set tail... had "tail high - brain low" drummed into me from an early age and now it's embedded...

Now the gay tail prejudice obviously stems from farmers seeing the dog's tails shoot up when they're too excited.

(As one poster on here put it a few years ago: "When the tail goes up, his brains fall out of his ass"...).

But is there really any reason a dog that never loses it's sticky-up pup tail should be an inferior working dog..?

I doubt it, but am never likely to find out!

[mum24dog]

 

I do confess to a twinge of guilt reading through this thread, for I don't much care for the very short coated Scottish dogs that seem to be becoming the trial "standard" here in the UK.

Just don't like the way they look, and prefer a bit more fur (doesn't have to be a lot more... just a bit more...).

 

And I don't much like hairy dogs, partly for practical housekeeping reasons and partly because I like to be able to do see and admire the unobstructed athleticism of the dog.

 

However, I'm not entirely set on my prejudice. I'm seriously considering breaking my resolve always to rescue (too many reasons to bore you with) and I'm hoping to go and see a couple of pups if they are still available, one longish coated like his sire (coincidentally called Mirk) and one short coated like his dam. I'm told that they are "peas in a pod" temperament wise so I should prefer the latter pup but will keep an open mind.

[Camden's Mom]

Oh my... how awful for Blue and his owners!! I will admit every time I see my dog go up a little high for a ball, twist in the air to catch it and land awkwardly I freeze and hold my breath. What a tragic injury, I'm sure Sam and his daughter are devastated.

[aschlemm]

I'm so glad I joined the BC boards, now I know that I'm not alone!! For years I had two Borders that were rough coated, black/white, with traditional markings, most people easily identified them as Border Collies. Now I have a rough coated male that is a brindle pointed, black tri but he also has traditional markings and even though he has HUGE, prick ears, he is usually identified as a BC. Then I have a 29 pound, 21 inch high, smooth coated, black tri. I bought her from a breeder. I saw her mom, dad and grandmom. They are all smooth coated BC's. Grandmom is ABC registered. People that have a knowledge of working Border Collies have no trouble identifing her as a BC. But, anyone else, not so much. She has been called: Collie/Terrier, Terrier cross, Border Collie cross, Greyhound cross, Whippet cross, Husky (!) cross, and (my favorite) a smooth coated Collie (must be the World's Smallest!) My Mom had the best remark "She doesn't look like a Border Collie until she sees livestock, then she looks 110% Border Collie."

[MIRK]

And I don't much like hairy dogs, partly for practical housekeeping reasons and partly because I like to be able to do see and admire the unobstructed athleticism of the dog.

 

However, I'm not entirely set on my prejudice. I'm seriously considering breaking my resolve always to rescue (too many reasons to bore you with) and I'm hoping to go and see a couple of pups if they are still available, one longish coated like his sire (coincidentally called Mirk) and one short coated like his dam. I'm told that they are "peas in a pod" temperament wise so I should prefer the latter pup but will keep an open mind.

 

I agree that a short coat has many practicalities.

To clarify, it's not traditionally short coated dogs I dislike the look of, I've a short haired dog at the moment.

(And it's a fine looking little animal - will try to attach a pic if I can figure out how...).

It's the bare skinned pack that I'm not keen on.

Then again, if I were to end up with one and it was a good dog I'm sure it'd win me round!