Cass C Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 I've seen lots of dogs marked as 'border collie mix' when they were obviously a black and white pitbull mix or just a black and white mutt. Nothing wrong with a mutt or a pitbull if that's what you want, but it's also not a border collie. One thing you can do is ask your shelters if they do a 'spay momma' type program where they will spay a female dog in exchange for a litter of pups. Those dogs will be more likely to have at least one known parent. Often times they can put you on a list to be notified if a specific breed shows up. That is where I got Lyka from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisandgabe Posted February 21, 2016 Report Share Posted February 21, 2016 Haha yeah we take the dogs out at 5am on weekdays, it's so nice!! No one is ever out with their dogs we are at the whining stage too!! However I am not complaining because I'll take whining over barking and lunging any day. Is Gabe's reactivity caused by excitement/frustration? How old is he? We have made huge progress the last couple of months, I don't have to walk in pure fear of seeing a dog a mile away. We are at about a safe distance of across the street as long as we keep moving very fast lol. I'll definitely take the whining over barking and lunging. I think his reactivity is a mixture of excitement and frustration, and sometimes fear. He can be leash reactive when we see people too (although it is greatly improved, even more so than seeing dogs), and that definitely seems like fear reaction. When we see other dogs- it's a crapshoot. He has 4 dog friends in our neighborhood (all female) if he knows they're around, he whines like crazy until he sees them. He sometimes whines for stranger dogs too. He's almost 3 years old, we have had him for 8 months. Across the street is our safe distance too, unless the dog across the street is also reactive, or a hard-starer. So I think that's some frustration that the other dog is as rude as he is. Mostly I think he just wasn't well-socialized. We've made a ton of progress over the past 8 months, but it's still a challenge. He was also attacked by an off-leash dog in our neighborhood in October, which has heightened my anxiety about seeing other dogs, which I'm sure translated through the leash some. The fact that he has dog friends is a big accomplishment, and he does pretty well off-leash with appropriate dogs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted February 21, 2016 Report Share Posted February 21, 2016 I've seen lots of dogs marked as 'border collie mix' when they were obviously a black and white pitbull mix or just a black and white mutt. Often they're not even black and white and look nothing like a border collie. I think they're just trying to benefit from the cachet that border collies have of supposedly being the smartest, most versatile breed that's made them so popular and thus supposedly adoptable. In a way I understand their motivation to try to make the dogs appealing and get them adoptive homes. But I think it can backfire as well. I've know people who (rightfully) adore their little mix dogs that they believe are border collie mixes (though are most likely not) and then think they want a purebred border collie as a result. And they're often not suitable homes for genuine border collies and they end up being unprepared, having problems and potentially giving these dogs up for adoption. Talk about creating a vicious cycle. I hope it doesn't happen as often as I fear it could. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TxMom Posted February 21, 2016 Report Share Posted February 21, 2016 Often they're not even black and white and look nothing like a border collie. Just yesterday on my Facebook feed, the local news station posted a video of a litter of puppies from a shelter. If I had to guess, I'd say they looked terrier-ish. A couple of them were white with black patches. In the comments, someone piped up with, "Aw, Border Collies!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cass C Posted February 21, 2016 Report Share Posted February 21, 2016 Just yesterday on my Facebook feed, the local news station posted a video of a litter of puppies from a shelter. If I had to guess, I'd say they looked terrier-ish. A couple of them were white with black patches. In the comments, someone piped up with, "Aw, Border Collies!" You mean to tell me that other breeds can be black and white? I actually have friends who got a border collie because they had a black and white chi/mix? that they insisted was part border collie because it 'looked like one'. They also spent all of 30 minutes with Lily and decided to get a pure BC recently and it's driving them crazy. They refused to listen when I warned them Lily had tons of training to make her a good dog it wasn't the breed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted February 21, 2016 Report Share Posted February 21, 2016 You mean to tell me that other breeds can be black and white? Too funny. Lily had tons of training to make her a good dog it wasn't the breed. I am always telling people that a) Bodhi's not a typical border collie - much more laid back than average, he had a lot of training to be the dog they see now and c) that he takes his job as a therapy dog very seriously and the dog they're seeing when we're on our visits isn't the same dog I see at home, on a walk or especially when a tennis ball comes out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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