Is My Dog Really Border Collie?

[BorderCollie86]

So I got a supposed 3/4 Border Collie, 1/4 Aussie. His name is Ares and he's 10 weeks old. Based on clues I give+pics wondering if you guys think it's legit. I have no papers or documentation to prove it. Okay now for some traits that seem to be in common with BC.

 

-Hyper noise sensitivity. He perks up and reacts to nearly every sound. If I play music on my phone he gets annoyed and attacks it.

 

-Extremely smart/biddable. I taught him a reliable sit in about a minute and now I can say sit from 10 feet away or so and he listens first time normally.

 

-Eye contact. Never had a dog who looked at me like a human, often for long periods. Ares does. If I walk off in distance he keeps track of me.

 

-Clingy. This dog ran outside and I panicked expecting him to run away like my old labs I had. Instead he laid on my feet. Follows everywhere.

 

-Herding. He loves to herd all of his toys up or line them up. Also if ignored will latch onto my shorts and pull me where he wants me to go (such as to his toys).

 

Those are main clues trait wise. Looks wise the reason I'm questioning it is that almost all black and white Border Collie pics I'm seeing the body is predominantly black, but legs almost always white. His whole body is black besides chest, paws and tip of tail. His eyes are grey/green ish.

[Bordercentrics]

Don't go by the amount of white - there are purebred BC's that are all black with no white at all. He looks like a BC or mostly BC. He is adorable, and his traits do sound like a BC. Have fun with him.

 

Kathy Robbins

[Root Beer]

Based on those pictures, I would believe 3/4 Border Collie and 1/4 Aussie.

 

You might have a better idea once he's grown.

In any case, he looks like a super smart boy, full of personality!

 

Enjoy!

[waffles]

Yep, looks like a border collie x australian shepherd mix. No one can tell you what your dog is except the person who bred him. Enjoy him though as he is super cute and will make a great companion.

[BorderCollie86]

Awesome. Wonder how big he's gonna get. He's about 13-14 lbs at 10 weeks. He's been the easiest puppy I've ever owned so far. Glad I didn't get scared off by all the people telling me how difficult Border Collies are! My only real gripe is he's very bitey with his teething. He gets bored or wants something and starts biting me. But with strangers he never does it! But I guess that's all puppies? I just try to redirect him to toys and give a firm no.

[teresaserrano]

Colour does not a bc make. My Tess is all white with black ears and a bc she is.

[GentleLake]

Welcome to the Boards. Very cute puppy.

 

As others have already said, the markings aren't really indicative one way or another. Your puppy's marked much like many purebred border collies. But he's also a mix so that would have an influence as well.

 

Another thing is that at this age you can't tell from appearance. He may well change as he matures, not so much his markings but his structure. I adopted a 6 month old puppy several years ago who looked like a border collie puppy at that time. She grew up to be a lurcher, so maybe part border collie but she's most definitely not purebred. There's very definitely some sort of sighthound in her mix and I'd guess at least half. But I couldn't see that in her at 6 months . . . . and would still not guess it from her head, which is shaped more border collie or similar breed that long nosed sighthound.

 

As for how big he'll get, it's hard to say. Border collies average around 30-45 lbs. though some are smaller and quite a few are larger. Aussies tend to be a little bigger, so with the Aussie influence Ares may be on the larger side.

 

There's a website that purports to estimate the adult weight of purebred puppies based on their age and current weight. http://www.puppychart.com/ I have no idea how accurate it is but I've been using it to estimate my now 20 week old border collie pup who, if it's accurate, is tracking to mature at about 33.5#.

 

OTOH, there's a rule of thumb that border collie puppies will double their weight t 4 months old. If that's correct, my pup will be about 40#. Only time will tell which one, if either, is accurate. It'll be fun to watch and see. (I'm hoping for the smaller size, though!)

 

IMO, border collies are only more difficult than many (not all) other dogs in their need for a genuine partnership with their people that some dog guardians simply aren't willing to commit to. Yes, they learn quickly, but they'll learn things you really wish they hadn't as easily as the things you deliberately set out to teach them. They're great problem solvers and if their problem is boredom they'll definitely solve it, but in ways that you're pretty much guaranteed not to appreciate. So they're a dog you have to be prepared to be involved with.

 

Best wishes to you and Ares and I hope he grows up to be everything you hope him to be.

[gcv-border]

Congrats on your cute new puppy. He certainly looks like a BC, and the 1/4 Aussie is believable too. These dogs can look very similar when young pups. You may be able to tell a bit more when he is an adult, but I don't think you will ever know exactly which percentage is BC and which percentage is Aussie. (or maybe he is all one or the other).

 

As you have already keyed in on, BCs (and Aussies) show certain behavioral traits. Again, everything you describe sounds like a BC/Aussie.

 

Have you looked a pics of working BCs? If you are only looking at pics of AKC BCs, I am not surprised that you are seeing a more uniform color pattern. Since working BCs are bred for their brains, and not their markings/color, you will see much more varied markings - as others have pointed out, from all/mostly all black to predominantly white, long hair, smooth coat, sharp nose, blunt nose, 30# or 50#.

 

Have fun with your pup!!

[Gloria Atwater]

At this stage it's impossible to tell. By looks he could be exactly what he's said to be! Border collies come in a broad variety of color patterns and I've known several that are almost pure black. But he's far too young to tell and the traits you describe could be attributed to any clever, alert, active breed.

He definitely is 150% cute, though!

Get a start now on de-fusing the clothes-grabbing and noise reactivity, however. Those behaviors won't be cute when he's 3 years old ... Congrats on the new puppy!

~ Gloria

[BorderCollie86]

Thanks everyone! Just for fun, today I ordered a DNA panel that's supposed to pull from 150+ breeds. So in the next 2 weeks or so I should have at least some confirmation (yes, I know these aren't 100 percent).

[BorderCollie86]

@Gloria I definitely am. He's got a problem with biting too hard+tugging clothes but today he's responding to "No!" Much better. I think it's just him learning to communicate with me and me learning to read him. Like today he started pacing near door and whining to go potty, which he's never done the previous 5 or 6 days I've had him.

[D'Elle]

Tell you what he looks like to me.

CUTE.♥

Welcome to the BC boards..............and world.

[chrisandgabe]

We have what we think is a border collie/Australian shepherd mix too (although no guess on percentages or anything like that). He's about 43 pounds. We rescued him, so will never really know exactly his makeup, but we'll go with border collie/australian shepherd. Because of his merle, a lot of people go with "Australian Shepherd mix", I think he looks and acts more Border Collie, and the sheepherding trainer feels like he's more similar to some crazy border collies she has known. Whatever his background, he's wonderful, which is the most important part. Have fun with your adorable puppy!!!

 

[TxMom]

Just for fun, Livi is also (likely) a Border Collie/Aussie mix. Mom was a Border Collie; the most likely candidate for dad was the neighbor's Aussie but no one knows for sure. I can't say anything about your little guy than that he's awful darn cute.

 

IMG_9570e by birdofpray, on Flickr

[Shandula]

Certainly looks like a BC to me! Just to give you a rough idea of size, my Aussie is a year and a half and is now 53 pounds. At 8 weeks, he was just under 10 pounds.

 

Eight Weeks:

 

Now:

 

 

Sorry those pictures are huge!

 

My BC is much smaller. Only 7 pounds at 8 weeks.

[Kira's Mom]

Awesome. Wonder how big he's gonna get. He's about 13-14 lbs at 10 weeks. He's been the easiest puppy I've ever owned so far. Glad I didn't get scared off by all the people telling me how difficult Border Collies are! My only real gripe is he's very bitey with his teething. He gets bored or wants something and starts biting me. But with strangers he never does it! But I guess that's all puppies? I just try to redirect him to toys and give a firm no.

 

We're in the same boat, just got a BC/Aussie mix who is just about 20 weeks old today. Our pups looks like they are twins! We got her when she was about 8 weeks old and was super teenie, about 5 lbs. Vet weighed her today and she's 24 lbs, so will be likely be smaller than your boy.

 

Mouthing/Nipping:

Kira is the mouthiest pup I've ever met/owned, so I can totally relate. Her heel nipping and clothing pulling was out of control for the first 2 - 3 weeks, and she was basically a landshark vampire with skin. Everything I read about saying "ouch" or yelping or ignoring her just amped her up even more. We put a very strict time-out on her whenever she pulled our clothes or nipped at us. Every time, she was plopped in our guest bathroom for about 30 seconds to a minute and then let her out. This was repeated about a million times with the nipping. I also make her take plenty of naps as she won't sleep on her own. Every few hours, she is told to go to her kennel and take a nap. Over tired puppies are cranky nippers in my experience! What also really helped was trick training her ASAP. As we walked, we had treats or a toy in hand and she had to do things for us as we walk (like sit, down, wait, spin...) and that's worked like a charm. We don't always have toys on us for redirection now, but she is always willing to do things for attention and it is working as a great redirection game for her. She's much better now.

 

Sensitive Hearing:

I have a few apps that have sounds of thunder, fireworks, barking, sirens and hooked it up to our speaker system in the house. We play it in the house on the lowest volume possible and treat Kira often as she ignores the different sounds. Then we go up a few levels of volume throughout the training session until she started to get a little more reactive. This has worked really well on teaching her to not be nervous around unknown noises. Might be something you want to try?

 

Your boy is ADORBS. Massive congrats and good luck !

Kira at 12 weeks:

[GentleLake]

What's with all the border collie/Aussie mixes these days? The rescue I adopted Wink from has had a steady stream of them for some time now.

[kingfisher7151]

I, too, have seen a lot of BC/Aussie mixes lately! I know it's a crap shoot, but they all have taken very strongly after their border collie side.

 

I have a very dark border collie. He has a full blaze, but he has only a quarter white collar and only his feet are white.

 

[Gloria Atwater]

What a clever little dude he sounds like!

You might also try using a sharp, high yelp when he grabs or bites - make as sharply pained a sound as you can and then stand up/turn away from him. Often this both startles them into backing off and helps them understand they should practice more bite inhibition. Learning communication is always such an adventure with puppies and it's wonderful to see them learn and progress! Enjoy your little cutie - and more photos are always welcome.

~ Gloria

@Gloria I definitely am. He's got a problem with biting too hard+tugging clothes but today he's responding to "No!" Much better. I think it's just him learning to communicate with me and me learning to read him. Like today he started pacing near door and whining to go potty, which he's never done the previous 5 or 6 days I've had him.

[moosikins]

Thanks everyone! Just for fun, today I ordered a DNA panel that's supposed to pull from 150+ breeds. So in the next 2 weeks or so I should have at least some confirmation (yes, I know these aren't 100 percent).

 

I got a refund on mine because they told me my BC/lab mix was Shar-pei/Standard Poodle mix with no herding breed or lab mixed in. LOL

 

Sometimes those tests come out wacky!

[moosikins]

But he's absolutely gorgeous and sounds like a lot of fun. Enjoy!!!

 

And post more pictures for us! <3

[BorderCollie86]

Kira's mom I'm in the same boat. Yelping and all those things trainer's suggest don't do squat to stop biting for Ares. Today he was so wound up he actually attacked me and snarled. He was having a bout of the "zoomies" and turned his focus to wrestling me. I basically had to rough him up and scold him to get him to stop! Yelping, walking away etc... none of it works. If I walk away he thinks we are playing and will follow me as he tugs on my shorts/pants.

 

Overall he's an incredibly good dog and I love him. In public everyone is amazed with his behavior and temperament. Just this biting seems to be progressing last 2 or 3 days. He only does it with me for some reason. Yet he's also most submissive/obedient to me. So I don't think it's a dominance thing?

[BorderCollie86]

Oh and thanks everyone for sharing your dogs. Beautiful pups . Unfortunately I can't share more pics because apparently my phone takes too high resolution ones that are too large of a file to be uploaded. Not the best with resizing.

[BorderCollie86]

@Moo that sucks! I pray this DNA test goes better than your experience did.

[GentleLake]

Yelping and all those things trainer's suggest don't do squat to stop biting for Ares. Today he was so wound up he actually attacked me and snarled. He was having a bout of the "zoomies" and turned his focus to wrestling me. I basically had to rough him up and scold him to get him to stop! Yelping, walking away etc... none of it works. If I walk away he thinks we are playing and will follow me as he tugs on my shorts/pants.

 

Sounds like he needs a time out when he gets that worked up. Put him in his crate or put him a safe room like a bathroom or laundry room if you don't have a crate (though you definitely should) and leave him for just a minute till he calms down. He probably just needs a nap but like a human infant or toddler doesn't know this and needs to be put to bed for a nap whether he thinks he wants one or not.

 

But at his age, the biggest thing you need to understand is that you need to be patient. Yelping and ignoring him will work, eventually, as he gains a little maturity and learns to control his impulses. Tincture of time.

 

Roughing him up, which is essentially attacking him and I'd consider as abusive as a parent roughing their infant child up, is likely to have some unintended negative consequences. At the very least, you risk damaging the relationship you want to build with him. Why on earth should he trust someone who's going to loose their cool and attack him? You also risk his deciding he needs to fight back and you could create a truly aggressive dog.

 

So take a deep breath and calm down. Puppy tantrums are part of what you signed up for when you got a young puppy, just like they're part of the territory for human children. If you can't deal with it calmly, please consider placing the pup in rescue where he'll be place in an appropriate home. Now, I really don't think things are so bad as to need that, but if they are, admit it now and do the right thing.

 

OTOH, if you want to do right by the pup, get a grip on your frustrations, put things in perspective and resolve to do better the next time, and the next time, and the next time it happens, because it will happen again . . . and again and again and again. It's normal, it's to be expected. But it won't last forever, but for the time being you have to step up and be the responsible adult in the relationship.

 

I have a puppy who'll be 20 weeks old on Sunday. He's finally stopped being such a land shark in the past couple weeks. Whew! Yelping, times out and putting him down for naps did work, just not on day one. And I didn't have to rough him up to achieve it.