How obsessed with Border collies are you?

[adadrian]

So, How obsessed with bc's are you?

 

me? im fully obsessed have been my whole life since i was a kid and my father introduced me to footrot flats, got stuffed toys, read the comics and to this day i still collect footrot flats things!

i think i will always have a border collie, at least untill im a senior and can not longer exersize my dogs, 

i am constantly reading books, internet articals, watching youtube videos on border collies!  i am fully obsessed!  if i ever go shopping and see any border collie memorabilia i will be sure to get it! 

[Flora & Molly]

Pretty obsessed I’d say, although more dog than border collie. I call dogs my hobby, makes it sound more sane. My friends still think I’m the crazy dog lady though... 

I read a lot of dog training books and articles on the internet. Plus watch a whole bunch of dog training stuff on YouTube. I would love to be a dog trainer, but in my country it is really difficult to make a living training dogs unfortunately. Plus classes to become a dog trainer are expensive and not close to where I am. So in the meantime I am a dogsitter in my spare time to meet and work with as many dogs as I can. 
 

BCs are my favourite breed and I can’t imagine not having at least one. They have been my favourite breed since watching Babe as a kid, mostly because they are farm dogs and I really wanted to be a farmer (still do!). Plus there was a window washer in my street growing up and he had a border collie who was such a quiet well trained dog, I loved watching that dog patiently lying at the foot of his ladder, watching his owner work.
 

I also love the variety in the breed and the fact they are bred for purpose and not for looks. Although it is getting rarer to find working bred collies... People are usually surprised when I tell them Molly is a border collie as she is a short hair. 
 

I know some of my friends think I am a little bit crazy because I work with my dog so much (it’s not even a lot honestly), but that is exactly why I love BCs: I make my dog’s day when I ask her to fetch my slippers. She loves to do things with me or for me. And when I have to cycle home with her at night after visiting a friend she loves it, even though it is late and she was sleeping 5 minutes before and maybe had a busy day. She is always in for anything anytime. Best dog ever.
 

I could go on and on  

[D'Elle]

Crazy Dog Lady here. :-)

Much of my life revolves around dogs, although less now that the pandemic has shut down personal contact and I can't help people train their dogs or go to my dog events. My dogs are and always will be the center of my life, though, and the most important thing to me.

As for border collies, they are hands down the only dog for me. BUT right now I don't even have one border collie. My beloved last two border collies died of old age at a time when I also had (and still have) two smaller dogs, one of whom was entering elderhood. I didn't feel it was right for me to bring in a new, younger, livelier and larger dog and expect my aging little 20 pound terrier to deal with that, so I decided to wait. I know I made the right decision and am relishing the time I have with these dogs while I have it. My next new dog will be a border collie.

I always make a point of telling people that border collies are not for everyone, and have talked more than one person out of getting one when I knew it would be disastrous for the dog. But for me, there's no other breed I would choose over a BC, because everything about them suits me.

(the cursor on my computer is a border collie  )

[urge to herd]

As I've previously stated, I'll have a border collie as long as I can care for one. They're a bit more work, (some of us have noticed) than many other breeds. But that intelligence, the drive to be with AND be doing something with their human is for whatever reason incredibly attractive to me. I'm in my mid 60s and may have to adjust my expectations as I age. But as long as I can do it, I want a border collie.

Ruth & Gibbs

[SS Cressa]

I adore border collies. I think they are the best breed out there for me. But I don’t think they are a good fit for most people. As long as I can satisfied their needs I hope to have border collies for as long as possible. My sadness I can’t afford more border collies. 

[Lawgirl]

This may be a bit nerdy, but in my opinion the correct number of border collies to own is N+1, where N = the number you currently own!

Do I own a large stuffed BC because its name was the same as one of mine? Yes

Do I own BC salt and pepper shakers? Yes.

Do I buy a BC calendar every year? Yes

Do I have BC key ring, wall plaque, fridge magnet? Yes, yes, yes.

Do I own a Footrot Flat Dog plushie and buy the comics when I can? Yes, after all I swear I owned Dog himself.

 

 

[SS Cressa]

@Lawgirl That is a solid equation! 
 

Im beginning to think I need more border collie stuff. I only have a hoodie and a shirt with border collies on it plus my phone case. Ooo and a figurine. Definitely need more border collies items

[CptJack]

I am not.

 

I like them and I enjoy the one I have enormously but overall I just like dogs in general and herding/working dogs in general, most of my dogs are mutts and I'm fine with that.  I will probably always own at least one BC - at least as long as I am able to meet their needs - but for me the hobby and lifestyle is 'has high energy intelligent dogs' as the obsession, not any specific breed.  Not even border collies.

[D'Elle]

21 hours ago, urge to herd said:

that intelligence, the drive to be with AND be doing something with their human is for whatever reason incredibly attractive to me. I'm in my mid 60s and may have to adjust my expectations as I age. But as long as I can do it, I want a border collie.

^^ this.  I could have written it myself. 

[BrownNoseKenny]

Yes, this is so true for me too, I have 2 borders and wish I had 3.

 

[maeflower]

D'Elle and Urge to Herd I'm almost 71 and just got my 3rd BC puppy! I did have 2 border collies and 2 golden retrievers (2nd favorite dogs) all at the same time.   Trained and/or showed in agility and tracking and loved every second of it. After the last of those 4 had passed, I decided it was time for a puppy so I wouldn't be too old during its lifespan so in July got Rylie! I plan to have another puppy in maybe a year or two (shhh don't tell my husband lol!!) I'm like you, their intelligence and desire to be with and working with is just so incredible! I will say the future puppy might be a golden but for the same reasons! And yes I have clothes and knick knacks and books, and toys, and training gear, and more crates than I'll ever need again, and on and on the list goes!

[adadrian]

i am so obsessed i regularly watch you tube videos that i've watched i think over 1000 times like dogs 101 border collie and brooklins corner border collie etc

[Mark Billadeau]

In 27 years we have gone from one pet border collie in an apartment to many working border collies on a farm with a flock of 55-70 breeding ewes.

[gcv-border]

On 10/26/2020 at 2:59 PM, D'Elle said:

(the cursor on my computer is a border collie  )

Cool. How did you do that?

[urge to herd]

I had no idea what I was getting into when I got my first bc, a 'hobby breeder' young dog, about a year old. I was madly, passionately in love within 48 hours. Within about 18 months, (it was in the 1990s is all I remember) I had 2 more. I didn't have much experience at being a dog owner and I threw myself into the deep end of the pool. Loved them all, don't regret a minute of it. Would love to have another one to keep Gibbs company but it's not in the cards right now.

R & G

 

[gcv-border]

I definitely prefer border collies, but have wondered about other high-energy, intelligent breeds (Brittany, Malinois, Dutch Shepherd).

I love that they love to train. I have had a dog (rescue sheltie mix) that needed a lot of motivation for training, and I was not good at that.

[Flora & Molly]

18 hours ago, gcv-border said:

I definitely prefer border collies, but have wondered about other high-energy, intelligent breeds (Brittany, Malinois, Dutch Shepherd).

I love that they love to train. I have had a dog (rescue sheltie mix) that needed a lot of motivation for training, and I was not good at that.

I have thought about other high energy breeds as well, but I keep getting back to border collies. 
There’s always something I worry about when I think about other breeds. I worry that a Malinois wouldn’t be friendly with people or dogs, and they are quite big. Plus a lot of people are scared of shepherds. And I’m not sure if I’m cut out for a hunting dog with a lot of drive to hunt.

So I end up back where I started: border collie!

Loves to train, great with people, tolerates most dogs, perfect size, no hunting ambitions... 

(of course if I ever get a second dog this might be slightly different, but most border collies I have met fit the bill)

[urge to herd]

I won't get a larger dog because I can't pick one up. And I've had to pick up a border collie to get them into the car when they were injured or very ill. And, not as serious, but still an issue ~ bigger dogs = bigger poops. I really don't want to pick up more poop every day than I already do.

 R & G

[D'Elle]

On 1/4/2021 at 11:30 AM, gcv-border said:

Cool. How did you do that?

 I went online and typed in "border collie cursor" . there's a site from which you can download them for free. I've had it for many years now but I just checked and the site is still there. 

12 hours ago, urge to herd said:

I won't get a larger dog because I can't pick one up. And I've had to pick up a border collie to get them into the car when they were injured or very ill. . 

 R & G

I am with you on this! I would hate to be in the position a friend of mine found herself in one time. the dog was injured and she couldn't get her out of the car once she was home from the vet. She had no one to help so she actually called the police (!) and an officer came and lifted the 90 pound doberman out of the car and carried her into the house for her. 

[urge to herd]

15 hours ago, urge to herd said:

I won't get a larger dog because I can't pick one up. And I've had to pick up a border collie to get them into the car when they were injured or very ill. And, not as serious, but still an issue ~ bigger dogs = bigger poops. I really don't want to pick up more poop every day than I already do.

 R & G

The above might be termed technical issues. I am flat out madly in love with b. collies. I really like most animals, and the individual animals I don't like, (pets) it's usually because they've not been trained to have good manners by their humans. I've left friends' homes because there dogs wouldn't stop yapping/humping/begging for food, etc. And then wouldn't go back. I had an elderly friend who refused to train her dog to be left alone. This was a very sweet and friendly small breed ~ I'd have a dog like her in a heartbeat. Friend refused to even talk with a trainer about the issue. This resulted in my friend not being able to leave her dog home alone while she ran errands in the summer time. She had to pay to have her groceries, etc delivered.

Ah well ~ to each their own.

R & G

[GentleLake]

18 hours ago, urge to herd said:

...bigger dogs = bigger poops...

You can solve that problem by feeding a raw diet.

Pre-covid I was doing some dog sitting and had a client with 3 large dogs. Cleaning up the yard made me gag and the sheer volume of poop was staggering. Granted my dogs were somewhat smaller than theirs, but my 3 together produced a fraction of the poop in an entire day than one of theirs did in one BM.

[urge to herd]

I tried a raw diet with my departed Shoshone for 3 months. Didn't make a whit of difference in her itching or her oily coat. It was expensive, time consuming, and I had to feed her separately from my other 2 dogs and the 2 cats. It was a lot of work for no change in her itchiness.

I know that raw diets have worked well for other people and their dogs. It didn't for me. Gibbs is healthy, just turned 13 in October and doing well. Not gonna do the raw diet again simply to have less poop to pick up.

Ruth & Gibbs

[D'Elle]

18 hours ago, urge to herd said:

I tried a raw diet with my departed Shoshone for 3 months. Didn't make a whit of difference in her itching or her oily coat. It was expensive, time consuming, and I had to feed her separately from my other 2 dogs and the 2 cats. It was a lot of work for no change in her itchiness.

I know that raw diets have worked well for other people and their dogs. It didn't for me. Gibbs is healthy, just turned 13 in October and doing well. Not gonna do the raw diet again simply to have less poop to pick up.

Ruth & Gibbs

I think it depends on the dog whether raw feeding works or not. A while back I started feeding a raw diet (with a slow transition) to my dogs. I never even got past the transition stage. One dog was fine, but the other responded with persistent vomiting and diarrhea. I had to stop for both dogs because I couldn't be feeding something that smelled different to each dog.  Now I never give even a small piece of raw meat to that dog, although I do make a homemade topper for their food out of cooked meat and veges . Maybe it works best if the dog is fed raw from the get-go, or maybe it's purely individual.

[GentleLake]

3 hours ago, D'Elle said:

...Maybe it works best if the dog is fed raw from the get-go, or maybe it's purely individual.

I think it's an individual thing. I've transitioned 5 or 6 dogs of different ages to raw over the years, all of them successfully. The most recent is one who was having severe digestive issues in the foster home before I adopted her, with the fosterer telling me she'd get explosive diarrhea if she tried to switch her off of her prescription kibble, even slowly, or take her off metronidazole. I had her off the meds and switched entirely to raw in 3 weeks (I took it more slowly than I normally would for fear the FH was right) with absolutely no negative effects. It is sometimes easier to switch puppies than adults, but I've had no issues switching lifelong kibble dogs as old as 6.

I didn't mean my post on switching to raw as urging anyone to do it. Yes, I'm a committed raw advocate but I understand that there are many reasons why people choose not to do. It's not my business to tell anyone how to feed or care for their dog(s). Doesn't mean I can't point out what I feel are the advantages when the opportunity arises, but in this instance especially it was intended to be tongue in cheek.

[beachdogz]

hmmm....thought I'd answer this just for the fun of it.  I was a closet Border Collie Obsessor!

I had German Shepherd Dogs for over 25 years.  My GSD friends are always surprised to learn that it was not my initial favorite dog.  I had no favorite - I just loved all dogs.  It was my husband who wanted German Shepherds.  Then, after all my GSDs were gone, I owned a super-intelligent, once-in-a-lifetime dog.  He was a mix that ended up in my home after being boarded with me.  I was his 4th owner, and I will never know why anyone would have chosen to get rid of that dog. 

A few years after, I was boarding a Borgie (Border Collie/Corgi mix) and playing with her outside in the yard.  As we played, I was thinking about how I had always secretly loved Border Collies.  Next day, I decided to search the internet for a Border Collie (not because I was gonna get one, mind you, just because.... LOL).  Two days later, I had thought this through and had my criteria:  I wanted a Female, Spayed, Black & White classic look, about 1 1/2 years old, with some kind of papers in case I wanted to do obedience/agility. Not much to ask, right?

So a couple days later -- there she is.  A listing with a BC rescue - checked off every single box.  Like it was meant to be.  And so it began.  I was out of the closet.  Every so often, I still run into someone who I haven't seen for years who says "that's a funny looking GSD you have there!"  After Kylie, I adopted a red & white split face.  Lost both of those dogs early 2020 at the ages of 12 & 13.  Now we have the two pups.  Every day I fall in love with this breed more and more.  The intelligence, the loyalty, the fun, the love. 

After my last GSD, I sold my collection of GSD memorabilia.  It had overrun my house.  I vowed to not do that again.  However, I realize now that I am starting to gain a Border Collie collection....   oh well, give's my husband something to buy me at Christmas and birthdays  LOL