Interesting comment made to me today - Page 2

i had a BC/Shep mix and he was great, very,very fast learner, my best dog as in smartness, he had great focus, but also had high anzeity. i loved that dog, he was very smart. he also did great with protection work.i think some BC are better than others and that will depends on there lines.

I always think of a focused collie when I watch this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8DiOthAKek

Is it clever or dumb?

Spooks, that is hilarious.  Dogs gotta do what a dogs gotta do to get that stick thrown.

This is my favorite border collie vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qniwI2hNhDs

My favorite border collie video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4zpe5-KymA

Now that would suit me if my dog would comply... standing still and giving the orders...

When you're training a BC for herding, agility, OB, and you're an experienced trainer, I suppose BCs feel pretty easy to work with. All the BCs I have worked with, and one I fostered for over a year, were all owned by pet owners. It's as difficult to make a BC a lazy pet as it is a WL GSD, but on top of it I find many borders have wavering nerves, and yes, fear aggression is a huge problem. Seen quite a few with fairly serious handler aggression, too.

I always considered BCs weird dogs until I took in Murphy, a BC I trained as a pup whose owner called me and said he was going to put him down. I took Murph into my home and realized how hilarious these dogs were to work with and live with. He was such a joyful soul, but in the hands of a weak handler he would lunge and snarl at people. It took months for him to get used to my husband (who was my boyfriend at the time). But he adored and and my daughter, it took her all of three months (She was maybe 10 at the time?) to get him working on a CDX level.

I remember one time my daughter and I came home and Murphy was so overjoyed to see us, he literally forgot that he had been sitting at home all day with my husband, saw him out of the corner of his eye at the desk, and began growling at him. I grabbed his scruff and all but dumped him in his lap, and chided him, "That's JOE, stupid!". Murphy instantly snapped out of it, nuzzled his face as if to say, "Oh, yeah...sorry, man." and happily bounded away. He was a great dog as long you jumped on his weird behavior in a flash. Mind you, that's not my standard procedure for correcting a growling dog, but for Murph- it worked. I eventually homed him with a lady who had borders for 14 years and didn't take crap. He went on to bring happiness into the life of her ailing, bedridden grandfather, visiting him daily and laying beside him. Who would have guessed my nutty, neurotic, split personality foster kid would have neded up a therapy dog in his own right?


So to answer the OP, borders are funny dogs. As I like to say, their wheels spin so fast they often start to smoke and burn out. To make one (especially herding lines) a good, safe companion, yes, it requires the right hand as an owner.

Murphy sounds as if he turned out to be a lovely boy....I have found that borders are like no other breed I have owned, maybe I can compare their scattiness to that of an Irish Setter, both are comedians, but the setter lacks the brains that a border has. The setters I have owned have had me crying with laughter sometimes as does Steve, my border....but setters were too thick to fear anything I found.

Steve, has the same sense of humour but he does have the the fear factor, but luckily no fear aggression. He isn't the bravest of dogs but nothing like some of the ones I see people post about on FaceBook, He loves everybody even the vets and vet nurses. He wriggles his bum and bounces across the reception floor in the shape of the letter C trying to give everyone a greeting. He is fantastic with kids and other dogs, although rather exhuberant. He has had my well-balanced GSD to teach him, she is absolutely fearless, nothing fazes her. I don't remember having any problems training her and I had her at 8 weeks old.

When I got Steve last January, he was 9 weeks old, had lived on a hill farm since being born to working parents and then rescue kennels for 4 days when the litter was handed in for rehoming, and then I adopted him, but he is the best dog I have ever had for housetraining, it only took a week


One fault I have with him, he is a telly addict! He barks at so many adverts and the theme music for some progs make him howl like crazy [not the soaps I hasten to add, as we never watch them] it's mainly the Law and Order programs, The Chase and The Weakest link, he can be in a deep (ish) sleep and the first note is played and he is up, snotty nose and hot breath on the screen. When the World Championship Sheepdog Trials were on, we were away in our caravan and he lay watching all the episodes.

Last month my hubby was working nights and would get in about 4am, one morning he got up about 8am, I asked why so early, he said he was woken up a really weird noise, he looked out of the window and there was Steve, skating round our garden on his frisbee - we have a large paved area, he puts his front feet on the frisbee and propels it round with his back legs.

Steve is just a year old and pretty well adjusted, except for his recall...
 

I think comparing these two breeds is like compairing apples to oranges. Being raised with stock dogs I found them to be very independent thinkers.  When they were out in the field, they had to think for themselves and have the balls to stand up to a raging cow that refused to go and at times running right at the dog. I absolutely love to see bc at work as there is no better dog with "eye" to do the job. I don't however recommend them as pets. Very few owners will offer them the outlet to challenge the dog physically and mentally. Sad to hear that an owner would raise unsound pups (skittish/fearful). Uncommon when I was showing stock dogs. But I guess thats what happens with the times.

Shepherds, imo, are not bred to think independently for long periods of time. Ive produced one or two of those independent thinkers. Didnt like the dogs at all. Trying to get them to comply and work as a team was almost impossible and the dogs were placed into homes. Too much time and work for a dog that "may" do what you want.