Collies

[Clodagh]

I’ve always liked them but wouldn’t have a job for one.
I helped next door and his daughter turn their bullocks out today, he’s disabled. We had to get them about a mile and a half up the road.
I saw them past the first side track and then hopped in his Gator, with him and his collies. A couple of times they needed heading on, or getting out of gateways where they were becalmed. I’m scared of cattle, but the collies just absolutely knew what to do. They read from your body language which way the cattle were meant to be going and stood up to them or got behind and nipped if necessary. They could have done it themselves if they knew which field to go to. Very impressive and really shows why there is behavioural issues in so many.

 

[julesjoy]

They really are awesome aren't they? But I agree after helping out with lambing and watching them go all day, they need the right kind of home and I sadly couldn't give them that.

 

[fiwen30]

They are incredibly impressive. I often wonder about their suitability for pet homes.

 

[Karran]

We have a mix at flyball of ones bred for different lines. You can tell the ones bred from show or obedience lines and I compare them to Mrs Collie and am so envious as some are perfectly happy with a walk minding their own business and a weekly flyball class and have off switches. I do so much with her but I still feel I'm not the right home for her. She thrives on work and walking her is hard compared to anything else. The moment I switch off she is off herding anyone and anything she can so we're constantly working, trying to re-inforce our training and praising the right decisions.

I wouldn't say no to another collie in the future but I dont think I cope with two at the same time.

 

[Moobli]

They’re an amazing breed in the right circumstances.

 

[Tiddlypom]

The two psycho collies that we pass by on one of our regular walls from home are just pets, and the owners, though nice people, are older and can't cope with them out walking so they stay in the house and garden. All that drive, and no outlet for it.

No wonder they are so frustrated. One is human aggressive, too, and has to be shut away if a visitor comes.

From a personal point of view, I sincerely hope that they never get out - me and the dog would be toast .

 

[Clodagh]

We have a mix at flyball of ones bred for different lines. You can tell the ones bred from show or obedience lines and I compare them to Mrs Collie and am so envious as some are perfectly happy with a walk minding their own business and a weekly flyball class and have off switches. I do so much with her but I still feel I'm not the right home for her. She thrives on work and walking her is hard compared to anything else. The moment I switch off she is off herding anyone and anything she can so we're constantly working, trying to re-inforce our training and praising the right decisions.

I wouldn't say no to another collie in the future but I dont think I cope with two at the same time.

The two collies I'm talking about are chalk and cheese, temperament wise. Fly is like Mrs Collie, very friendly though and fine with people, but if she isn’t out working she is herding the geese by belly crawling round their run or herding the calves/pigs/lambs, whatever’s in the other barn. Meg sleeps in the gator when not on duty.

 

[fiwen30]

There is a nice seeming, albeit clueless, chap who walks a border collie around the estate. We started seeing them about 18 months ago when I was rehabbing my boy from his cruciate injury (read: sloooow controoolled waaaalks).

The first time we passed in person, it was wearing 3 leads on a harness, collar, and head collar around the nose, and when it wasn’t towing the man down the street it was on it’s belly on the narrow pavement, giving everything the dead-eyed collie stare. I moved us about 6ft down a driveway so we wouldn’t be passing on the pavement, and turned my boy away from it, and as soon as the bloke tried to move it on, it exploded. ‘Oh, I wish I had one as good as yours!’, he joked, as it turned itself inside out, since my lad could pass as a border/cross if you weren’t looking that hard.

We take active steps to avoid them now. I don’t know how many gadgets and gizmos I’ve seen on it over time. Right now it seems like they’ve given up and gone back to a flat collar and lead, but every time I pass them in the car it still freezes, crouches, stares, and then goes absolutely ballistic trying to charge after the wheels, and spinning in circles.

I feel so bad for it, it clearly needs far more exercise and stimulation than it’s getting. It’s probably completely out of control if it’s not on a 1.5m lead, but it’s also utterly unsuited to 1 30 minute walk around the houses each day. It’s like you can see all this manic energy fizzing around it.

 

[Clodagh]

Fiwen, that’s so sad, poor dog.

 

[blackcob]

I admit I don’t ‘get’ them. I see the very best and the worst of what they can do at agility shows every weekend and I still have no urge to obtain one. And our pet sheep come when you call them so it would be doubly unemployed ?

 

[Clodagh]

When they ban shooting I’m going to get a herd of Dartmoor grey face.
Sorry agility people but I’m pretty sure it’s collie hell! Now herding my sheep would be collie heaven ?

 

[Karran]

I don't think people appreciate the environment with collies as much as they might do, with a say guarding breed.
Certainly I didn't. I made the assumption that being fairly active and having a outlet for her brain would solve her issues.
For people who don't know dogs I describe her as autistic with multiple sensory issues. Our best walks are when we manage to go out on weekends to the country parks and she can switch off completely and just sniff and wander without needing to be worked/distracted.

If I was more rural like some of you are and still just as active she would definitely cope better but truthfully she is wasted with me and should be out doing what she is bred for.

 

[Moobli]

I think agility is possibly one of the reasons border collies started leaving farms and ending up on urban couches. On the one hand I think it’s good there’s an outlet for these dogs and there’s no doubt a lot of hard work, dedication and training goes in to competing at agility. On the other hand it makes me a little bit sad to see so many collies losing their sh*t at agility shows - over stimulated, frustrated and manic. So far removed from the level head, calm, focused work of a collie on sheep. In an ideal world they’d still be exclusive to farms.

 

[fiwen30]

I think agility is possibly one of the reasons border collies started leaving farms and ending up on urban couches. On the one hand I think it’s good there’s an outlet for these dogs and there’s no doubt a lot of hard work, dedication and training goes in to competing at agility. On the other hand it makes me a little bit sad to see so many collies losing their sh*t at agility shows - over stimulated, frustrated and manic. So far removed from the level head, calm, focused work of a collie on sheep. In an ideal world they’d still be exclusive to farms.

I think I agree with this. They’re just such refined athletes, and with such hair-triggers for stimulation, from my experience. I honestly don’t know why anyone would want one in their house, unless they planned to Work it.

Certainly the poor bugger stuck in our concrete suburbia would be far happier with proper training, and a controlled outlet for it’s natural (currently chaotic and wildly unfocused) need to herd. I’m sure it’s current owner would be far happier with anything not-a-collie, too. I really don’t know what they must’ve been thinking.

 

[Clodagh]

My mum has rehomed a few collies. One, Cass, had been sold by a shepherd to a family in a town. They loved her very much and took her to the park every day, they really did their best. She was a neurotic mess of behavioural issues. Mum rehomed her, so again to a non working home and she became a lovely dog. A bit quirky perhaps but very calm and happy to potter after one decent walk a day. I think the main plus was mum’s house was always calm and quiet.

 

[Clodagh]

And Bo, who TheresaW rehomed from the people I got Pep from, he’s quite calm but I think TW has put a lot of effort into him not getting over stimulated/fixated on things. She’s failed with both hosepipe and lawnmower though ?.
So agility, where they are deliberately wound up to fever pitch, seems an anomaly to me. Sorry Karran and others!

 

[Tiddlypom]

The only way the two local psycho collies have to expend energy and to pass the time is to lie in wait for passers by and to then hurl themselves at the garden fence whilst fighting each other .

I always remember a farmer commenting that when you see a collie herding stock, even when perfectly obediently, you can see the hate for the stock in their eyes.

 

[stangs]

Collies tend to have vastly more going on in their heads, and more intelligence generally, than their owners. That’s their problem. Of course, if most urban collie owners had the same intelligence as their dog, they wouldn’t have bought a collie in the first place.

 

[Karran]

So agility, where they are deliberately wound up to fever pitch, seems an anomaly to me. Sorry Karran and others!

We're the anomaly among flyball/agility peeps! We're the only ones working (and failing) on calm and steady rather than revving up to a fever pitch! ??

Thinking of other collies I know. One is farmbred but lives with a friend who works extremely long hours in London. He openly admits that somedays they only get the once a day walk with a dog walker and he doesn't take them out at all. She has absolutely none of the tendencies you'd expect from any dog who has minimal energy outlets but is one of the fastest in our flyball team and is so chilled out she's practically robotic. It makes me sick ?? and he doesn't realise how lucky he is!

 

[Books'n'dogs]

I grew up with a Border Collie as a pet in a suburban neighborhood in the 90s/early 2000s and while she was quirky we had surprisingly few behavioral issues with her, I think she considered the 8 children in my family to be her sheep; my mom still tells stories about how clever Lady was and that she was the best babysitter she ever had. Two of my siblings had a talent for mischief and Lady quickly figured out what wasn't acceptable behavior and would alert my mom by barking, it was pretty much the only time she did bark so my mom always knew that something was afoot when she did! The entire family was devastated when she died and my dad still swears she was the best dog that ever lived. We had multiple vets/trainers tell us we were extraordinarily lucky with her and now that we've had more exposure to Border Cookies kept as pets we realize how right they were!

 

[CorvusCorax]

My old trainer decided to try private pet 1-2-1s when he retired. Sister referred him to a family with a collie bought from a farm.
Had eaten the kitchen to the point it was barely usable and none of the family could sit on the sofa as it would get up there and growl at them.
It towed them around the block for ten minutes a couple of times a day.
They were unwilling to change anything about their own or the dog's lifestyle and just expected him to wave a magic wand to fix it.
He didn't charge, walked out and never did any pet training again.

The dog isn't the problem, the people are, as per.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

So agility, where they are deliberately wound up to fever pitch,

I have to say winding them up to fever pitch is not something I see done in agility, more usually trying to calm them down. We did far more winding up when doing flyball.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

This is one of my 'manic' collies. She does agility, got to G5 and loves working sheep. Fabulous pet dog too. So much depends on how they are brought up.

 

[Karran]

It's a standing joke in the house that Mrs Spaniel has more energy and stamina while being 5 years older than Mrs Collie.
This is Mrs Collie right now. Mrs Spaniel is on patrol in the garden. We've done two three mile walks today and Mrs C had slept pretty much consistently in between walks whilst Mrs S and I have been gardening and catching up on housework.
.

 

[Indy]

I've got a KelpiexCollie and he is smashing. He's one of those dogs that seems to naturally excel at everything. He does mantrailing and agility as well as using his natural instinct to herd sheep. He's focussed and very orthodox in his approach. He's never off his head, he always does just enough but will do just enough forever and a day. He seems to pace himself but stays motivated. He is also very independent, sensitive boy and if you piss him off he's more than happy to tell you to piss off.

 

[Karran]

Ooh now that's interesting @Indy. I was offered a collieXkelpie before picking up Mrs Collie and turned them down as I thought it would be too mental for me to cope with!

 

[Indy]

Ooh now that's interesting @Indy. I was offered a collieXkelpie before picking up Mrs Collie and turned them down as I thought it would be too mental for me to cope with!

UL

Don't get me wrong I've put an awful lot of work into him. I rehomed him when he was 7 months old and he was lawless but now he's an absolute pleasure, nothing phases him, his approach to training is serious and industrious and my agility and mantrailing instructors think he is awesome. As a pet he's a lot of fun, take him for a walk and he's on a walk with you not 10 fields away causing mayhem!

 

[fiwen30]

Been thinking about this a bit today.

My ex’s ‘family dog’ was a border collie, I met him when he was about 2 (the collie, not the ex!), and knew him till he was around 12. He was absolutely enormous for a border, more the size of a gsd, think they’d picked him up off a farm as a puppy. They lived out in the sticks with a huge garden, and after he turned about 5 he just never got walked and would chase balls in the garden instead. He would get het up at cars pulling into the driveway, would chase rattling trailers along the hedge line, and would bark if anyone raised their voice (and it was an incredibly loud household, where everyone would shout at each other, and then shout at the dog for barking). But overall he was incredibly chill, and wasn’t an on-the-go type.

A friend of mine, on the other hand, has a Welsh sheepdog from generational working lines, who was surplus to requirements as the farm had enough dogs. They are city dwellers in Cardiff, and the only reason it works for them is because my friend is able to take her dog absolutely everywhere, including outdoor sites at work, and so they’re always on the go. Her dog is just always laser focused on everything, doesn’t have a semblance of an off button, and approaches life at full speed 100% of the time. He’s also incredibly sensitive and emotional. I’m sure he would be happier out working cows, and the only reason he isn’t turned inside out like our local border collie is because my friend revolves her entire life around him.

They’re definitely not easy dogs, and I think I’d personally rank them alongside other ‘why on earth would you’ breeds.

 

[Karran]

UL

Don't get me wrong I've put an awful lot of work into him. I rehomed him when he was 7 months old and he was lawless but now he's an absolute pleasure, nothing phases him, his approach to training is serious and industrious and my agility and mantrailing instructors think he is awesome. As a pet he's a lot of fun, take him for a walk and he's on a walk with you not 10 fields away causing mayhem!

I don't mind putting the work in, but I feared it would be even more work than a pure collie. Course then I went and picked up an absolute feral sh*it bag so maybe the cross would have manageable!

 

[Moobli]

This is one of my 'manic' collies. She does agility, got to G5 and loves working sheep. Fabulous pet dog too. So much depends on how they are brought up. View attachment 93358

I don’t think it’s so much how they are brought up, but more that some puppies in every litter will get a little less (and some more) of the hard wired genetics to want to work livestock. You can be lucky or unlucky - both from a working or pet perspective and obviously both wanting different things. It’s one of the reasons why we won’t sell working bred collie pups to anything other than a working home but would consider rehoming an older dog to an active pet home once it’s been established the working genetics are less strong or even absent in a particular dog.