Hi all,
I thought I'd post a feel-good Border Collie story to assuage the fears of new BC owners.
We got our rescue puppy, Charlie, last summer, thinking that he would be a "lab mix." When we first met him, this "lab mix" only weighed 8lbs, which was our first clue that "lab" may not be in the mix.
Turns out Charlie is mostly, if not all, Border Collie. (picture attached)
He's also my very first dog, ever.
Granted, I had thoroughly researched behavioral conditioning and clicker training well before we decided to pick out our puppy, but I had no idea what I was walking into.
Yes, Charlie has his "issues." He resource guarded anything that he wasn't supposed to have (ie. socks). With patience and a lot of "trades" for high-value treats, this is no longer an issue.
He refuses to let us clean his ears, brush him, apply flea meds, clip nails, etc. He basically gets nervous and growly if we bring anything "unknown" toward his face or paws. We're working on deconditioning. (He does let us bathe him without much fuss).
And he is territorial about our backyard - barks like crazy if he sees our neighbors. We're working on this, too - today he let our neighbor's entire family pet him.
Other than that, he is so sweet and loving and playful. The staff at our doggy day care call him the "love bug." He learns new tricks and commands in a matter of 10 minutes, and he is the star pupil at our dog training class (I think the other owners might be jealous of all the attention the trainers give him). He is not nearly as active and hyper as we thought he would be - two 30 minute walks a day, plus a lot of attention and games at home, and he's fine, if not a bit lazy.
We got so lucky with him. Once I'm done with grad school (in about 2 years), we're going to start agility training (he'll be about 3 years old). I can't wait.
So if you're like us, and had a surprise BC rescue, fear not. They are wonderful dogs.