Sapphire

deafbat: How's the obedience going?

All of what you both said makes sense! I certainly don't want to learn sloppy agility, so I'm appreciative of the structure of my class. The instructor is good and has gone the extra mile to help us work out issues along the way and continues to do so! I like the idea of training to be good enough to compete, whether we should choose to do it or not.

Still, RDM, isn't it the case that the behavior your puppy exhibited - the stalking, the circling, the eye - is characteristic of this breed? It is my understanding (from a great deal of reading) that the Border Collie was bred to herd sheep. So, some of the distinguishing behavior characteristics would be herding related. Not in the sense of actual herding behavior or herding ability but on the level of instinct. I know that when mine started crouching and staring at a few months old, it was not a learned behavior - there was nobody for him to learn it from. The other dog we had at the time didn't do those things. I would have to say that there is a connection between these behaviors and the fact that the dog was bred to herd.

Do agility with your Border Collie just for fun? I don't mean at home by yourselves, but in groups. I've been in agility classes with mine for over a year now. We both enjoy it a great deal. It seems that the emphasis is really on preparing to compete, though, and I'm not sure that's something I'd really want to do. Do any of you belong to groups that do agility just for fun?

To DONH105 You wrote: I feel you had the first rude post, when you responded to Terry's reasonable response with a "Well duh." As a consequence, I think Terry's somewhat rude response was justified or at least to be expected. No problem, just do not act too injured. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I disagree that I was rude first - see my post just above this for explanation of that. However, as I also said in the post just above, I should not have responded to that rudeness in that same spirit.

To blackacre: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You wrote: Terry's dogs, like mine, actually herd sheep. Their herding instinct is highly developed and refined with training. None of her dogs do any of the silly things you describe. If by chance they try it on, it will be the first and last time they do. Things that you might think are cute can rapidly escalate into, at the very least, obsessive, and quite probably, inappropriate and dangerous behavior. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Those are good insights, but that's not what I asked. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So, stop and think before you come back with a "well, duh!" response when someone with 9 working dogs takes the time to answer your post. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The "well, duh" was a response to the way the response was phrased, not the actual content of the response. If Terry had just stated the stance that it was probably more personality of the individual dog than a characteristic of the breed, that would have been fine. The response was rude. You are right about one thing - I should not have responded with rudeness, and I apologize for that. As for your other statement: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PS And yes, Sapphire, I do think you have a potential behaviour problem. The fact that it hasn't occurred to you is no credit to you. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Again, that wasn't what I was asking. I was asking if that behavior was characteristic of the breed. It was actually a very simple question and I got some really good responses to it which I appreciate.

To BailysMom: Just for fun I would love to drop 50 tennis balls in front of my Border Collie. It would probably be worth watching for hours!

To Terry: Quite honestly, I thought this was a discussion board. A place where we could discuss Border Collies. As someone else said, different people have different knowledge and experience. If you are tired of anything that I bring up, I'd appreciate it if you simply go talk to someone else. Nobody said you had to reply to my post - least of all me. I do not appreciate the condescending tone of either of your messages. First of all, I never said that my dog had a behavior problem. I happen to be very interested in the dogs that live in my home and I enjoy learning more about them. I didn't come on here and say "how do I stop this?" I just wanted to know if this was a tendancy of the breed and analyze the behavior a bit. I find it extremely interesting - not a problem at all. For you to assume that my dog has behavior problems because I asked a question is arrogant. Furthermore, I don't believe you could prove to me that the way my Border Collie acts with balls is not herding related. Of course it isn't the same as livestock, but in any breed of dog a wide variety of stimulus can cause a dog to react by a certain instict. I am sorry to hear that you are stressed, but I would suggest that you can decrease your stress level by simply refraining from entering discussions that you have had before and letting those of us who are interested in a topic discuss it.

You guys have provided some good insight. In particular the statement: "In my experience, as a breed border collies have a somewhat general tendency to be somewhat bossy and controlling because they were bred to boss around and control things." That completely makes sense. Before this, he spent a lot of his time and energy "bossing" and "controlling" his "herd" of balls. Now he seems to be taking slightly less interest in ball and more interest in bossing the other two dogs. Not entirely - he still plays plenty of ball, but it makes sense that he's changing a bit. As someone said, I guess he's reaching a maturity level. It makes sense that it's less of an issue of dominance. Thanks to you all.

Well duh! Still, there are defining characteristics of different breeds. For instance, there are Border Collies that love tennis balls and Border Collies who don't like tennis balls, but I think it's safe to say that most Border Collies tend to like tennis balls. Another example - Labs characteristically enjoy swimming. Now there are Labs that don't like to swim, but enjoying swimming is a characteristic of the breed. So, my question isn't: is every single Border Collie in the world dominant. It is - do Border Collies characteristically tend to be dominant? Sorry I wasn't clear on that.

Hi all! We have a two year old Border Collie. We have had him since he was a 2 and a half month old puppy. We have two other dogs - both mixed breeds, both older than he is. Lately he has gotten "bossy" with them. He has taken over the oldest dog's favorite chair to sleep in. He tried to eat out of the oldest dog's food bowl this morning. He is not challenging us at all, just the other two dogs. Is this normal? Do Border Collies tend to be dominant with other dogs?