Hasty

There are people out there who are breeding border collies for fly ball and agility. I have heard about the breeding down of size to get the shorter heights for the jumps in flyball but keep the speed. This can't be good for the breed to breed for that "ball crazy"ness bred down for size. Also similarly breeding down to be competitive in the smaller heights in agility. It is common knowledge that if you want to win in the upper heights you have to run a border collie. I am not saying that agility and fly ball are bad but I don't think it is something that should be specificly bred for. I think it's a great outlet for energy and fun for the dogs and owners if it is kept in the right perspective. But like all things that are competitions sometimes the trophy/ribbon/honor are more important for the 2 legged one at the expense of the 4 legged one than just having fun.

There are some really good border collie rescue sites. They have great information about the breed and what to expect- since they deal with the ones that didn't fit someone else's expectations. Just do a search there are fortunately or unfortunately (depending on your point of view) alot of them.

That is the problem with bcs in agility. If they don't have exercise and don't have control then they are like wild maniacs. Last summer my daughter took her year old bc to agility puppy class. He could do everything almost immediately but she didn't have great control. He wanted to go visit the other dogs between obsticles. She has been to busy to go back to it but he's much mellower now and I think would do much better. Learning from her I have put my yearling in a 6 month obedience class. I see no reason to rush her. They are always asking when we're going to start agility but it can wait. She can be a real fireball and I want to be able to control her. It seems that other lower keyed breeds can start agility with less verbal control because the handler can keep up with them. Fast isn't always better but when you see a border collie doing it right it is so beautiful to watch.

The best method I have found and it broke one of my dogs in about less than 5 jumps is to grab their feet and just hold them. Most bc's will not like this and will pull and bite at your hands. Hold long enough to get their attention then let go . Repeat as neccessary. Some dogs will just passively stand there (not usually bcs) and then you can walk backwards or forwards which ever they find the most uncomfortable. I do have a young dog that I used this on and she quickly came up with 2 evasions (gotta love those bcs) one is the bounce off - She can bounce and be down before you can grab her feet. the other is to jump up but to leave her legs hanging down instead of reaching up with them - also makes it difficult to grab her feet. I like this method because it's fairly passive and the dog jumps up - gets caught - and thinks "hey I don't like this let me go!" They will learn quickly not to jump on you so you have to get other people to do it as well and soon they say "the heck with this - what else can I come up with to drive them crazy"

15 and 16 are pictures of the puppy. Don't know if he's border collie or not but he's cute and looks like he's happy and bright little guy.

Hi I am new here and have 3 border collies. Always I have raised them from small puppies but my newest is 7mon old. I got her about 3 weeks ago. A girl at work had her and realized that she wasn't going to be the sweet,loving,cuddling, wait patiently for Mom to get home from work kinda dog. She had started jumping out of the yard to visit the neighbor dogs. Anyway she now lives with me and is settling in well. She is a small HIGH energy BC. I can see why she drove her previous owner nuts. I have enjoyed this post about heeling. I have been doing the right thing it seems with her. Before I have always worked with them from tiny puppyhood. She luckily doesn't really have bad habits but she is a very dominant and assertive little dog. Luckily I have a 10 year who is also an Alpha type and she puts this one in her place. Thanks for listening and I am enjoying this board. I have been reading it for awhile and really like the tone everyone has on it.