BNM1980

Thanks for the advice everyone.

My dog is pretty good in all other areas but still goes so berserk around new people that it is impossible to do anything but physically restrain him. I know the idea is to make him sit quietly, and only then let the new person pet him. But that sitting quietly just never happens. It does not matter whether the person in question is interested in him or terrified of him. He loves everyone, madly, maniacally, and indiscriminately. Suggestions please! My fellow park-goers are at their wits end!

Yesterday Blake was set on by a large brown dog outside a hardware store, and, like the big softy he is, ran between my legs. The Korean owner (a different dog culture prevails here) watched laughing, as if it were all a big joke. I gave the dog a very swift kick in the ribs and thankfully it yelped pitifully and ran indoors. I honestly thought it was going to attack me after I kicked it. And just for the record, I carry a large box-cutter and I too will not hesitate to slit the throat of any dog that attacks me or my dog or my family.

My thoughts exactly.

He's very cute. I especially like the red bandana.

What is the lighter for?

In my experience, the more time my dog spends off leash, the better he is off leash. I think you have to wait for the novelty to wear off for the dog and for it to become normal to have freedom. Otherwise, it's almost like they think, 'Ha ha ha! I'm finally free and I better make the most of it. Who knows when it'll happen again.' And this usually translates into totally blowing off your recall.

Thanks Root Beer. I'll give it a shot.

I wanted an athletic, energetic, biddable, medium-to-large dolichocephalic dog with a rough coat and an outgoing personality that did not have a reputation for aggression. A border collie simply fit the bill. Also, hailing from New Zealand (a country, by the way, with more sheep than people) I had had a lot of contact with border collies and always loved them. In fact, my great-uncle was a national champion at herding events. One experience in particular stands out: I remember seeing a man in the small rural township where I grew up with his border collie. It was walking to heel off-lead. The man walked into a shop without so much as glancing at his dog, and his dog simply sat at the door and waited for him. Then he came out of the shop with a newspaper and the dog heeled and continued walking down the street next to his owner. I watched all this in total awe, especially since at the time I was walking my poorly-trained cavalier King Charles spaniel who pulled so hard on his lead he literally gagged himself and gasped for air the whole time. I know this has a great deal to do with training but it was something I never forgot and ever since characterized my view of the breed as the coolest dogs in the world.

Hi Nancy, I'd never heard of a farm collie before. Wikipedia doesn't have anything on them, but according to its border collie article, many border collies 'can be traced back to a dog known as Old Hemp' and another dog called 'Wiston Cap.' The sires of these studs were initially referred to as 'working collies' or 'farm collies' before the word 'border' was added around 1860. Does that sound right to you? And in that case, isn't a farm collie a border collie by another name? But then the History of the Farmcollie on the site you link to says, So I guess if the dog in the video is a farmcollie, it is at least an extremely close relative of the border collie. And I agree with you entirely about the baby elephant.

I was looking at some historical footage of vaudeville routines on YouTube when I saw a dog that looks suspiciously familiar. What do you think? The dog in question makes his entrance at about 2:55, right after the roller skating baboon. And please note the leg-weaving with the sorry-looking baby elephant!

Okay. I take your point, Sue. A border collie is right in his element working stock. So I guess that means the rest of us just have to work extra hard to keep our BC pets happy. And if we do work extra hard, as I think you seem to agree, we can also have content dogs.

I guess we have a different understanding of what logic means. To me it is a priori and does not imply inference from personal experience, but I'm not going to argue the point. And anyway, since you say this, we are not in disagreement. It was never my intention to exasperate you. Sorry!

If you are right (and for all I know you are) that is truly incredible. But surely this same behavior is transferable to some other equally challenging activity? Is it reasonable to make an analogy to the human capacity for learning a language? And just as the cognitive and dental fundaments innate in humans lend themselves to any language, so the mental and physical traits of the border collie can lend themselves to a variety of other mentally challenging and physically demanding activities? These are not rhetorical questions! I'm really asking!

Hi jdarling. Thanks for answering the question. Just to reiterate (and correct me if I'm wrong) you believe that herding sheep is a more natural activity for a border collie and that dogs that herd are therefore happier and more satisfied than those that do not. I do not work livestock or do agility. I simply dispute this argument on logical grounds. I imagine you reason that herding is analogous to hunting, and more importantly that the skills involved have been breed into these dogs for generations. I do not deny that therefore working dogs are probably very satisfied. However, I think that for you to deny that border collies can be equally happy doing other jobs is to grossly exaggerate the precision of selective breeding.