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Thats not a border collie!


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I did Collie rescue for twelve years and I once had an 85lb smooth, white-factored sable-merle (w/ defiantly prick ears) that no one would believe was a Collie. I even knew who the breeder was...

 

Now I have Sugarfoot. I don't see anything in her, physically or behaviorally that says anything but BC. (If it looks like a BC and acts like a BC - isn't it likely to be a BC?) Would love to hear anyone's opinion.

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I woiuld like to know why everyone thinks Jin is female.

This is one aspect that Suka never has to face - She's all girl, and hardly anyone ever gets that wrong. Dakota, on the other hand... Well, people just assume that anything as big as she has to be male.

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This was my "husky" mix I adopted from the local shelter, for 10 years we played guess what type of dog he is.... I don't have a better picture of him to hand but our vote was at least 50% BC had lots of traits and color etc he was just a little large. We just told everyone he was a border collie, other than those eyes I have no idea where husky came from. edited to add I just looked at the picture both those eyes were stunning blue ones, but sadly when this picture was taken he was starting to go blind in one.

And for giggles his companion is a beagle/GSDx so you can imagine what people make of her.

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This is my very pretty new boy on his first hike with us last year, we later found out it was the first time he had been able to romp off leash

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I did Collie rescue for twelve years and I once had an 85lb smooth, white-factored sable-merle (w/ defiantly prick ears) that no one would believe was a Collie. I even knew who the breeder was...

 

Now I have Sugarfoot. I don't see anything in her, physically or behaviorally that says anything but BC. (If it looks like a BC and acts like a BC - isn't it likely to be a BC?) Would love to hear anyone's opinion.

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Love Sugarfoot's name (and the wee tiny white foot!). I had a horse once with one white foot. His name? "Sugarfoot."

 

Your Sugarfoot sure looks and appears to move like a BC. I had heard -- perhaps it's only an old legend -- that all BCs have a white tail tip. Our late Travis, who was registered (and we knew Travis's parents and his breeder), had -- get this -- only about 10 white hairs on his tail, all disguised in the luxuriant black hair. He was also a tri, but you sure had to look for it; we called him "BT" sometimes, for "barely tri." Had a few tan hairs over his eyes, and a wee bit of tan tracing down his legs and butt. When people go only by color, they have locked their minds up (well, not a surprise when we know some think our dogs are coyotes, foxes, huskies, or Dalmations!).

 

We're waiting for someone to call our new rescue boy, Raleigh, a bear cub (we live in an area with a gazillion bears and a gazillion "sophisticated" city people who come out here to their vacation homes to see the "wildlife" -- personally, I think some of them (the people) are pretty wild, themselves!

 

Welcome to this wonderful group of caring people!

 

Mary NH and "Raleigh Wood" waiting for someone to call him a bear.

 

P.S. If the photo shows up (I'm still learning how to do this), it shows Raleigh and his therapy Rottweiler pal taking a break. Now the Rottie has been called a bear, more than once, but I can almost understand that!

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Something about Sugarfoot's face makes me think MAYBE not all Border Collie but who knows. I have a purebred who's just as black.

 

Solo is sometimes mistaken for female although he's one of the most masculine looking Border Collies I know. I can understand it from laypeople but we had an agility trainer in CA who was constantly making the mistake, and she had Border Collies. WTF?

 

As far as mistaken breed identity, I would expect it more often for Jett since she is almost solid black but surprisingly the folks around here can often ID her. I think it's because there are so many sheep and so many Border Collies in the Willamette Valley, and because people are familiar with the idea that working dogs vary a great deal in appearance.

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Love Sugarfoot's name (and the wee tiny white foot!). I had a horse once with one white foot. His name? "Sugarfoot."

 

Your Sugarfoot sure looks and appears to move like a BC. I had heard -- perhaps it's only an old legend -- that all BCs have a white tail tip. Our late Travis, who was registered (and we knew Travis's parents and his breeder), had -- get this -- only about 10 white hairs on his tail, all disguised in the luxuriant black hair. He was also a tri, but you sure had to look for it; we called him "BT" sometimes, for "barely tri." Had a few tan hairs over his eyes, and a wee bit of tan tracing down his legs and butt. When people go only by color, they have locked their minds up (well, not a surprise when we know some think our dogs are coyotes, foxes, huskies, or Dalmations!).

 

We're waiting for someone to call our new rescue boy, Raleigh, a bear cub (we live in an area with a gazillion bears and a gazillion "sophisticated" city people who come out here to their vacation homes to see the "wildlife" -- personally, I think some of them (the people) are pretty wild, themselves!

 

Welcome to this wonderful group of caring people!

 

Mary NH and "Raleigh Wood" waiting for someone to call him a bear.

 

P.S. If the photo shows up (I'm still learning how to do this), it shows Raleigh and his therapy Rottweiler pal taking a break. Now the Rottie has been called a bear, more than once, but I can almost understand that!

 

I checked Sugar's tail - no white hairs!

I live in the city, and there's lots of people here who don't know the difference between a sparrow and a pigeon, so I'm not surprised that they would confuse a dog - any dog - with a bear! LOL

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Celt, neutered at six months (and I'll never do that again) is often referred to as "she" - even by Jack Knox, over and over again. Of course, I'm not sure because of his lovely accent, but I'm convinced he also calls him "Kelp". Nevertheless, he can call him what he wants as long as I am learning something good.

 

I don't know if it's the early neutering (did I mention I wouldn't do it that early ever again?) but some male dogs find him "irrestible" and don't understand why he doesn't accept the compliment.

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Something about Sugarfoot's face makes me think MAYBE not all Border Collie but who knows. I have a purebred who's just as black.

 

Solo is sometimes mistaken for female although he's one of the most masculine looking Border Collies I know. I can understand it from laypeople but we had an agility trainer in CA who was constantly making the mistake, and she had Border Collies. WTF?

 

As far as mistaken breed identity, I would expect it more often for Jett since she is almost solid black but surprisingly the folks around here can often ID her. I think it's because there are so many sheep and so many Border Collies in the Willamette Valley, and because people are familiar with the idea that working dogs vary a great deal in appearance.

 

It's amazing. People will argue with you even if you have a papered dog. I had a lurcher (BC/greyhound) that people used to insist was a Whippet. And I long ago gave up tying to get people to believe that my tri rough Collie was a Collie. Inner city kids... I was walking a Vizsla and a Doberman once and a little boy of about 8 or ten sagely informed his little brother that they were "a 'Rockwieller' and a red-nose Pit."

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I don't know if it's the early neutering (did I mention I wouldn't do it that early ever again?) but some male dogs find him "irrestible" and don't understand why he doesn't accept the compliment.

 

Lots of other male dogs find Craig irresistible, too, but he wasn't neutered until he was three or four and had already sired a litter...

 

But I wouldn't neuter early either...

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My vet once told me that one of the reasons she loved Border Collies was the fact that they are the pure breed that looks most like a mutt. Her basis was her perception that Border Collies come in a wide variety of combinations of size, color and coat length, and that the true measure of a BC is not confromance, but rather performance. It is perhaps somewhat understandable, from this perspective, that the uninitiated may confuse a BC with other breeds or cross-breeds. With that said, I still become annoyed when people think they know Annie's breed, and are wrong. On occasion, when I encounter particualry irritating people, I correct them by saying, "She is actually a cross between a wolverine and a skunk, with a really bad attitude and the bite force of a Great White. Would you like to try petting her?"

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Sugarfoot appears to be very Border Collieish from that photo. I always like to see a profile when I'm guessing, though. :rolleyes: Very pretty dog!

 

MaryNH, congrats on your new addition! He's very cute.

 

 

Thanks, Paula,

 

Raleigh is very fearful and shy. Came from a terrible background. Has no clue about how to play. Making progress, though. He's a very sweet dog.

 

Mary and "Raleigh Wood"

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Lots of other male dogs find Craig irresistible, too, but he wasn't neutered until he was three or four and had already sired a litter...

 

But I wouldn't neuter early either...

Well, at least that's reassuring that those embarassing moments may not be my fault. On the early neutering, so much for trying to be very responsible. I've learned better, although I have to admit that giving Bute until 18 months certainly did nothing to "beef him up" at all :rolleyes: . Dan will benefit from my mistake with Celt, and he'll get to wait until 18 months or so. Shush, he might hear me... Dream on, boy...

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Sugarfoot appears to be very Border Collieish from that photo. I always like to see a profile when I'm guessing, though. :rolleyes: Very pretty dog!

 

MaryNH, congrats on your new addition! He's very cute.

 

 

Thanks! Here's a profile of Sugarfoot:

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\ I think it's because there are so many sheep and so many Border Collies in the Willamette Valley, and because people are familiar with the idea that working dogs vary a great deal in appearance.

 

Sweet, another BC owner in the Willamette Valley! I see now that your location is below your avatar, but I'd never noticed before. I'm in Corvallis.

 

Kit gets mistaken for a boy all the time. I think it must be that she's very muscular and her name isn't particularly feminine. It's definitely not her size and her collar is primarily pink. I don't mind correcting people, but get irritated if people continue to say "he" and "him" after they've been told.

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Yesterday we ran into a dog on the greensward that looked very much like a BC with one major exception. Is tail was naturally carried high and wasn't ropy like a BC tail. The guy tried to tell me he was a BC. I wasn't going to dispell his image so I didn't say anything but it definitely wasn't a BC. Didn't have any of the BC characteristics at all. Looked more like a cattle dog to me. He's smart but did't chase the ball the way a BC does. I think is was more BC mix of some sort.

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Some border collies do carry their tail up and curled all the time... my youngster Whim does and I guarantee he's 100% border collie. It does come down when he's serious about something..ie agility or sheep but otherwise its up

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Yesterday we ran into a dog on the greensward that looked very much like a BC with one major exception. Is tail was naturally carried high and wasn't ropy like a BC tail.

I've seen similar dogs. One, where I had a chance to talk to the owner, said his was a Beagle-Sibe cross. Looked BC-X to me, but I suspect he knows his own dog better than I do. :rolleyes:

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Yesterday we ran into a dog on the greensward that looked very much like a BC with one major exception. Is tail was naturally carried high and wasn't ropy like a BC tail. The guy tried to tell me he was a BC. I wasn't going to dispell his image so I didn't say anything but it definitely wasn't a BC. Didn't have any of the BC characteristics at all. Looked more like a cattle dog to me. He's smart but did't chase the ball the way a BC does. I think is was more BC mix of some sort.

 

 

My BC carries her tail curled up. I also see her brother on a regular basis and neither one of them chases a ball or catches a frisbee the same way. I think your logic is flawed.

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Even though Lewie is a BCx he carries his sweet fluffy tail high and tight. When he's intense or very relaxed it straightens out and down. I overheard a kid say once, "Mom look! It looks like that dog has two heads". :rolleyes:

 

It's quite amusing to watch his tail. When it goes down, it's d-o-o-o-o-o-wn. When it's come up, it's UP!

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Chase has a beautiful plume of a tail... which he carries high and slightly curled most of the time. Same as the others, I enjoy watching when it goes up and when it's down. ha When he's seriously concentrating, like fetching his ball or doing agility, it's down.

All 35 pounds of him are 100% border collie.

 

Michele

& Gypsy

& Chase

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yup, Misty too holds her tail over her back, its down when she works stock or when she is on a walk(its the way she walks lol, with a purpose) otherwise her tail is up and curled over her back 99% of the time. neither of my BCs chase a ball the same way,, Happy is very down, very crouched, tail hooked and serious all the time,Misty is very upright,high curly tail, bouncy, not serious at all. both are 100% purebred BCs.

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I'm getting constantly asked if Kayzie is an Aussie. The really funny thing about it is that she's "working" when they ask. Head nice and low, giving one of the other dogs the eye. Her stance is absolutely gorgeous--I can't wait to get her on sheep. Their whole reason for guessing Asssie is because "she had the colors like an Aussie." Ummm....bcs, aussies, collies, corgis, and shelties all come in merle, and then you have the dappled breeds that are similar too...boggles the mind. Then I have an Aussie from working lines, Rogue. People ask me if she's a bc that lost her tail when she clearly moves and carries herself like an Aussie. To some point I can understand that though since she is from working lines and doesn't really have that blocky show look Ausies have. Maverick is a bcXboxer (borderboxer?) and I always get asked if he's a pit....and we won't even talk about all the wrong breeds I got with Kellie.

 

Kellie also carried her tail over her back most of the time. It came down when she was on sheep or waiting for the disc, but other than that it was up. Kayzie carries her tail high when she's playing too.

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