Border Collie
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General Description
The Border Collie is a medium-sized dog that resembles a lightweight Australian Shepherd. The body of this breed is just longer than its height at the withers. The breed’s skull is comparatively broad and features a distinctly marked stop. Their tapered muzzle features a black nose. The breed’s eyes are oval in shape and almost always dark brown in color. Occasionally, Border Collies with merle coats have blue eyes. The tail of the Border Collie extends to the hock and is sometimes raised when the dog is excited. There are two types of coats for the Border Collie. The first coat is coarse, thick, straight, and approximately 3 inches in length. The second variety of coat is sleek, glossy, and approximately 1 inch in length. The Border Collie’s coat exists in a range of colors including white, tri-color, black & gray, red & white, and all black. On the longer-haired Border Collie, the tail will be bushy and there will be a mane present around the neck. Hair around the face is always short. Because Border Collies are predominantly bred for working purposes, there are some variances in certain physical aspects of this breed.Character
The Border Collie is a highly intelligent and perceptive working breed They are easy to train and they excel at obedience and agility. They seek approval and are sensitive. This breed is very high energy and enjoys plenty of vigorous activity. They have great stamina and approach activities with great enthusiasm. They are good-natured and get along well with other dogs and children. It’s important for this breed to receive enough exercise so that they don’t become bored, destructive, or aggressive towards other dogs of the same sex. Border Collies can be trained to interact well with other pets, but they generally shouldn’t be left unattended with small, non-canine pets. To avoid the onset of shyness, Border Collies should be properly socialized from an early age. This breed is a perfectionist and has a passionate drive to succeed. They are not a good choice for owners that don’t have a lot of time and energy to give to their pets. Border Collies can become neurotic if left unattended for long periods of time, and they are too high energy and intelligent to be left without a task to perform. Because of their natural herding instincts, the Border Collie can have a propensity to be snappish with children and strangers. This breed will do best with an experienced dog owner. The dominance level of dogs within this breed varies greatly.In lists of dog breeds showing which breeds are most intelligent or most willing to be trained, the Border Collie almost always makes the top three.
Size
18 – 22 inches
Weight
27 – 45 pounds
General Health
The Border Collie is a comparatively healthy breed, but some are prone to hip dysplasia. The breed is also prone to PRA and an eye disease called Collie Eye Anomaly. Epilepsy, deafness, and allergies to fleas are occasionally present in Border Collies. This breed typically lives for 12 to 15 years. They average 6 puppies per litter.
History
The Border Collie is a descendant of old British droving breeds and certain types of spaniels. The breed originated along the Scottish/English border, in a place called Northumberland. The Border Collie has a number of natural talents and is an outstanding herding dog. Because of their ability to train so remarkably easy, the Border Collie has been heavily utilized as a detection dog and guide dog. This breed excels in obedience and agility.
Maintenance
Especially with the longer-haired variety of the Border Collie, regular grooming attention is needed. Regular combing and brushing will help to keep the coat in pristine condition. During shedding season, extra care should be given to the soft, dense undercoat. A bath should be given only as necessary. The ears and coat of this breed should be checked regularly for ticks. Border Collies are average shedders.
Ideal Environment
Border Collies have incredible stamina and energy levels, and they need plenty of daily activity. Providing exercise for this breed is helpful, but it’s equally as important for the Border Collie to have a job to perform. This breed isn’t suited for life in a small household or apartment. They are very active indoors and are most content to live in a home with acreage.
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Border collie
Brilliant as a working dog or pet. They are great with children so ideal for family. very loyal and make a great friend.
Pros: loyal, intelligent (sometimes!) and a very good companion
Cons: Because they are farm dogs, they have the tendancy to roll in unsavory things like poo and dead sheep.
Good Dogs!
I really love this breed of dog. They're loveable and have great temperments. I reccomend this dog for a pet. They're good with children as well so this would be a dog to look at when looking for a dog for your children. Very smart dog!
Pros: Very very energetic and friendly. Great temperment and obident.
Cons: I wear out faster than my dog. Tries to herd my other dogs if not trained for herding to begin with. Hardheaded
Border Collie
You should not even consider this breed if you are not able to supply the training that these dogs enjoy. They are highly intelligent and this creates a need to keep their minds active. They are also very energetic and need to be run, not walked, every day. This also means that a very small garden is probably unsuitable. When they are awake, they are active and looking for exercise or play. The main shedding of fur tends to be seasonal, but expect loss of hair throughout the year. At times this can be considerable. Regular grooming will help but hair around the house cannot be avoided. During early puppy training, energetic exercise should be restricted to prevent undue stress being placed on the hip joints which can develop into problems in later years. A good Collie breeder will advise further on this aspect. It is a good guard dog and will bark when it hears visitors or intruders, but it will not bark unnecessarily and become a nuisance. Provided the required time and effort can be spent raising this dog from puppyhood, it will look to you as master or mistress with total obedience. It has a pretty face and can always be relied on to attract plenty of patting from strangers.
Pros: Due to their high intelligence, they are receptive to training and very obedient. The range of vocabulary they understand seems never ending.
Cons: Generally I agree that they are good with children, but very young children up to around 7 or 8 can be a problem. There is no danger but a natural wariness can cause the dog to be snappy which can be alarming.