Border collies without jobs.

[madison2000]

I used to have one. Never get a border collie unless you have something for them to do like herd sheep. They'll make you crazy asking!

[Historic NY]

1. my neighbor has 2 and they bark at everything all day.....

his male & female, it funny the female is down right nasty tried to bite me a couple of times. The male will drag her around by the collar and they sit all day looking for my German Shepard friend on the other side to come out. My uncle had a novel way of keeping them quiet, he would give them each a hard loaf of Italian bread to chew on. I just think they are bored being penned in the rear yard all day.

[n2mark]

2. Border Collies need space

space and more space. They are also very intelligent.

[Spinzonner]

4. Maybe he baked Ritalin into it

[Guaranteed]

3. That's what I'm getting when we finally get a dog.

Think I need a house, first, though. :)

With a yard.

[Spinzonner]

5. Better get an estate

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. And a flock of sheep.

[Spinzonner]

7. If you buy it they will come

Ewe know how that goes ...

[Guaranteed]

8. LOL we have cats...

Will that work?

[knitter4democracy]

9. They need to herd everything and go nuts if they can't

They'll herd kids, cats, you--and that means forcing you to go where they want. Have you tried training them for sheepdog trials? We have trials up here in Michigan every summer, and that would give the dog a job.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. I have read that border collies are employed at some airports

and golf courses to herd and chase birds away. Evidently they (the dogs) love it.

[Spinzonner]

14. Better keep them away from the Piper Cubs

[kitchen girl]

10. Herd sheep, compete at agility...

herd cats...herd friends...chase frisbees. Yep, BCs are smart as heck and need a job to stay sane. I have what friends call a "couch-potato border collie". He was a bust at herding, but a maniac at agility. But he also has an "off button", which keeps me sane. :)

[joefree1]

11. Got one but no sheep

We have a small yard also. However I do take him for a jog in the morning and throw a bucket of balls for him almost every afternoon (about 50 throws). We're buds.

No one should be allowed to have a dog unless you're gonna excercise him and take him out in the world. No one!!!

[Katarina]

13. My broder collie story

We have a border collie, a jack russell and 2 of their pups (border jacks). A couple of months ago I was sitting at my computer desk talking to my mom on the phone and heard the dogs start barking. Well they bark so much that I stopped getting up to check a long time ago but this time it sounded different. Looked out the back window and noticed there was stuff all over the yard at the fence between my house and my father-in-laws. I thought they had gotten into the garbage can but I couldn't see them anywhere out back. Went to look out the front window and was completely shocked. Apparently one of my father-in-laws geese had flown over the fence and couldn't get back across. They had completely mutilated it! All that "garbage" in the back yard was feathers! The border collie has always hated those birds. She hates cats as well. And she is mean to anyone that comes into our yard. The jack russell is completely the opposite. He's a lover not a fighter. One pup has his disposition and the other acts just like the border collie but even more obnoxious. Needless to say, it is never boring around here...never quiet either.

[fudge stripe cookays]

16. Poor goosie...... n/t

:-(

[madison2000]

15. Having a border collie is a LIFESTYLE... they are wonderful smart dogs

but they need space and they need work. I was in graduate school during some of the years that I had her. I was living in the city in an apartment and it just wasn't what she needed... stared me down looking at me for commands all day long. Eventually I sent her to live in the suburbs with my parents, at least they had a backyard. She never caught anything that I know of!

Now I have a lazier, less brilliant dog who just hangs out on the furniture and doesn't guard anything except his treats.

[LWolf]

17. Recipe for disaster.

A border collie without a job, and without abundant space to do it in, is just asking for aggravation.

Working dogs need a job to do to be happy.

I have an aussie; a milder version. She's energetic and must herd everything in sight, but is calmer and less intense than the border collies I've met. Still, we did a 15 mile trail ride last week; 7 horses, 2 border collies, and my aussie. She had enough energy to play when we got home.

She "herds" the ride; rides "tailguard" for awhile, moves up to the front, stops, "counts" all the horses going by, checks with me whereever I happen to be, and falls back in to guard the rear end again. If I did 15 miles, she did a lot more. She drove the border collies nuts; wouldn't let them range, and kept herding them into the "pack" with the mule their person was ponying.