Who has a border collie?

[ENSOCK]

my dad has had 2. The first was a great dog but was super watchful of my mom. Extreme ball of engery. The second, that we have now, is so over the top watchful that he barks at everyone and has bitten a few people. We have a large sign at the end of the drive that he will bite as well as other notices posted of beware of dog. The bites were more of nips as if he was herding them away from the front door. We believe that he knew mom was dying so he was watching over her.
Dad brought him to a shelter when mom died but he went back to get him since he could not handle losing his dog and wife the same month.

 

[peanut1967]

We got a BC puppy in January and they are smart dogs, he is 14 weeks old, already sits and lies down on command. We are able to walk him off leash he comes to us as soon as we call him. We have called him Tommy - Thomas when naughty

We walk him every day twice a day and take a soccer ball with us he loves to play tackle and let me tell you he can tackle that ball he puts his front paw on the top of the ball and looks at me as though to say 'go on see if you can get it off me'.

He as amazing character and people who we have known who have had them have said much the same, needs lots of exercise, good temperment and they are extremely loyal, they tend to bond to one person although luckly for us Tommy as bonded both to myself and my Mum.

I also have to say although I say I have trained him to come on command and sit, lay down and roll over - its taken very little training like I have said he is one smart dog.

 

[browneyes106]

My family had a border collie when I was growing up. It was a male and he was a great dog. My uncle owned his mother and a few other relatives got puppies from my uncle over the years. With our experiences, the females were harder to train and more hyper. The ways they would calm down is if they either got spayed or were breed and had puppies. In time female border collies do calm down a bit.

 

[Bearvet]

Our border collie will be 14 years old next month and aside from a few aging issues, he still runs and plays like a puppy!

The breeder we got him from said it's like having a 2 year old boy for the next 12 years - a perfect description!

We live on 17 acres of woods, so he's had plenty of room to run around. We actually installed an invisible fence to keep him OUT of our yard - he dug deep ruts around our pool while he was herding the kids in the pool.

He's a great dog, but not really a house pet. As much as we love him, DH says he's our first and last BC. Now my pug on the other hand - I can imagine a houseful of pugs!!!

 

[StitchFanZ]

Border Collies are herding dogs who like to work. We have a lot around us and they are great dogs but they are happiest when they spend thier day working in the barn, riding on a four wheeler, or herding animals. If you don't have a full time job to give them such as herding or agility, they will create a job for themselves! Definitely not a low maintenance lap dog.

Go up to the AKC website http://www.akc.org/breeds/index.cfm?nav_area=breeds and look at the dog breed groups - Dogs are bred for certain things such as herding, working, hunting. I would suggest picking the group that suits your needs and and then only look at the dogs in the category.
On the AKC site it notes this, "workaholic of the dog world, the Border Collie is the world’s premier sheep herder, prized for its intelligence, extraordinary instinct and working ability", and "This high-drive breed is extremely energetic and requires exercise beyond just a walk around the block or a romp in the yard. They thrive when they have a job to do and space to run. "