Border Collies, great pets (Border Collie)

Member Name: Beanie8844

Product:	Border Collie
Date:	14/09/08 (65 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: very intelligent & great companions

Disadvantages: require lots of exercise

I have two Border Collies. 'Jess' is the larger of the two and is tri-coloured (black, brown and white), while 'Megan' is a more traditional black and white and slightly smaller. Generally, Border Collies are medium sized dogs and can be many different colours and combination of colours. Black and white is the most common by a considerable distance, yet black tricolour, red tricolour, red & white, blue crème, yellow white, blue merle and red merle also feature.

The breed was first recognised towards the end of the nineteenth century and descended from droving and gathering breeds originating around the area of the English and Scottish border. They are extremely intelligent dogs and love to work. They are generally well behaved, especially if trained and can be very excitable.

Over the past few years they have become increasingly popular as pets, but are only suited to certain types of household. Their working heritage means they can make very demanding pets and need a lot of exercise; mine get taken to the park once a day a go for a walk in the morning and during the evening. The fact that they are so demanding and need to be given so much exercise means that they won't be the greatest of pets for the elderly unless the dog is quite old and people who are out at work all day. We adopted Megan and she used to belong to people who worked all the time and were very rarely in the house, it was no surprise that she chewed things up because she was obviously bored and in need of companionship and most importantly exercise. My two love being in the garden and if were not playing with them they will play with one another, play fighting and chasing one another around.

Many people forget that they are naturally working dogs (we got Jess from a farm in Oxford). Their great energy levels and natural herding instinct means that they are still used today. Typically they are used to herd sheep as in the famous sheepdog trials depicted in the film 'Babe', but have also been used in the past to herd cattle, poultry, pigs and even ostriches. In addition to their great successes in herding they also excel at several 'dog sports'. They excel at agility - if you watch Crufts many of the agility dogs are Border Collies because of their natural traits of energy and intelligence. Many are also used as Search & Rescue dogs for the same reasons.

If you think you could cope with having a Border Collie as a pet and it is very demanding indeed, especially when they are young puppies - the amount of energy they have is phenomenal, then I would definitely recommend getting one. Try to avoid getting them from pet shops and use breeders or farms instead. Hope you enjoy.

Thanks for reading.

Summary: my favourite breed