I believe, but I can't give evidence, that people give up boarder collies because they are not what people expect ie lots of energy and easily bored
Imo, there are three main issues.
Firstly in all of the herding breeds there is a very real problem with nervousness/ being excessively high strung.
Hence why it is SO important to meet the parents and make sure they have a nice temperament.
Collies are naturally often aloof but any parents showing nervousness rather then just aloofness/disinterested I would avoid buying puppies from them.
A poorly bred border collie that has no ‘off switch’, that is so highly strung it needs careful management because it can’t cope with loud noises, new places etc is a hard dog to handle.
I think the second issue is that a lot of people expect all dogs to be the same.
They expect that a border collie puppy will grow up to be the same as say a golden retriever or a cockerpoo and actually, although they are wonderful dogs and can make lovely pets the temperament can be quite different to what you expect in a stereotypical family pet.
For example, at maturity a lot of collies are pretty aloof, they are bonded to their family and don’t really want to socialise with other people or dogs.
Very different to the stereotypical ‘everybody is my best mate’ attitude in say, most retrievers which I would say is what most people expect in a family pet.
There is of course also that herding instinct, which if isn’t managed correctly can cause problems
And I think thirdly, there is a great deal of misinformation about the breed.
I really disagree with the whole collies need huge amounts of exercise and mental stimulation attitude.
Imo, collies thrive in a peaceful, calm environment and do best with calm activity that works their brain and makes them think.
Like herding.
High adrenaline sports like agility and fly ball are a world away from ‘calm, brain engaging’ activity and I think they make a lot of collies harder to handle.
My own collie given lots of high adrenaline exercise and training/mental stimulation becomes anxious, whiny and unable to settle.
I think the response of a lot of people in that situation would be to think the dog is bored and must need more stimulation but actually, given way way less training/mental stimulation and nice calm, peaceful walks and my collie becomes the calmest, laziest dog.
Happy to sleep all day in the house but equally always happy to go out for a walk and run about.
I suggest you make enquires via farming communities. Working farms will breed their dogs and keep one or two pups. Most wont have pedigree papers but they are beautiful well loved pups. We got ours word of mouth
I agree.
People can be quite unpleasant about working lines but imo they generally speaking are more stable, well balanced dogs and make lovely pets.
Though of course, you should still be very careful to check you like the parents temperament because there absolutely will be very poor temperament individuals being bred out there, but I’d always go for a genuine working line over a Kennel club ‘show lines’ any day.
I wouldn't trust the KC with anything. The main reason there are so many breed problems are because of their ridiculous exactitude as to what a dog looks like. Simply because a breeder is KC registered doesn't tell you much. For Border Collies I would much rather trust - if you want one with "papers" - the International Sheep Dog Society, which registers based on demonstrable intelligence and breeding based on intelligence
This a million times over!
Border collies are technically only known as border collies if registered with the Kennel Club 🤢 or the ISDS (international sheepdog society)
An unregistered collie like mine is technically speaking a ‘working sheepdog’ but she is recognisably a border collie in looks and temperament and a lovely, lovely dog.