CoralRose - I've read through your thread, and FWIW, these are my opinions as someone who is an experienced rescuer who has dealt with all sorts of things, including the carnage of puppies and young children.
Before you get a dog, pedigree or rescue, RESEARCH YOUR BREEDS. PLEASE. So many people end up with puppies that grow into teenage dogs with issues, because they have not researched their breeds.
Why an older dog is better for a young family than a puppy: This is taken from the Wiccaweys Border Collie Rescue website to give you an idea...(I work closely with them). It applies to ALL dog breeds however, which is why you MUST research your breeds.
Myth 1: I have small children, so I want a puppy.
Without a doubt, this is the most common reason people want a puppy. A sweet, small puppy just seems like the best choice for sweet, small children.
You know those cute adverts where collie puppies climb all over a giggling child? Have you ever noticed how short it is? That?s because they could only film for a few seconds before the welts rose, the blood dripped, and the child began to scream for its mother. Puppies have needle sharp teeth that they happily sink into anyone who walks by. They also have sharp nails that scratch when they jump up -- and on a small child, those front feet and teeth land just about face height.
Puppies leave "presents" that your toddler always seems to find before you do. Puppies wake your children during the night. After all, a puppy is a baby too ? why should it be any different for them? A night is a long time ? why should a puppy alone be expected to go throughout the night without crying for ?Mum?. You wouldn?t expect a young human baby too.
A puppy doesn?t know the difference between his stuffed toy and Little Sophie?s Teddy that she really MUST have to fall asleep.
Suppose you get a puppy when little Jack is 2. In six months, Jack will be about 1 inch taller and 3 pounds heavier. However, the 8-month-old puppy will now be as tall as Jack and outweigh him by 20 pounds. And those baby teeth will have been replaced by big snappers that need to chew.
Of course, puppies and small children do successfully co-habitate, if you have the time, the patience and the understanding to put the work in.
In our experience, your child will go through far less Asprin and Plasters with a calmer 4+ year old dog who has been fully assessed with children.
Myth 2: It?s better to get a puppy. With an older dog, you never know what you?re getting.
All puppies are cute; all puppies love everyone. It?s not until a dog hits sexual maturity that some breed characteristics and/or innate behavioral problems start to surface.
With a collie, sometimes the working instinct doesn?t show itself until they hit 6 months plus (teenager!). One day you will have a sweet pup wanting the play with younger members of the family, and the next day you suddenly have a young adolescene working dog who rounds the children up and nips them to make them move.
We couldn't even start to estimate how many calls we?ve had from people who?ve paid lots of money for a 'pedigree' puppy, who is now a year or two old and biting people, attacking other dogs, or engaging in some oddball neurotic behavior.
Having a piece of paper that says your puppy is 'Pedigree' is not a guarentee that your puppy has been 'well bred' and 'well bought up", and sometimes it feels like the disreputable breeders grossly outnumber the responsible ones.
The truth is this: when we list a 4-month-old puppy, we can only guess what kind of adult she?ll make. When we list an 2 year old plus dog, we can predict pretty accurately what kind of dog you?ll have forever.
Myth 3: Why do I need 6 ft fences? If you train your dog right, he?ll stay in the garden.
Many people believe this, right up until the moment the dog is hit by a car, eats slug pellets in the neighbor?s garden, or is stolen. Just because your previous dogs didn?t jump the fence, it doesn?t mean that a new dog won?t. It has nothing to do with training, or whether the dog ?naughty?.
Collies are inherently nosey and inquisitive, and they like to have specific boundries. If they have the instinct in them to ?patrol the perimiter? then they will keep going until they find a boundry they can?t pass. If they are in the garden, and they hear something exciting going on elsewhere, then they may try see if they can be involved somehow.
Myth 4: When I was growing up, we had a PERFECT dog.
No, you didn?t. Trust us, your old dog was only perfect because you were 8 and didn?t have to clean up after him and be responsible for him. I know you believed he was perfect, but you also believed in Father Christmas and honest government then too.
Everyone seems to forget the times on walks when Shep would chase joggers and bikers. The times he used to nip your bum while you were playing in the garden, sometimes so hard you had bruises and it bled. The times while everyone was at work and school that he?d chew the furniture, empty the bins, redecorate the house to his own dog style. The time everyone came down on Christmas to find all the presents under the tree trashed...
Myth 5: Border Collies stop being puppies around a year old.
BUUUUZZZZZ! I?m sorry. Try 4 or 5 for most. Many BCs don?t calm down and hit their stride until they?re 6 or 7. Have a look at our retirement home section for more information on how active older dogs can be.
Myth 6: I want a dog without dominance issues, so I want a female.
For starters, it?s impossible to make gender-based absolutes.
It all depends on the individual dog, but don?t think for a minute that a female is a sure ticket to a passive, submissive dog ? in our experience it is almost certainly the reverse.
Myth 7: My 8 month old dog is biting people. He?s not lunging or growling, but he makes little nips on arms and legs. I can?t keep an aggressive dog.
You have to remember what Border Collies were originally bred to do. Border Collies herd. It?s what they do. It?s what they will always do. And the chances are, that?s exactly what he?s doing to your friends and family. This is why as we say earlier in this section - you can't always predict how that nice, cute and fluffy little puppy is going to turn out - not so cute and fluffy now, is he? When you take a collie into your home, you HAVE to be prepared for this instinct.
What the dog is doing is called nipping. It?s what happens when collies are working sheep, they nip at the sheeps legs and bottoms to make them move. Nipping is part of a collies working instinct. It?s there. It?s instinct.
Contrary to what people say, we do not believe that you can not train a working instinct out of a collie ? and why should you?
Myth 8: I?m unsure about getting a rescue dog, because I?m afraid he won?t bond to me.
That sound you hear is all the people with rescued dogs falling over laughing. Because the exact opposite is nearly always true--your rescue dog will CLING to you.
Look at it from the dog?s perspective. Perhaps she?s spent the bulk of the last year being left in the garden and ignored because she committed the terrible sin of no longer being a puppy. She got bored when she was left at home alone with no company and no toys, so she made her own entertainment. She was so excited when everyone came home, and so pleased to see them ? but all she got was a beating because they discovered the chewed carpet. She didn?t know she was being beaten for chewing the carpet ? that was earlier in the day and she?d forgotten about it. All she knows is that she is being beaten for welcoming her family home. The only other attention she gets is when they yell at her for barking. No-one wants to take her for a walk, or play with her.
Finally, they take her for a car-ride?either dumping her somewhere where she can have a "fighting chance.", or if she is lucky they will hand her into a rescue centre. Despite everything, she sits there waiting for their return.
Or perhaps she's spent the last year on a chain in a farmyard? She wasn't particularly good at working, so the farmer isn't interested in her. She's just the useless dog in the yard. She gets fed when they can be bothered. Good for nothing dog - a tool that doesn't work properly. If she is lucky, she is saved, or escapes. Perhaps the farmer just dumps her. It wasn't a good life, but it was the life she knew.
If she goes to an large rescue centre; she sits in the loud, scary kennel & run, starting to lose faith that her family will ever find her. The kennel people are nice, and she gets a walk a day, but she is one of a hundred needy dogs they have to care for. She starts to become neurotic. She is a collie, she can?t stand being closed in. She needs to get out. She starts circling and bouncing off the walls.
When people walk past and look at her, she barks, ?please, please ? take me, pay attention to me, I need to get out, I can?t stand it in here?. The people walk by. All they see is a neurotic collie, out of control ? and think, ?not in our home?. They don?t see the dog beneath.
You take her home to your house, you give her a bed and bowl of her own, and a crate where she feels safe. You speak quietly. If she messes on the carpet, you don?t seem to mind--you just take her outside and then clean it up. You feed her regularly AND give her toys and treats. She may even have a big brother or sister to play with. She gets kisses and cuddles. You give her little jobs to do, you take her to training classes ? you have FUN together. When she goes out in the car, she always comes back!
Your rescue dog?s biggest fear is that you will spontaneously combust!
She?s not going to let you out of her sight for one minute. People with rescue dogs learn to function with a 70 pound shadow following us everywhere.
Obviously, it has been adapted slightly to apply to collies, but the majority of it applies to all dog breeds. I'm not going to say "Don't get a dog because of the kids", because quite frankly, if you want a dog, you're not going to listen to a stranger from the internet telling you not to. As a rescuer, I am saying, PLEASE think it through carefully and as a cat lover PLEASE* think about the impact on your elderly cat - his needs matter too.