To wish the fashion to own working breed dogs would pass?

[PlayOnWurtz]

My local rescues seem to be full of collies, huskies, corgi's and spitz breeds of around 2 years of age. These are the current dogs of the day because they are extremely cute and handsome dogs however it seems people buy them without realising how much effort is required to own them.

I'm in no way having a dig at responsible owners at all. More the ones who love a meme and an instagram post without thinking of the consequences.

I will never have one though as I don't live in the country. Farm/working/country dogs should not be in towns.
I so agree with you. I see collies as working dogs and nothing else. We have sheep and I don't have a dog because I don't know how to train it. Our shepherdess has two but she knows how to train them.

I have a border terrier, he can from a horsey family, dogs would runs over fields with the owners / horses etc. Having worked as a vet nurse 20odd years ago I fell in love with borders then.. however ours refuses to go outside!! If it's wet I literally have to pick him up and make him go outside. The dog l waited so long for (to walk around the fields I live next too and on the beach) must have been one of the other puppies in the litter as the one ds1 picked out doesn't seem to be quite right!

We took on a husky pup (4.5 months old) after the owner, DD's friend's mum, was diagnosed with a tricky, life-threatening illness requiring lots of treatment.

He was such hard work.

We lived in the country at the time and had no idea how prey-driven the breed is, or how he would be able to escape from our completely enclosed, and large, back garden, by climbing over fences and walls - I was terrified he would be shot by a farmer. He wanted the sheep in the surrounding fields and was determined to get to them, even climbing out of an upstairs bedroom window!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, we rehomed him through Husky Rescue (with full consent of his former owner) with a family who already had another husky, and who knew exactly what his needs were. He settled in beautifully, they sent us videos regularly for the first year.

Never again though, he nearly drove me to a nervous breakdown.

My sister has a boxer husky cross. She is a gorgeous old lady who is struggling with strength in her back legs now. My sister says if she knew the true story about how she was bred she would never have bought her. She is a family member now and a real character but we know she will die young and have health issues because her breeders did not know what they were doing. She was spayed as soon as she was old enough as with all my sisters dogs.

We have a 15 month old lurcher - minimum 2 x 30 min walks off lead morning and night. Plus 2 hours or more in the park/ in the pub after on Saturday and Sunday ... We live on a narrowboat so he's outdoors a LOT. Lots of toys. Goes out with DH to pub / shops etc. Poss a bit of a dip in attention from me since DS born in the autumn ... But he's STILL a nutter (a lovely, gentle, silly boy- but pretty loopy) even with all the attention he gets. Working dogs are not for the faint hearted!

Collies. I would never get one!

I knew two people who had them.

One was a couple who both worked full time. They thought it would be fine leaving the dog alone all day. The dog pretty quickly destroyed their kitchen and eventually chewed through the wall and got into next doors kitchen. Poor dog was bored shitless.

And a family who lived across the road from me had one. I never saw it being walked but 'it's got a garden to go out in'. Well the dog used to clear the 6ft fence with air underneath it and go haring off up the street with loads of kids chasing after it trying to catch it. They put up a bigger gate but it never stopped the dog escaping. I just wonder why they ever thought a family with 2 working adults and four small children would be a good fit for a working dog breed.

I love dogs, I absolutely love every single dog I see but I'm not capable of caring for one so I settle for giving my dog love to the ones I encounter when I am out.

I have a three year old border collie, she needs two good off lead walks a day, plus games in the garden and she loves puzzles and jobs in the house (like loading washing machine, tidying up toys into basket, carrying things to people). We have had collies before so we knew what we were in for. I work from home so she is rarely alone. She is the most contented, laid back, kind dog I have ever had. People bring puppies to socialise with her. I think you get back what you put in with any breed of dog.

Totally agree!

I grew up with lurchers and love them but no way were we going to get one with small children and limited walking ability. Instead I thoroughly researched what kind of mongrel would best suit our family and she's the perfect family dog.

Honeyroar has it right, it's the I want it so I'm having it mentality. There are countless threads in the doghouse from people who have been turned down by rescues for really valid reasons. They don't take it on board though, they just go buy a puppy.

My first dog as an adult was a collie x. He came from people, who had a baby and never walked him. Then he was recouped by the friend of my ex, who never walked him. I got him and wasn't letting him go. He had sooo much energy and zoomed round like a loon. He had socialisation issues and after having been attacked by a few penis extensions dogs (I lived in a rough neighbourhood), he became aggressive to other dogs. He settled after lots of perseverance and only slowed down as he became ill 3 months before he died at about 13. ❤️
Next we had a nutty chocolate lab. He was great but passed away a couple of years ago. ❤️ Now that I'm chronically ill and don't have much energy, we have a cockapoo. What a doddle to train. He zooms around by himself without needing balls thrown and is very autonomous. A doddle to train and hardly knew he'd hit puberty. We've had the perfect dog for every stage in our lives. Not everyone thinks before they get a dog sadly. I thought he'd be more of a lap dog but then if he was, he'd probably be less autonomous. We've been truly blessed by great dogs. And it is about putting a lot in to get what you want out.

we have a rescue JRT she is a loon but we love her. we both marathon train so she gets tons of exercise (waits for us at tops of hills saying 'hurry up') but she runs round puddles/hates rain. I think her previous owners were deceived by her being small and she does love to be a lap dog but she needs exercise and stimulation or really quickly becomes destructive and a pain!

Stars my goldie pup loves loading & unloading the washing machine & tumble dryer with me the Bernard sits looking at her with a bemused expression on her face

Our collie is 11 now and has slowed down a fair bit but is still about 1000 times livelier than many other breeds of the same age. He has his own sofa in the living room and is a happy soul. He's lovely and chilled as long as he has very long walks, plays in garden and likes to be with someone most of the day. I don't think we really knew what we were letting ourselves in for when we got him and we had to replace our banisters when he chewed through them as a puppy. We learned that if he was destructive he was bored and we needed to entertain him. Marathon training helped! Hes a huge part of our family and I would t be without him. However I wouldn't get another collie puppy as they are very active and I think collies are better off as working dogs unless the family is highly active and home much of the day.

I know what you mean. All four of ours are rescues - two huskies, a collie and a German shepherd, but we do live somewhere with loads and loads of open space for them to run around. Plus, we do have a small-holding and so they're useful with DP for that.

But yeah, rescues are full of them.

We have the sweetest rescue collie cross but he is the most neurotic creature I've ever met in my life. There isn't a bit of nastiness but he is always on the go and I can see why they get destructive.
I also have GSD who is not far off as neurotic as the collie. I literally spend most of my day entertaining and walking them to keep them both happy. Between them they do more activities than my baby

I agree with huskies etc and wish the trend for those would die, along with those poor breeds that can't breathe and status type bull breeds.

A PP poster said get a cat instead of a dog. My mog is happy to laze around most of the time, waving his paws about if a toy is dangled close enough to bat.

Then... I adopted a Devon Rex kitten. Luckily, I'd researched his breed for about a year, so knew what to expect. They're described as a dog, monkey and cat all rolled into one. 3 years on, and he likes to be involved in whatever I'm doing, riding on my shoulders to supervise, and needs at least 2 energetic play sessions a day. And he's v. v. talkative, which requires answering.

Both cats have access to the outdoors, during daylight hours.

People really should research any animal before adopting. Cats aren't necessarily easier than dogs - as any Bengal slave/owner will tell you.

My very lovely Labrador / cocker mongrel is easily the most intelligent dog in the world. But he never gets tired. He runs upwards of 20 miles with me a week plus long walks, swims and gun dog sessions. The days I work the in laws walk him for an hour and fuss over him and he gets more walks when i get in. Plus two kids who play with him. We love him to bits but he needs that stimulation or he eats the house.

Here he is with a small stick he insisted on carrying for about 5 miles.

Most breeds were bred to do a job of some sort, there aren't many that were purely decorative.

That said, we have a mutt who we believe is a B.collie/black lab cross. She is very smart and needs stimulation. She never just gets fed, she always has to work for it, we have a slow bowl that she has to get the food out of or we have a bottle on a stand that spins that she has to hit to get the food out of and then it skitters on the hard floor and under furniture for her to find. She will bring a toy if she is bored and wants to play and we make it a priority for her to chase and retrieve it. She gets walked every day without fail and we have a big garden with chickens she guards.. (she is trained to go out if they alert which they do a couple of times a day). It really isn't that hard to keep her busy and in between she sleeps.

Can I just say my sister didn't choose to have a husky. Her best friend at the time bought one and my sister went with her. She was offered molly because her friend couldn't cope with her. The breeder had two more litters after molly and her brother lives in the same village three doors down. It's heartbreaking to think these animals are being created for money when the breeder knows there are problems with the mix.

I have friends who have a rescue husky (well I say rescue, he was kept in awful conditions and the bloke made the owner an offer he couldn't refuse) He's lovely, despite his early life, used to constantly travel in the cab of the truck. When my friends daughter was taken ill he adopted her and refused to leave her bedside. But, he is incredibly strong and will walk steadily for miles, then a few more.
Even poodles were working dogs originally.

jennie

My grandma didn't either. She found a little husky pup tied on one of her fields, nearly dead from thirst when he was still a little pup. And as soon as she had him tied loose he jumped in her car. The vet said he was probably a breed that had some 'faults' lookwise :(

So she took him home. And had a husky in Southern Italy.... poor dog, in summer. But at least he had a loooot of land to run on. Such a kind dog.

And in winter she stayed a few months in an apartment in Switzerland, not the most ideal place either. But long walks everyday kind of fixed that.

Nowadays she lives in a living facility and had to give the dogs away. We luckily found a good home, but she says she'd love to see them once accidentally. Just because she loved them so much.

I have 2 labs from working stock & the difference between them & placid pet labs is astonishing - it's like different breeds. They are much more highly strung than I expected, slim & muscular & need long walks twice daily, plus long play sessions, or else they get bored & start looking for things to do......

Agree with this post totally! I do home checks for numerous dog charities and it is really irritating the amount of people that are rejected for a rescue dog. Often for different issues such as working hours, lack of breed experience or an unsecured garden (easily fixed and then they will be accepted).
You then see them apply to other rescues and I get their details again to do another homecheck! If I refuse them for anything that cannot be fixed I refuse to waste my time again.

IL's are farmers and had collies as working dogs for years - the last 2 they had were beautiful, loyal, friendly girls but bloody hard work!! Even when they both retired to the comfiest chairs in the house obviously they needed to get outside as much as possible otherwise they got bored..
There are loads of huskies round here at the moment - we're semi rural so there's a lot of open spaces for them to run but there's one or 2 I see regularly that I suspect will be rehomed - they're obviously loved and well cared for but it looks like the owners are a bit overwhelmed.

I've got two huskies rescued from other houses and we work darn hard to make sure they're as tired as feasibly possible! I run them 5 times a week, we've got a scooter that they pull on the grass and our house is like fort knocks (including changing the handles on doors as one can open all doors!).

I researched the breed heavily before but nothing quite prepared me for the unrelenting energy or how quickly they can recover in winter. The only 'disappointing' thing is that we can't let them off lead as their prey instinct is awful and we don't trust them with our neighbours chickens.

Every time I see rescue pages it makes me want to get more as I hate seeing dogs so mistreated.