Owning a border Collie

[Strawberrypie33]

So me and my partner think we are ready to own a dog, we are both financially stable both work, I'm part time so I do have time to walk a dog, entertain and groom when needed, my partner works from home on staggered shifts but tends to do 4 shifts and no more. We have children ages 13,12,6&3 all know how not to act around animals as family members have cats and dogs I've taught them to be kind and gentle so in not worried about that, only thing that worries me is the type of dog. We want a border Collie, obedient and some what easy to train, I've done some research and they do need a lot of active times in their day, what I'm asking is has anyone owned or own this type of breed and what is your typical day with one? Are they ok with children? Ect. I don't want to be rash with getting this breed and it not being suitable, I'm heavy on research first before I make a decision, any help will do, thank you.

They need a lot of exercise and mental activity.if you think,they are bred to work and 8 hour day.ours gets about 3 hours a day exercise I think but is older now at about 9 years.ges desperate to work so gives himself the job of guard dog,children safety and bin monitor,does laps around the garden for fun.hes soppy as anything and very tolerant of my 5 year old but if he didn't get the work in he would be different.hes no good on a lead which is fine where we are but if in around people on a lead like in town doesn't cope.he has done ankle snapping before (from sheep work) but has learned not to.he is easy to train.hes quite outdoors based,we've loads of space so he's off outside most of the day.hope that helps.they are all different but key is if they can have a job and enough activity and excersie to keep them sane.

They are dogs that need occupied - mentally as well as physically - our neighbours had a succession of them and they all, without fail, would try and herd the family. They got a lot of exercise but not a lot mentally. They are bright dogs.

What about a Toller - similar size, amazing temperament but not quite so needing of stimulation all the time.

Lovely temperament but outsmarts me. I wish we'd gone for a quieter, less reactive breed. We can't sneeze, chink coins, use sellotape, blow our nose, close the blinds etc etc without her barking. She's with us at home all day, gets plenty of interaction and walks too.

They are intelligent… they are not easy to train. Not the same thing at all! Often means they are clever enough to work out an alternative…
personally I wouldn’t want a border collie around a 3yo, they will potentially herd/snap especially when younger, and can be very nervy, again not a quality I’d want near a young child.
In terms of activity level they are probably one of the most demanding breeds you can get, as well as needing their brains worked, without this behavioural problems can quickly occur, I see so many who are frankly neurotic, reactive and difficult.

What sort of home can you offer a dog in terms of your experience, time you can offer them etc? Someone might be able to suggest something more suitable

I am 67 (68 in a month), and had them since I was born. I would slightly differ on "easy to train" - they are fast learners (including learning things you don't want them too!) and pick up training that is consistent but they are intelligent and stubborn, so they will push boundaries, try to decide they are old enough to set the rules etc., etc. Research suggests that they have the intellectual capability of a 4 - 5 year old human child. Think about everything a child of that age can get up to, multiply it by "sneaky dog" tactics, and imagine "owning it" for anyhting up to 18-19 years. If you can live with that a Border Collie is perfect for you!

Mental exercise and a job or jobs is as important as physical exercise - in some senses more important. There are lots of puzzle toys (and you can make your own too) and plenty of websites that will provide inspiration. One of my dogs activities is knowing his toys - he's got over 500 toys and knows everything single one of them by name. Google "Chaser" for an example.

That said, as must be obvious, I couldn't live without one and they are more than a dog - they are an integral part of family. If you have what it takes, then you will never regret it, but they do need your investment in them to be what they can be.

We’ve always had border collies, since before children and now they are teens, with no problems- they are wonderful dogs, as long as they get exercise and have some mental stimulation and toys. We have had a lot of fun trying things like flyball, and we like walking/outdoors, but have found that the dogs are always happy to join in whatever, especially if it involves a car journey!

I have two working sheepdogs both from farm environments. They are not necessarily ‘easy’ to train as they are incredibly bright and often one step ahead of you! Mine get at least 3 hours walks a day (much more in the summer) and take part in flyball and competitive obedience. They would both keep going until they drop - there is no off switch on my older one!

socialise early with as many different environments sites/sounds etc to reduce chance of chasing cars etc (neither of mine do) and find a good trainer preferably one who understands border collies. I made the mistake of going to a general pet dog trainer with my first one which was a disaster - he was hard work until about 3 but is now a therapy dog and goes into school.
Id also commit the time to doing a dog sport with them whether that be obedience, agility of flyball to give them a job.

They are amazing dogs and cope in urban environments but research your breeder and the lineage inside out as so many end up in rescue for being what they are and doing what they were bred to do!

I don't think collies are suitable for you at all - both working and with 4 kids, that can't leave a lot of time or mental space for the physical activity, mental activity and training that a bc needs. And their needs go on for a very long time too. My parents collies lived to 16, and while they had slowed down a bit, they still wanted to go on long walks and would push the boundaries of what the house rules were.
The trade off in dog training is that stupid dogs may not learn a huge variety of tricks, but they tend to just go with the instructions and occupy themselves in sensible ways. I have one thick dog and one intelligent. Both recall, sit, leave it etc. The thick one has never embarrassed me by deciding to take up being a sniffer dog as a hobby...

My DB has a border collie cross. She is gorgeous and very loving, always pleased to see you, but she has so much energy! She has 2 very long walks a day at least (and when I say long 1 will be about 3-4 miles, the later walk maybe 2-3) and she also has a garden which she barrels round. She is like a parkouring kangaroo at home, she runs and jumps of the walls and furniture. I would like to say they calm down with age, but she is nearly 11 and is showing no signs of slowing down. She has also has a couple of nasty injuries to her legs where she runs so fast the when she stops suddenly she has damaged her dew claws and so kind of ligament in her leg so there have been some costly vet visits.

When my children were small she kept away from them mostly, we would never have left them alone with her, but there were a couple of times when she did snap at one of my kids. It was very much a warning snap, she was not going in for a bite, but as others have said I think it is a bit more of a possibility with collies than some other dogs.

As others have said they do need to be mentally stimulated all the time or they will create their own chaos. There have been many incidents of things being chewed or eaten that people thought were well out of her reach and there was also an incident involving a knocked over Christmas tree and her getting very entangled in lights. She is incredibly bright - and occasionally helpful at getting things, but if she doesn't have toys to keep her occupied she will create her own entertainment.

If you love doing a lot (and I mean a lot!) of walking or running and you can provide a mentally stimulating environment and you are prepared to potentially have to fix stuff when they do something that surprises you then it might be the dog for you, but I would probably wait for your 2 younger children to get a bit older.

No. Not a great choice with 4 dc. They need too much time devoted to them.

We have a border collie and she's ace. She's not what I would have as a first dog though because she needs a lot of stimulation - she goes on at least two hour-long walks a day, but she also needs mentally stimulating or she makes up her own games.

Also they have a tendency to nip and I heard somewhere that they are the number one dog for bites, if you're including nips.

Border collies can be amazing dogs but (and it’s a very big but) require huge amounts of input. They are bred to work and that energy needs managing with both mental and physical activities. They are high input dogs and the working dogs I know are fabulous dogs. The pure pets? Very much less so.

have you considered other breeds? We have a lab from a working line and he is fab. I’ve had a staffie previously and she was a lovely lovely family dog (although appreciate in this country there’s a lot of stigma around them).

I have a collie and I swear shes a lab in a collies body. She's not all that keen for walks will do it but dosent look happy about it. Food is her life and fetch she will being anything to be thrown and brought back. She's great with the kids and cats and chickens. She can be left if needed and hardly barks. She's always on the look out for food great for training. She does push boundaries ask her to lie down front goes down but not her bum. She pretends to pee too. She know she pees 1st before play. Very smart. Younger years are hard going but she seems to be slowing down a bit now at 10.

Wonderful dogs. All collies are (I’ve had Bearded Collies all my adult life). As everyone else has said, they need a lot of mental and physical stimulation. A bored collie is a destructive collie. They can be quite needy too - my last Beardie would huff and puff if we were all in separate rooms. It’s the work ethic ‘I can’t relax until all the herd are safe and secure where I can keep my 👀 on them’. They are very loyal to those they love and make pretty decent guard dogs, in that mine barked when someone approached the front door (but was very good at ‘quiet’ and ‘wait’).

Regarding training, I trained my last one to retrieve in an afternoon, same for sitting, waiting and droppping. Recall took longer but only a week or so. They LOVE to learn. They can be stubborn if they don’t want to do something though.

She too knew the names of individual toys and would go and get the specific thing you asked. Required 2x I hour walks and another ‘stroll’ (aka 30 min wind down) at bedtime. Got much longer at weekends. They live a long time too - one of mine lived to 17, one was 15 and my last was 16.

You will need to provide far more than walks and whilst the are absolutely smart, this will only work in your favour if you can harness it in a direction that suits you. As they are so smart, it can take a skilled handler to achieve it so they are not imo a first time owner option. The vast majority of collies needs an outlet to replace their drive to ‘work’. So a dog sport or similar.
Without it they are very often neurotic, destructive and a pain in the arse. With 4 children I personally think you’d be mad.

If you are prepared to have a 5th child that will take at least 50% of all your time and never grows up, go for it!
I get it, if your heart is set on one, nothing else will be good enough, but there are many breeds of dogs that would be better suited for busy family life.

Thank you everyone for the feedback, I need to add my part time job is literally working an hour and bit at a school (lunchtime lady) so I'm hardly away from the house, this is why it's a "think about" I have family around me (3 doors down) and a very keen brother who would love to take a dog out for a walk when both me and my partner is working. I have considered other breeds but a Collie is the number one dog I've always wanted, labs are a no no, my FIL had one and he wasn't a great dog, no biting or anything just extremely greedy and had loads of health issues, that put me off not saying all labs are like that but my partner said they had a lab when he was a kid and it was very greedy.

At the moment we are just in talks but not making any movement from that till we are deadly sure. Thank you all for the comments I'll take them all on board.

I would like to throw in a suggestion. What about a bearded collie?
Similar in terms of trainability and temperament but require less physical and mental stimulation. We have a beardie and my brother has a boarder.

We have an 18 month border collie and a 11 and 9 year old. I’d grown up with collies so knew what we were getting into. We both work from home full time. He gets 2 decent walks a day and is happy pottering around the house and garden during the day. He would sell his sole for his tuggy toys. He needs his walks but he takes what he gets and is happy with that and games. He is so affectionate and so tolerate of the kids and has never touched the ridiculous amount of Barbie’s and shoes left lying around.

we researched breeders carefully and he came from an agility breeder as opposed to a farm collie and came from one of her litters which was from less worky parents. She also picked the puppy for us - the most feisty ones went to others doing serious agility training. We’re don’t very informal agility stuff.

Sometimes I think people collies needs constant stimulation and that means they can’t shut off. He is very happy chilling on the sofa during the day - I know when he fancies some attention as he’ll throw tuggy toy onto my keyboard ….

Border Collies are wonderful dogs, but imo not great family pets. They need a lot of stimulation and will be unhappy and get into mischief without it. They aren't dogs that are happy to chill while you get something done.

They also tend to attach to one family member above others.

I think they are quite tricky dogs to meet the needs of (unless they are working dogs) and maybe not a great choice for a first dog.

Would you consider a cross? I have a friend with a Border Collie Alsatian cross which is much more chill and might suit you better.

Easy to train but they need masses amounts of mental stimulation, this is coming from someone who has collies in the family, they have acres to run around and they still need mental stimulation. I was attacked by a collie when I was 11 and the dog tore my arm to shreds and attacked three people after me. I certainly wouldn’t get one as a first dog. Maybe a cross, I’ve had labs x collies, highly intelligent and need that little bit less stimulation

My friend has 2 border collies , a lot of work is her experience with them , they’re a sister & brother aged 2 now ..
She walks once in the day , well evening time & she lives in the country side & they own a lot of land , they’re dogs have loads of space , she finds them very hyper being honest 🤷🏻‍♀️..
Really good temperament though..

I myself have a lab , well she’s 14 now & was always amazing being honest, I think like humans depends on the personality. I’ve met people with labs & they’re mental , as in hyper..
I know a few people with Golden retrievers & they seem like a brilliant choice for a family dog , only going on what I’m being told , never had one myself ..
Labs , Retrievers, & Border collies have a good temperament which obviously is the most important ….

Absolutely not as a first dog! They require a huge amount of exercise and mental stimulation! They were bred for working and that’s what they need.