Border Collie - v Labrador, come tell me your experiences.

[CaptainUnderpants]

Are Border collies just as good family members as labradors ?

Do they need any more exercise than say a labrador would ?

Interested to hear any experinces with Border Collies , know aboout labs but not much about BCs

I have a border collie, she is very clever. I do a lot with her.
I have done obiedience (although she has stopped this now as she passed her Gold Good citizen and there didnt seem much more I wanted to teach her).
I also do alot of agility with her and sheep herding which she loves.
She is great at home although I would never trust her completely with the children.
She has issues around other dogs but advice from the sheep dog training lady has helped me enormously.
she is lovely and she isnt really very hard work as she just chills out at home but this is probably because she does a lot of other stuff. (I have a Springer too and he is ALWAYS moving)
They are great dogs but the lady who I do the sheepdog training with is overrun with requests to take in BC's with behaviour problems so make sure you know what you're taking on.
Oh and she has no interest in Frisbee's! she does like to play ball but she can't usually get it as my ball obsessed springer gets there first.

We had a BC when I was a child. She was a 'retired' sheepdog - highly trained, but would only follow instructions given by men. (When she was still working, if the farmer was away, my dad had to go and help out Mrs Farmer because the dog would not round up the sheep for her!)

Even as a retired dog she needed at least two hours energetic walking a day and preferably more - and she spent most of her time outside running about.

Not pets, I would say.

had a collie mix and had to walk twice a day, an hour or an hour and a half at a time

LABRADOR

they eat, sleep and are happy with half and hour and playing in the garden

but then you have the vets fees with the hips..

however all that walking -- if you have young children you could find the dog is having more attention than any of your individual children (I did)

I think Labs make wonderful family pets and that border collies are better on a working farm than in a family home situation.

From my experience of both (living on a farm), it depends on the dog.

My parents had two collies - one spent his entire life going up and down a fenceline watching the cattle and sheep (literally, he ran all day - wore himself a track under the hedge), but the other was much more mellow. To be honest, having lived with two, there is no way I would bring a BC into a family home where it wouldn't have a job to do. You may have trouble getting one if you have children and not much space - a lot of rehoming centres have experience of BCs being returned by people who cannot cope with them. They need WEARING OUT on a daily basis!

The golden lab they have now was bred by a relative of ours (respected professional breeders) and the dog ended up dumped by his owners at a young age through no fault of his own (marriage breakup). My parents took him on and he was TOUGH! he was exceptionally clingy, used to climb all over people, force his way on to your lap etc etc. Big dog - not good. He is now a lot older and a lot calmer - and is superb with the grandkids, shares a house with three cats (who boss him around) and is generally a nice dog to be around. Labs can be hard work when young, but tend to calm down as they get older.

On balance, if I had to choose between the two, I'd go for a lab.