I am a collie owner and I am jealous of other different breed owning friends

[Owllady]

That is it
Mine is gorgeous but very excitable, cleverer and stubborn and I'm fed up of people's well meaning advice
Maybe you can't live in the home counties with a rescue dog

owllady :( I think it's like random strangers giving you advice about your baby - smile and ignore, in the knowledge that you know what you are doing, and they really don't get it ..

I live in the home counties with a collie, he's not a rescue but is clever and stubborn. My saviour has been my training classes, all the dogs have issues and lots are rescues. If you're anywhere near Surrey/Berkshire pm me and I'll give you the details.

I always wanted a dachshund but we got a rescue collie and she was a very special dog and we grew to be very close to her. When she died we got another collie who was very easy, no trouble etc. 12 years on, she died and then we inherited a Jack Russell.

I can tell you, collies are a walk in the park compared to Jack Russells. He is lovely but a PITA and I can't relax with him - I have to think ahead all the time to pull him away from other dogs and I am always afraid he is going to kill someone's cat

I would love another collie. They are wonderful, soft dogs, not hard little terriers.

Re the advice - think in advance what you will say. I have learnt to say "He's just protecting me" when my Jack Russell starts a fight with another dog

I have an 9 month old Labrador x golden retriever and a 7 month old working cocker spaniel. They are really bloody hard work and I have just started to go right back to basics with them and their training. I despair of ever being able to get the 2 of them to not jump all over anyone who walks through the door or get them to do as they're told out of the house when there is any distraction and as for the spaniel pulling, Jesus!

Different breeds diff judgemental comments. I have a Swiss mountain dog, he is 60kg, has a big head and not a well known breed. I have people cross the road to avoid us.
I have had people yell at me to put him on lead because he is going to eat there dogs ( he's not) while there's are running around him off lead and snapping at them.
It used to really get to me, and to some extent still does, but decided I just had to ignore. Though because of people's perceptions I do manage him differently and I have places i walk where I am not to worried because we see the same people, and they know and love him.

I know it's hard, but you just need to ignore people.

God sorry I was a bit self pitying last night she's just so bloody stubborn. She's 'forgotten' most of her training and is trying to retrain me and its bloody annoying me. I'm usually so patient but I feel under pressure at the moment with other stuff going on , so it is just that, rather than the dog. My tolerance levels for human beings at the moment is zero and I'm taking everything to heart, instead of just rising above. I think I should go back to obedience classes, especially now the weather is better.

Thanks for entertaining my whinge

I have a big excitable, stubborn, clever(ish!) bully mutt. I am jealous of all the well behaved collies round where I live! And the Bichons, why didn't I go for a Bichon? They're so well behaved!

There is a man who walks a Swiss mountain dog by where my daughter goes horse riding, it would have never occurred to me to cross the road to avoid it we did ask him what type of dog it was though, he had a weary look on his face like he had been asked it one hundred times before :o but we'd never seen one previously. My mate has two Newfoundland dogs and people avoid her too

I'm sure some of these little dogs are actually wigs, not dogs at all

Little dancing wigs

My dog has a "thing" about black labs...some she is terrified of, some she appears to love (or want to eat??). I really have trouble coping with people's stupid comments...my problem, I know I am super sensitive and get teary/cross when I am managing my dog on a lead(who is springer, soft as anything and great round other dogs), a double buggy, a toddler and they have a go when it's their dog jumping all over mine off lead and getting growled and snarled at.

i need a thicker skin!
She could do with more interaction with black dogs as when she's walked with them she is fine.

And I never understand why it's always me who crosses the road to avoid the same black dogs every day rather than the grown up owners who give me a hard time?????

Growl fest over. have a nice day everyone

Dogs are very racist, aren't they? My dog (staffy cross) is good with other dogs although a bit timid - but she LOVES spaniels or fluffy mongrels. Anything fluffy. Dogs like herself, she is more wary of.

Forgot to add, my neighbour has a deaf collie and she is a total joy. She strikes me as being not an affectionate dog, really but deeply loyal to her family. My neighbour had to work extra hard training her, but she is super obedient and very, very much loved. We love her too but she is not a friendly, kissy, sweet-natured dog (a grumpy pensioner, these days!)

We have Eric who I love dearly but my friend and neighbour has a St Bernard pup, so the complete antithesis of Eric, and I am besotted by him, his eyes, his size, how he flops down like a baby, how he is so chilled out and calm. I am really jealous even though I wouldn't particularly want a puppy again and a Saint Bernard wouldn't fit in our home and lives. I have to make do with sneaking across for cuddles.

My last collie was like that :)
This one a lovely dog and incredibly loyal too. She's just young and I need to get over myself. Most people think all follies are like the ones at crufts, they don't realise those dogs are normally 6 years old and have taken a lot of hard work and training to get there. They also have generally not owned a collie either. I have pmt I think. It's one of my neighbours who is annoying me the most, she's from a country where they are very direct and I think alot gets lost in translation as I know she is a nice woman and her heart is in the right place, I'm just being too sensitive. The other day she told me she was excitable because I didn't walk her enough, I walk her two hours a day! She was excited because she loves her dog :)

Collies live to work. Without mental exercise they can become difficult. I think going back to the training class is a great idea. Have you thought about agility?
Had them all my life but always been working dogs.
The one I have at the minute hates black and yellow dogs. He got attacked by a flat coated retriever when he was young, the owner also had a golden retriever so it's an association thing.
It's so embarrassing being the owner of a racist dog! Although conversely his best friend is a black lab???

We've done agility, rally o, scent and track work, flyball :o some with success. With agility it was difficult to keep her below threshold. I just used to come home exhausted!

I'll go back to obedience and stop moaning.

Mine hates Staffordshire bull terrorists, men in glasses, SUVs...

I think seeing other people with their dogs is a bit of an illusion, like fb or other peoples children. As much as you adore your dog there is sometimes a 'grass is greener' feeling, which is confounded with dogs being 'breeds' and so easy to put into boxes, they are better behaved, more friendly, don;t mind being left alone, more cuddly etc. People see my dog and think he is cute and small and fluffy and he is all of those things, but he is also incredibly hard work. He is the kind of dog you see out and is in to everything and loves everyone, every dog etc but he just never stops! And if he is on his lead he barks from the excitement which probably comes across as aggression and he can;t be let off his lead that often because he wants to be friends with everyone.
On the other hand, my mums dog is lazy and has to be woken up for her breakfast and made to go on walks which many people see as cute and what they would want in a dog, but she is like it for health reasons and we all miss when she was crazy, though we actually found her annoying and badly behaved at the time!

I have two collies - one is 13 and the other is 11 months, both are rescues. I had said I wouldn't have another collie as I think they need to work, but got suckered into the new one (we are his third home). He is a delight, altho needy and large for his breed, has no idea he is so large and loves a cuddle (did I mention he is needy?). He thinks my old collie is his mother - she hates him and he gets upset. We are starting training classes next week then we are going to start agility - he is very smart, but likes to do things his way! After a rocky start I have fallen in love with the big fluffy lump.

Bloody dogs, they always manage to steal your heart and then break if when they pass away.

Oh this was a good thread to come across today. I often see collies running about fetching the ball etc and think maybe I should have got a collie.

I have a border terrier ( Dave) who is very lovable, loves everybody and everything but I have got fed up chasing him when I let him off lead with other dogs. He just will not come back and because he's afraid of nothing and nobody he doesn't seem to get it when other dogs snarl at him or actually go for him that that's a bad thing. He just goes back for more. Either that or he bullies timid dogs into submission with his incessant barking and I have to try and catch him while apologising to annoyed owners of said nervous dogs.

I really need to get back to training classes, we stopped going because he was always the worst behaved by a country mile and it just got too embarrassing.

Thanks op I needed to get that off my chest today, it's funny how you always think other dog owners have it sussed.

Dogs are racist, it's funny. Mine hates spaniels, and when we had an altercation with a spaniel recently the owner told me that it's well-known that JRTs hate spaniels! He also has a really funny reaction to people wearing hats, sort of scared and yet alert/interested, as if he's seen a ghost! He also hates & will attack dogs that have long fringes, DH says it's because he can't see their eyes.

If it helps, I'd swap my dog most days for yours...excitable and unreliable with commands is way better than tries to attack every dog within sight and can't be touched by strangers...or vets, oh also it's 50/50 whether he'll try to attack passing cars also and he weighs 40kg so it's hard work on top of just being horrible.

Basically he's a git, except at home, where he's a stupid soppy giant lap dog.

(Sighs)

I have a collie. It wasn't my choice, exh wanted one. However I love him more than anything with the exception of my dcs and some days not even them

My dad is retiring and I regularly come home to find dad has come over and kidnapped the dog for a walk. I've mooted the idea of a different breed when the unthinkable happens but dad says he'll never speak to me again if I don't get another collie

However, he was at least two years old before he calmed down. Even now (at six) he can have puppy madness moments. But he's mostly calm now and is just the most amazing dog