that I might find another like her and the people mostly giving negative comments are people who've never had them
I agree but I do also think there is a big problem of nervousness within the breed, which leads to bigger problems, like the noise phobias @PollyRoulson mentioned.
I think part of the problem is when farmers opt to rear the pups like livestock in barns/outhouses with minimal human interaction and exposure to different sights and smells.
I think another issue, as with every other breed, is the indiscriminate breeding for profit where any old bitch and any old dog is put together with no thoughts for temperament.
Diet is a funny one.
It is my opinion that all animals do best on their natural diet so collies therefore, should be raw fed.
But many ‘collie people’ opt for quite poor, high grain, low protein foods.
Mine was reared on workers wagg and the CSJ k9 range of foods by Ceri Rundle, a very famous sheepdog handler are similarly ‘poor’.
Training/brain games.
I think it depends on the dog.
Mine thrives on calm walks and could very happily walk all day.
Any mind games/training has to be in small doses because she can get incredibly agitated and overstimulated very easily.
I do think sometimes that ‘hyper, stressy, unable to switch off’ collies are just overstimulated and given some time to relax and de compress would be a lot easier to handle.
And to answer your question, she came from a sheep farm in Warwickshire, I’m not 100% sure but I don’t think her breeder is breeding anymore.