Bordoodle

[Spaceman1]

I've just completed a questionnaire that recommends that a Bordoodle is the best dog for me. This is a cross between a border collie and a poodle. As they are quite rare I would love to know of anyone who has one and who knows of a reputable breeder.

@Ellmau the problem with poodles is that they bark a lot.

@WeeMadArthur

I would never have a pure breed Collie either, I don’t want a dog that’s more intelligent than me!

I am tempted to give my border collie a topiary haircut and dye her pink now

A friend had a collie cross dachshund of all things. She was the highest energy dog you could possibly imagine. Luckily he lived on a farm but given the chance her favourite game was to run behind visitors vehicles on the farm roads and she's happily go 30km in a day.
Was also hugely intelligent and confident. She had a lovely life where she was but with an inexperienced owner in a city with no time for walks it would have been a very different picture.

A couple of walks every day, totaling around 45 minutes, should do the trick to keep the dog happy and healthy.

That's nonsense. We have owned 5 border collie crosses and they all needed HUGE amounts of excercise . They will happily run 10 miles over very rough steep terrain, ( that's why collies are the breed of choice for hill shepherds) so their human owner is going to be walking fast at least two hours every day in all weathers. Then a couple of hours after they get home, the dog will be raring to go again.

Collies (and poodles) are highly intelligent active dogs and if they are bored, restless and frustrated they are very apt to develop neurotic behaviours .

In any cross breed, there's no guarantee which parents genes prevail. so the stuff about "no shedding coat" is sheer fantasy. Collies active adventurous outdoor dogs , a magnet for mud, sticks, grassheads and ticks, fond of rolling in stinky stuff, so they need regular brushing (and washing).

Just because they can run for miles doesn't mean they have to or indeed want to. Some dog owners inadvertently turn their dogs into the equivalent of highly trained athletes but this doesn't necessarily mean they are happy. Equally, if all they know is a more sedate lifestyle (2 x 30 minutes walk a day) who is to say they wouldn't be happy with that too? Surely they would adjust?

Surely they would adjust?

A collie or collie cross? Unlikely. But you seem to be trying to talk yourself into why it's okay for you to get this particular crossbreed and unfortunately plenty of unscrupulous breeders who will make that happen for you.

And in my example above, that dog ran for miles and hours exactly because she wanted to. No-one was forcing her to run behind a vehicle, she could have stopped and moseyed back to the farmhouse whenever she wanted. But this was her great treat.

so the stuff about "no shedding coat" is sheer fantasy. Collies active adventurous outdoor dogs , a magnet for mud, sticks, grassheads and ticks, fond of rolling in stinky stuff, so they need regular brushing (and washing)
I have a collie and she and all the other collies I know have wonderfully easy coats!
Much better than a poodle.
They do shed granted but they are such easy care.
Any mud just falls out once dry, barely needs brushing and certainly doesn’t get sticks or anything stuck in it. Apart from round her ears on mine, the fur is very fine and fluffy there.
But nowhere else.

That may not be the same for show lines mind with that stupidly thick coat.
But in my experience the working collie coat is very low maintenance indeed.

I wouldn’t cock it up by crossing it with a poodle, I imagine the resultant dogs coat will be a nightmare.

@spaceman1

Just because they can run for miles doesn't mean they have to or indeed want to. Some dog owners inadvertently turn their dogs into the equivalent of highly trained athletes but this doesn't necessarily mean they are happy. Equally, if all they know is a more sedate lifestyle (2 x 30 minutes walk a day) who is to say they wouldn't be happy with that too? Surely they would adjust?

You're right in that tons of physical exercise will just make your dog very fit, but equally you can't expect a dog bred to work all day and to run for miles to just "adjust" to a life of short walks.

In reality what will happen is you'll end up with a dog that is hugely under-exercised and under-stimulated and that shows it's frustration via poor behaviour - barking, destruction, toileting in the house, poor behaviour on walks as it's just so excited to be out that it's giddy.

An under-exercised and under-stimulated collie is not going to be happy. Likewise don't get a husky if you can't run it, and don't get a beagle if you're not prepared to let it use its nose.

If you want a dog that's happy with two short walks a day then get a dog that's bred for it. Most of the small companion breeds would be just fine with two half an hour walks a day.

Get the breed that fits your lifestyle, don't try and change your dog to fit your lifestyle.

Yes why not get a shih tzu or something?

Or a rough collie or sheltie which need a fair bit of exercise but aren't nearly as frantic.

@spaceman1

It's so risky with a rescue dog you don't know what the temperament is likely to be.

A dog from a reputable rescue IN THE UK , will have been very carefully assessed by the experienced staff, for character, temperament, how it gets on with other dogs, etc. Very often the rescue will have foster carers who take in awkward dog s for a while, to get a better picture of their needs and problems.

Then the rescue charity will assess potential owners to find out their lifestyle, activity level, experience of dogs etc and match a suitable dog to suitable home. With a proviso that if the new owners have second thoughts they can return the dog.

Better rescues run a good website to showcase available dogs, advise what their individual characters/needs are, suggest the kind if home will best suit. Try RSPCA , or Battersea dogs home websites, for examples of good rehoming preparation.

@Spaceman1

If it really is like that then this website is very misleading.

Yes, it is. Its also American.

If you're in the UK you'd be better looking at the RSPCA dog adoption website

Just because they can run for miles doesn't mean they have to or indeed want to.

Good luck telling that to a dog with border collie in it.

Any collie cross I have ever met has been awful - sly, nervous agressive. Why would you waste a poodles qualities with this cross? Get a mutt/ rescue/ labradoodle.

The cross is so open to being any kind of temprament - depends if you cross a working collie with a show poodle etc. I would give it a miss..

If you have never had a dog before I highly recommend fostering a dog with some support - that way you can see if the fit is there, how the impact is and maybe you might like the foster.

Odd. All the best mutts I have known have been collie crosses. 🤷‍♀️ Delightful personalities, every one.

Perhaps there are collie mutt people and labradoodle people and never the twain shall meet.

Any collie cross I have ever met has been awful - sly, nervous agressive. Why would you waste a poodles qualities with this cross? Get a mutt/ rescue/ labradoodle
Interesting.
The collies and collie crosses I meet are all absolutely lovely with people.
Some of them are reactive to other dogs though a) I have yet to see a collie that will actually go the whole hog and bite another dog, they tend to just be quite anti social and warn other dogs off ime and b) most of the herding breeds are known to not be particularly dog social at maturity.

Its true that some of them are quite nervous and that is a common problem with most of the herding breeds, not just collies.
Poodles actually are also prone to nervousness and being high strung.
Very high energy too.

Maybe I’m just being a bit sensitive seeing as I have one but tbh, I think it’s a bit rich to state ‘why waste a poodle qualities with this cross’ when you yourself have a breed with a far worse reputation than a collie and being a fellow herding dog shares much of the same traits...