Border collie owners

[UnconsideredTrifles]

We've been given the chance to maybe get a border collie puppy. The sellers are the owners of both parent dogs; I've met both. We met the owners by chance and don't know them at all really, but the dogs were both very chilled and well-behaved around my 3 year old. I got the impression this was the mum's first puppies.

We do want a dog, and with young children a rescue is not currently an option (none of our local ones will consider families with young children, which makes sense to me). We had planned on looking for a breeder in the near future.

I am self-employed and work from home, so there's always someone about. We have a big, safe garden and live rurally; I run every day.

I've done a fair bit of research - I know a collie will need a ton of exercise and will probably outsmart me - but I'd really value insight from people who have breed experience to see whether this is a brilliant opportunity or a terrible idea.

Thank you!

Thanks for the recommendation @PollyRoulson, I will order that now!

@YoBeaches

We are on our second collie, this one a border cross with huntaway. He's 6 months old and we have 2 year old dd. My advice is more around your ability and experience in training a puppy as this is critical. Puppy's can only be exercised for used short amounts for the first year (5 mins walk for every month age, twice a day) to protect their growing limbs so it would be a while before it's running with you. You need to teach commands, house rules, toilet training, barking, nipping and herding ie when to not do it. Not all collies have a strong instinct to do it but many do.

You also need to teach children the same, how to play with pup, not to tease, don't grab the dog, go unexpected behind the dog etc until everyone is comfortable.

I think collies are a fab breed and not sure I would have anything else. We're just getting ours off the lead now, recall is good. We play hide and seek games in the garden with toys etc and have food games too toys he head to work out how to get the food from. They are so smart.

So for me whilst the breed is important to fit with your lifestyle, if a collie is your preference then find out what training classes might exist, agility sessions but think hard on how you would get through that first year particularly. There are loads of good books too you could read up on first.

I would also though recommend a collie cross with lab (now called a Borador) where the labs relaxed approach tends to come through but they are smaller in size and smarter than full labs so great to train. Really great combination for an active family lifestyle.

Our youngest is 1/4 hunt away. She is already close to the size of our oldest and there’s 10 months between them. Her paws are huge as well so I think we are going to have a big dog when she is fully grown. They are both beautiful.

Our two.

You need to have oodles of time for a collie. Even if you've given them a long energetic walk they'll come home and want their brain stimulating. They are not walk in the morning and evening, sleep rest of the day dogs. Lovely as they are.

Love collies- beautiful, intelligent animals.
Had one growing up (my little sis was only 2yrs old) Fantastic dog, marvelous family pet) They tend to attach themselves to one person- my mum in our case.
Have also had two more, when I left home. Loved them, took them everywhere except work. Absolutely heartbroken when they died.
They weren't fond of other dogs- loved each other though and went everywhere together ❤ They were here before the kids and adapted really well and were very protective towards them.
Sorry- digressing.
Collies are hard work though and easily bored as pups.
We now have a labrador; love at first sight for DD and he's been a lot harder to handle than a collie (gorgeous though) 😍

Lots of collies here too (not all at once like @PollyRoulson and only once at the moment)! Also live in the Highlands so they are everywhere and I know collies belonging to friends and family very well too. They are all different characters, but things they have in common:

Herding. Sheep, birds, cats, children, cars. You can (with a massive amount of work) train them to be obedient enough to listen when you command them to not chase, but they still really really want to do it.

Intelligence. Apparently the vocabulary of a 2 year old and the intelligence of a 4 year old. They are cunning and sometimes they manipulate you! This intelligence needs to be exercised, and IMHO this is much more important than physical exercise, though of course a walk will exercise both brain and body. You obviously can't entertain them continually, so you also need to channel their creativity into something like 'creating their own ball games in the garden' rather than 'digging to Australia' or 'shredding the sofa'. Basically they need a job to do. Without sufficient brain use they turn to destruction, fretting, and neurosis...

Relationships with people. They are fiercely pack-orientated. I don't claim to speak for all collies, but I've personally never known one who doesn't know exactly where all the people are on a walk and wants them to stay together. This is good in a way - they are not inclined to running off and disappearing for a day like some breeds. But it may also mean they are determined your children will not be running out in front of you, and will exhibit herding behaviour which your kids may not appreciate!
The other thing is that while some collies turn into family dogs, many are one-man dogs, and may not really be very interested in anyone except their chosen person.

Obedience. Not all it's cracked up to be. They are highly trainable, but no matter how well trained, they still make every decision for themselves; 'do I want to sit and wait on this occasion or is chasing that car worth the telling off I'll get?' They are too clever to be robots, and calculate all choices (you can see it in their eyes)!

I'm not trying to make them out to be bad pets! I love that you can speak in sentences to them. I love that they love to learn new things. I love that they are very affectionate with their chosen humans. I love that they're always on the go and always up for anything.

But I think that you probably shouldn't get one unless you've either grown up with them, or had other trainable dogs before and also have some experience of looking after them/getting to know someone else's. You seem to be thinking along the same lines now yourself, OP, and good on you for asking a question and actually listening to people's answers - you don't see that a lot on MN!! Would you consider getting something else first as practise for a collie next time? And try to get to know someone else's collie meanwhile too? This would be a useful comparison once you've got to know your own dog, assuming you do go for another breed?

Yikes, that was an essay! Sorry!!

In Laws have always had Collies. They live outside and are not allowed in the house. They have all been extremely relaxed and happy dogs. However they were trained to perfection. Taken for 2 hour walk every evening and allowed to explore the garden all day. Shut in a kennel at night.
Their current Collie isn't sociable though. Got on OK with our dog when we stayed for a week but we still had to separate them a lot and let her have her own space and time in the garden alone.

They really are wonderful dogs but they need to be trained to perfection otherwise you'll have issues.

I'd try a more calm breed as a first dog.

We have a sheep dog who is intelligent and easily trainable but also loves sleeping and is happy to be left. He did love herding the kids at first but is much better now at 8 months old. He's more of a gaurd dog then a hearding dog.

Thank you all! I really appreciate the time you've put into this.

@FeistySheep that was really helpful, thank you. I have been hanging around on here long enough not to ignore a unanimous thread, even if it's not the response I'd hoped for (your dogs are beautiful @MagentaRocks, I am very jealous!)