Border Terriers

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Talk to me about border terriers!

My lovely lab died last year at age 12. Me and my husband have both always been 'big dog people' but with two young children we feel a smaller dog would fit in better with our lifestyle. Exercise no issue dog will get two walks a day and I work from home.

Been doing research but would like to hear peoples thoughts here too as feel like I will get very honest views!

Someone described them as a big dog in a wee dogs body .Currently on our 3rd one all have loved kids , people. 1 has been less keen on other dogs but we've worked hard on this and she has improved so much .
All have had good recall especially current one it's quite outstanding even if I say so myself .Comes back to 3 whistles so looks good as well lol.
They have lived with hens cats bearded dragons rabbits gerbils and g pigs and ignored them all as they belonged to us and were part of the gang .
I'm quite sad that they are becoming more popular as that never does a breed much good however so far not many issues.
Enjoy your one

I grew up with labradors, but when I was looking for a first family dog of my own I went for a border (small city garden, primary aged children and so on) and have absolutely no regrets.

He was very calm with children once past the puppy stage; fine off lead - he would chase squirrels but never catch them, and would come back to a whistle pretty promptly; loved long walks but was also a great foot-warmer on the sofa or under my desk.

I am currently dogless after he died aged 13, but may well get another border in due course.

I had 2 to board with me last year for 2 weeks. Male and female, 4 and 6 years old. They were very very sweet with me, but the female, who was the younger, was very needy and licky, any time I didn't keep her away she'd be there trying to lick me. Obviously I made allowances for them being suddenly placed in a different home with their owners disappearing, but the owners said she's always like that. She also peed when I left them for 2 hours, having just had a good walk. The male was very dog reactive, seeing one from 100 yards away he'd start. The owners had said he barks at other dogs, but only on their return did they admit how bad it was. The female would join in with the ferocious barking. I expect a lot of this was down to lack of socialisation and training, but they are my only experience with the breed. They look as cute as buttons, of course! Oh, and relatively strong dog smelling . I suspect they weren't well bred too as the female already had weak hips and a different coat (suspect some poodle in her?). They may be more of a lesson in choosing a good healthy pup and properly socialising and training! But they do smell quite strong!

Have met many reactive ones.

My friend's border/Norfolk terrier mix is the dog that resolved my fear of dogs. He was such a family-oriented friendly and reliable dog that I felt safe around him. He could walk for miles if we wanted, or be happy to play in the garden. Very gentle around children, but to be fair he was well trained and managed from an early age.

Terriers have a very low frustration tolerance so many are frustrated greeters which can easily tip into reactivity and aggression. It is just the way they are. The good news is that if the owner recognises this when it develops as it often does at adolescence then it is relatively easy to overcome when the dog is young with reward based focused training.

Terriers are never really going to be social butterflies as they are lone workers and coupled with low frustration tolerance it can err them towards reactivity but it doesn't have to be the case.

this is Lily my 13 year old Border terrier/ patterdale cross. She is wonderful extremely good with children I have a 6 and 11 year old. and I was a childminder and. She loved the little kids)
she adores people and is very loyal. Yes she is reactive, especially to other terriers. She is very chilled out now she is an old lady. She loves walks and runs and we live near woods so she will play in the steams.

we absolutely adore her, we always thought her reactive temperament was due to the patterdale nature so it’s interesting to hear that pure borders can be prickly to other dogs too.

@lilyborderterrier awwww she’s beautiful, especially with her grey muzzle. I love the older dogs 😍

Hi, I have just come across this post and wondered if you have any puppies available. Thank you.

We looked at Border terriers and then decided on a miniature poodle. Best decision ever, our poodle is amazing.

I have a BT who is now coming up to 5 yrs old. She is the easiest dog we have ever had - she travels well around Europe in our motorhome and nothing phases her, Great with children and most other dogs, v good recall and no real chewing as a puppy - was very bitey at that stage though like most pups. Loves people and was devastated when our big reno project ended and we no longer had trades in the house

We have a 4 year old female BT

I know I'm biased but she's a wonderful dog. I've had dogs all my life and would definitely get another BT.

Pro's
Happiest dog ever
Great with kids. Has never shown an ounce of aggression towards people
Healthy
Will walk up a mountain with you, or is equally happy snoozing in the sun
Will play with the kids all day
Easy coat to maintain, we hand strip ours every 4/6 months
No need to bath unless the roll in something smelly (which ours does regularly)
Easily trained as she's very food driven
Very intelligent dogs (can sometime be a con)

Cons
You'll never have a lovely garden. They like to dig
Very prey driven so some aren't great at recall (we keep ours on a long lead when out)
They can be barky - ours isn't
Socialise at an early age as they can be reactive towards other dogs - again area isn't but we also have two other dogs at home
Very food driven, we have to weigh her food out otherwise she'll start to put weight on
Escape artists so make sure you have a good secure garden