Mary Allen
Many people see the Border Collie as their dream dog because they are guided solely by their visual impressions. Especially with this collie breed, this can lead to extremely big problems, which always suffer from the dog.
A Border Collie quickly becomes a so-called problem dog – with this dog breed, the dog owner is almost literally held up to a mirror of how he treats the animal like hardly any other dog breed.
Unfortunately, because many completely underestimate these beautiful animals, there is more to read about the problems than the breathtaking abilities of this dog.
Why Border Collies are the way they are
Herding behavior in a dog is nothing more than the wolfish hunting instinct. However, setting and tearing the prey was bred out. Like the wolf, the border collie gives the flock of sheep a wide berth to remain unnoticed.
The dog moves to the other side of the herd where the shepherd is and starts directing the animals to the shepherd.
But the sheep were always alone and had little contact with people. Therefore, an instinct to flee comes into play here. At the same time – because the dog does nothing else than make the sheep flee before they are torn – some sheep see their salvation in attacking or defending against the shepherd dog.
So the Border Collie has to take action and sometimes bite a sheep so that it knows.
Border collies need a job that demands attention
This behavior is characterized by enormous complexity and it was deliberately bred. Now you can read again and again that the Border Collie needs a lot of work. But that is not correct. A Border Collie working as a herding dog is not needed all the time.
There are always weeks or months without work. But herding work is characterized as a demanding job. So Border Collies need demanding work.
Once learned, never forgotten – but really everything!
The dog doesn’t know what a sheep is. However, he knows that he has to fetch it back from his shepherd on his own because it is running away. It could also be the runner in the park, a group of frolicking children, or a pack of dogs. If these ‘sheep’ don’t get herded together, they’ll get bitten.
This often results in serious problems with this dog. In addition, there is another, excellent and first-class property. The Border Collie is exceptionally quick to learn. Repeating it once is often enough for the animal to internalize the process. However, like all animals, Border Collies do not distinguish between good and bad, nor between desirable and undesirable.
If a Border Collie can assert itself with behavior, it will internalize it quickly. If he learns to pull the leash to get to his destination – another dog or the lamppost – he will do so in the future.
If he learns that he does not have to give up something by biting or baring his teeth and can defend it, this dog internalizes the tactic immediately.
A terrific dog for the capable owner
Anyone who is aware of all these special features and knows how to deal with these high demands will not find a better dog. The intelligence of the animal is breathtaking, and the will to work sets an example.
Loyalty, attention, devotion to the utmost, and going far beyond the limit characterize the characteristics of the Border Collie.
A capable owner is characterized by being able to take the dog’s peculiarities into account and provide what it needs. If it is the wrong animal, the Border Collie will eke out a miserable existence in the animal shelter. With hardly any other dog do you have to be as aware of the responsibility as with the Border Collie? Because it also applies to him: the dog accompanies us for part of our lives, but for the dog, we are its whole life.