BC People...

[Lizmo]

Originally Posted by SaraB

Working bred/sport bred is the same level in my opinion. A conformation bred would be different.

Mkay, gotcha! *nods*

[Paige]

I wonder if I classify as a owner with BC experience? Considering Bandit is the mellowest Border Collie alive. I don't think every BC has his kind of off switch and he is very Border Collie in a lot of ways... but he brings a whole new meaning to the world off switch. Coming into my house if it wasnt fora ll the dog hair you wouldn't even know I had one he is so quiet and to himself.

[~Tucker&Me~]

Originally Posted by Paige

I wonder if I classify as a owner with BC experience? Considering Bandit is the mellowest Border Collie alive. I don't think every BC has his kind of off switch and he is very Border Collie in a lot of ways... but he brings a whole new meaning to the world off switch. Coming into my house if it wasnt fora ll the dog hair you wouldn't even know I had one he is so quiet and to himself.

Spy is similar actually. Admittedly, he goes to the door when people arrive but for the most part he sleeps in the shoe closet lol. If he didn't go to the door, people wouldn't know we had a dog either.

[Paige]

Maybe our BCs just aren't as IN YOUR FACE as a lot of them are?

[elegy]

Originally Posted by Lizmo

Call me dumb, but I don't understand how working-bred is a 'whole other level of dog'?

Just as a quick reference that came to mind, Elegy's Steve is sport-bred. Blaze is working-bred. I, personally, since the day these two came to the forum as pups, don't see that much difference between the two dogs in terms of physical and mental exercise needs? Elegy, maybe you do? They're both smart, young, active Border Collies.

I don't either. And I don't see Steve as being particularly different from other high energy dogs other than I find it way easier to exercise him than I did Luce because he's so toy/game oriented. And he's so handler-oriented. I can't imagine owning, say, a Weim or a GSP. But a Border Collie? Oh sure he's aggravating and exasperating sometimes, but mostly he's a very good dog.

[Southpaw]

Originally Posted by RD

They have to learn at a young age how to deal with boredom, and I KNOW Southpaw knows all about this with Juno!

omg YES I know it too well lol. My genius idea to exercise the puppy 24/7 = worst idea ever.
Luckily I realized the mistake, and realized it pretty early on... so we've mostly been able to fix it.
So, I definitely now know what NOT to do

[vandog]

They look like a nice, working kennel. I don't agree so much with their theory that no-one without experience can get a dog, we all have to start somewhere, but to each their own in that regard.
When I initially applied for a BC, I made it clear that I had never owned one myself, but I had spent a lot of time working with them on ranches, seeing them at trials, tourneys, ect. That seems to have helped shape their impression that I was worthy of one of their dogs.
_ _ _ _ _
I grew up in the Midwest, with working BC that herd cattle, sheep, ect as part of their daily lives. These dogs had an entirely different energy to me than the sports bred dogs that I'm often around in the Flyball circles. I co-own a conformation bred BC (long story), and he is so soft, he belongs as a couch potato as soon as he is finished.