Border Collie vs. Australian Shepherd vs. English Shepherd

[stafinois]

What are the big differences between the three? All are on my short list of future maybes.

[stafinois]

As I'm browsing, I found an English Shepherd breeder that health tests about 20 minutes from my house. I'm shocked and impressed and wanting to meet these people. It looks like their dogs are good farm dogs as they should be out here on the prairie in the middle of nowhere.

http://www.cedarcreekenglishshepherds.com

[colliewog]

In my experience the ES is the calmest of the three and more 'sensitive' (not in a bad way).

[Lizmo]

Aussie - bouncy.

Border Collies - stalky.

LOL, that's about the extend of my experience. I've only been around one or two Aussies. No ES. But I can tell you about Border Collies!

[stafinois]

Cool. That would be good for my husband!

I've not heard back from the local breeder, but they are farmers and it's harvest time. The way the farmers are scrambling around right now I might not hear back for another month.

Yeah, there aren't any titles on the dogs, but they are health tested and it looks like being used for their intended purpose. I'm hoping to get the chance to go check them out. It would be convenient being that they are only about 20 minutes from here.

[colliewog]

I don't worry about titles if you can see the dogs working ... an ES on a farm, doing the all 'round dog thing (gathering, guarding, etc.) is more impressive to me than a herding trial dog.

[Lizmo]

^ exactly. In herding dogs, IMO it's better to look past titles and see what happens in every day farm work.

[SizzleDog]

My mom grew up with GSD/Collie mixes, and in a roundabout way I grew up with a GSD/Collie mix (my neighbor had one and I spent every day with that dog) - funny thing is, they ALL look like sable English Shepherds.... and from the looks of things, they had similar temperaments to English Shepherds as well.

Now I want an English Shepherd... darn you people!

[stafinois]

One of the websites said that THIS is the dog that would let you know that Timmy fell in the well. That might come in handy, because Harry is the dog that would knock Timmy into the well.

[corgipower]

Originally Posted by stafinois

One of the websites said that THIS is the dog that would let you know that Timmy fell in the well. That might come in handy, because Harry is the dog that would knock Timmy into the well.