Border Collie vs. Australian Shepherd vs. English Shepherd

[Lizmo]

Holeeee. Messsss. It's squishy border collie! -erm, I mean ES!

[mrose_s]

ARGH! SHe's too cute. Great name btw. Get ready for everyone to think she's a boy because of it. lol

Whats that colour called?

[Sit Stay]

Thank you! I really can't say enough about her or her breeder - she's so confident and social, she's had an awseome start.

Lizmo - LOL, I'm expecting for her to get called a BC a lot! We've already been asked if she's a Sheltie, I should keep a tally of everything we get.

Mrose - She's a clear sable - I prefer shaded sables but she was our second choice and after we met her it was clear she was the best fit for our family. She's more red like her dam, but she had a littermate who was a blonde blonde blonde clear sable.

[stafinois]

Originally Posted by Sit Stay

Thank you! I really can't say enough about her or her breeder - she's so confident and social, she's had an awseome start.

Lizmo - LOL, I'm expecting for her to get called a BC a lot! We've already been asked if she's a Sheltie, I should keep a tally of everything we get.

Mrose - She's a clear sable - I prefer shaded sables but she was our second choice and after we met her it was clear she was the best fit for our family. She's more red like her dam, but she had a littermate who was a blonde blonde blonde clear sable.

Do you have pictures of her parents?

I suspect that the "clear sables" in English Shepherds are ee yellow/red rather than sables.

bordercolliecolors.ee

[Sit Stay]

Staf - I'm sure you're right, that certainly looks like her colour. I suppose "clear sable" is just an ES term that isn't very technical. (:

I'll message you pictures of her parents. I hope this doesn't sound weird, I've just been on some pretty nasty forums where undeserving people have been raked over the coals, and I have a lot of respect and appreciation for her breeder! This forum seems super reasonable and friendly but I suppose it's just habit now to PM vs. post in public.

[mrose_s]

Could you PM the parents pics to me aswell?
Just because I am interested in English Shepherds and I would love to see a couple of pics of well bred adults.

[oakash]

Same here too, if you don't mind

[RD]

English Shepherds are the most "normal" out of the three breeds, in my limited experience. Not as quirky as BCs or Aussies, not as bouncy/barky as Aussies and not as stalky/creepy as BCs.

I love all three breeds, and if I ever have enough space for more than a couple dogs at a time, I'd gladly take one of each!

[Sit Stay]

^ I completely agree!

[ES Happiness]

I was curious what folks were saying was the difference between Border Collie's and English Shepherds and came across this website.

I have a 2-year old English Shepherd named Paddy Bear. He's black and white with irish white markings although, in the right light, he is really a phantom tri.

I owned Aussies for years, had three and one litter. I felt they were brilliant, alert, easily trained dogs. However, when I first got Aussies, they were relatively unknown.

Now...I see them everywhere.

I lost my last Aussie, Annie Fannie, two years ago and decided I wanted a rare breed as to tap into a long life, good health and pure personality. Knowing the herding dogs were highly intelligent, the English Shepherd made the most sense. Herding breed and relatively rare.

I had to search long and hard to find a breeder and even then, had to get on a waiting list. When the litter was born, I had thought I would want a female but this little boy caught my eye and I"ve been in love ever since.

As to the personalities, the ES is very similar to the Aussie, but I have noticed one difference. While my Aussies were easily trainable and watchful over the current situation, my ES takes this to a new level.

He will rush to stand in front of me and actually try to talk. He'll move his lips and make vocalizations as close to words as a dog can and literally shake, "Timmy's in the Well! Timmy's in the well!"
I'll say, "Show me!" and off we go.

He'll take me to whatever needs my attention. The first time he took me to an unlocked front door, I thought, surely I'm imagining this. Then he did it the next night. He got my husband out of bed to show him a dining room light that wasn't fully turned off and he got me to hurriedly see a pan I had forgot about, cooking on the stove.

The first time or two, you dismiss this sort of thing, but we soon realized this dog was taking notes of every ritual, every habit we had. If anything gets out of sorts, out of order, he notices.

If I feed him before our other dog, he'll sit down and not eat until I correct my mistake. Every detail is noted, every tiny thing.

We don't have a farm so he assigned himself guarded of the yard, security detail against all evil vermin. Last summer, he decided he had night duty and asked to go out....every 90 minutes for 6 weeks in a row.
I went to the dollar store and bought 8 stuffed babies. He took each one, placed it on his bed. That night, he was content with his herd and didn't ask to go out even once...and had even lined them all up in a straight row during the night.

Is this weird? Yes, a little. Oh...and he can read about 6 words from cue cards. I'm still trying to figure out how to tap into this and have him alert me when I am about to ingest that one calorie tipping me over my daily limit.