Border Collie Appreciation Thread!!!!

[ShrekDawg]

View attachment 2162177
She just loves the camera. You guys haven't seen the last of her yet.

She’s so freaking cute!!! OMG!!! Share all you want!! She looks so happy!!! Haha

 

[Franklinridgefarms]

I had a Border Collie named Sam he was like my shadow. He didn’t really pick up on working cattle but was always with me while I worked around them. He rode in the truck and tractor with me for hours at a time. I wasn’t married at the time I got him and he was good company. He was very untrusting of others and only accepted my mother and I. When I met at the time my future wife he was up in years and he cautiously accepted her he only growled at her once. He was even in some of our engagement photos. My wife had never had a dog but I think she wanted to have another so we could have pups by Sam. We got a female Blue Heeler named Jip or as we refer to her as “The Jibble” . She was 6 weeks old when we got her and her mother had died so they had raised her litter on bottles. We didn’t let her and Sam together much for a while he wasn’t good with other dogs and neither was she they had a hate/hate relationship but eventually it turned sort of into a less hate thing. Apparently they put aside their goals of being the boss of the other for a few minutes. Jip became pregnant. Unfortunately, Sam took out after a coyote we think and was killed by a car. I really believe he was trying to protect Jip. It was devastating to me it was like loosing a best friend. Jip seems to still miss him. For a while she would lay at the back of the truck bed that I took him in to bury.. Two weeks after he died she had five pups by him all males. We kept 2 Fatboy aka Fats and Brownie. Names not politically correct I know but we were trying to distinguish them from each other and the names unfortunately for Fats stuck.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I had a Border Collie named Sam he was like my shadow. He didn’t really pick up on working cattle but was always with me while I worked around them. He rode in the truck and tractor with me for hours at a time. I wasn’t married at the time I got him and he was good company. He was very untrusting of others and only accepted my mother and I. When I met at the time my future wife he was up in years and he cautiously accepted her he only growled at her once. He was even in some of our engagement photos. My wife had never had a dog but I think she wanted to have another so we could have pups by Sam. We got a female Blue Heeler named Jip or as we refer to her as “The Jibble” . She was 6 weeks old when we got her and her mother had died so they had raised her litter on bottles. We didn’t let her and Sam together much for a while he wasn’t good with other dogs and neither was she they had a hate/hate relationship but eventually it turned sort of into a less hate thing. Apparently they put aside their goals of being the boss of the other for a few minutes. Jip became pregnant. Unfortunately, Sam took out after a coyote we think and was killed by a car. I really believe he was trying to protect Jip. It was devastating to me it was like loosing a best friend. Jip seems to still miss him. For a while she would lay at the back of the truck bed that I took him in to bury.. Two weeks after he died she had five pups by him all males. We kept 2 Fatboy aka Fats and Brownie. Names not politically correct I know but we were trying to distinguish them from each other and the names unfortunately for Fats stuck.View attachment 2162547View attachment 2162548View attachment 2162551

I’m so sorry about Sam!!

His pups are beautiful though as is the girl

 

[ShrekDawg]

Anybody else???

 

[littledog]

This is my border collie/blue heeler mix. We got him from the friend of a relative at 10 weeks old - the person was taking really bad care of him. No training, locked in a room too often, fed crap, no vet care.

The day we took him home, he threw up a whole TV-dinner lasagne in the car, and had a horrible case of tapeworms. After getting him vet care and a healthy diet, he was the easiest pup to house train I've ever had. All it took was about two weeks of keeping track of his potty schedule, taking him outside and praising him. He understood right away to not go potty inside, and there were only two or three accidents total before he always pottied outside.

But, we didn't realize exactly what it was he understood - one time when he was about 3 months old, we took him hiking for the day and he really enjoyed the trails. That evening when we got home, he went into the yard and with a big sigh of relief, and let loose a racehorse-level of pee. We finally understood, he thought he was only supposed to potty in our yard! Not anywhere else, even if it was outside!
He understood when we said "go pee" he'd heard this in the yard so it didn't take long to teach him other outside places were OK.

We took him to obedience training, and he passed (barely) his Canine Good Citizen test, but he was basically the class clown. He was mostly all about socializing with the other pups, barking when the instructor was trying to talk, winding the leash around my legs with a big snarky-tongued, waggy smile. It seem like he was ignoring all the instruction, but as soon as the class ended he would do all the exercises exactly. He was like the brilliant kid who is bored with school and acts up in class, but can do the assignments flawlessly when he chooses to.

He grew up when he about 2 years old, when we took him on a hike down by a shallow but fast-moving river. There were small stony islets, interspersed with deep channels, and he decided to chase the birds. He ignored us calling him to come - suddenly, he leapt for a bird and ended up in deep, fast-moving water. The look on his face was priceless when he realized no matter how hard he paddled, the river was going to take him someplace he didn't want to go. We grabbed his harness and pulled him out, and he looked proud, like he'd won something. But he never ignored us calling him to come, ever again, until he lost his hearing.

He was about 4 when we moved to our current property, with a couple acres. My hope was to take him to agility classes, he would have enjoyed that but his knees couldn't hold up, thanks to backyard breeding. He's been happy exploring the fields, going for runs and bike rides with us along our local trail, herding the chickens - he understands that certain animals he should protect (the chickens) other animals he should ignore (wild rabbits) and other animals are fair game (squirrels, he's never caught any but loves to chase, and rats that he's occasionally caught)

He's now 14 years old, and he's had congestive heart failure for the past year. He's been on medication for it, which has kept it under control, but we recently found out he has cancer.
We decided to not subject him to cancer surgery - with his heart issues he might not survive anaesthetic, and why put him through an invasive procedure that would make the time he has left more limited and painful than enjoyable - so we're going to just keep him as happy and comfortable as possible, until he lets us know when he's not happy or comfortable any more. At which time we'll say goodbye.

For now, he still loves walks, eating his meals, going outside, sniffing everything in the field, teasing the rooster, chasing squirrels, barking at people and dogs on the trail.

Sorry this is so long, and not really in tune with the rest of this thread. But my boy was, and still is such a lovely, funny, and wonderful dog.

 

[The Happster]

Not at all, he's lovely, and it's so nice you took him in when he needed you. 14 years old is pretty good!

 

[ShrekDawg]

This is my border collie/blue heeler mix. We got him from the friend of a relative at 10 weeks old - the person was taking really bad care of him. No training, locked in a room too often, fed crap, no vet care.

The day we took him home, he threw up a whole TV-dinner lasagne in the car, and had a horrible case of tapeworms. After getting him vet care and a healthy diet, he was the easiest pup to house train I've ever had. All it took was about two weeks of keeping track of his potty schedule, taking him outside and praising him. He understood right away to not go potty inside, and there were only two or three accidents total before he always pottied outside.

But, we didn't realize exactly what it was he understood - one time when he was about 3 months old, we took him hiking for the day and he really enjoyed the trails. That evening when we got home, he went into the yard and with a big sigh of relief, and let loose a racehorse-level of pee. We finally understood, he thought he was only supposed to potty in our yard! Not anywhere else, even if it was outside!
He understood when we said "go pee" he'd heard this in the yard so it didn't take long to teach him other outside places were OK.

We took him to obedience training, and he passed (barely) his Canine Good Citizen test, but he was basically the class clown. He was mostly all about socializing with the other pups, barking when the instructor was trying to talk, winding the leash around my legs with a big snarky-tongued, waggy smile. It seem like he was ignoring all the instruction, but as soon as the class ended he would do all the exercises exactly. He was like the brilliant kid who is bored with school and acts up in class, but can do the assignments flawlessly when he chooses to.

He grew up when he about 2 years old, when we took him on a hike down by a shallow but fast-moving river. There were small stony islets, interspersed with deep channels, and he decided to chase the birds. He ignored us calling him to come - suddenly, he leapt for a bird and ended up in deep, fast-moving water. The look on his face was priceless when he realized no matter how hard he paddled, the river was going to take him someplace he didn't want to go. We grabbed his harness and pulled him out, and he looked proud, like he'd won something. But he never ignored us calling him to come, ever again, until he lost his hearing.

He was about 4 when we moved to our current property, with a couple acres. My hope was to take him to agility classes, he would have enjoyed that but his knees couldn't hold up, thanks to backyard breeding. He's been happy exploring the fields, going for runs and bike rides with us along our local trail, herding the chickens - he understands that certain animals he should protect (the chickens) other animals he should ignore (wild rabbits) and other animals are fair game (squirrels, he's never caught any but loves to chase, and rats that he's occasionally caught)

He's now 14 years old, and he's had congestive heart failure for the past year. He's been on medication for it, which has kept it under control, but we recently found out he has cancer.
We decided to not subject him to cancer surgery - with his heart issues he might not survive anaesthetic, and why put him through an invasive procedure that would make the time he has left more limited and painful than enjoyable - so we're going to just keep him as happy and comfortable as possible, until he lets us know when he's not happy or comfortable any more. At which time we'll say goodbye.

For now, he still loves walks, eating his meals, going outside, sniffing everything in the field, teasing the rooster, chasing squirrels, barking at people and dogs on the trail.

Sorry this is so long, and not really in tune with the rest of this thread. But my boy was, and still is such a lovely, funny, and wonderful dog.

Don’t be sorry!!! I loved reading the stories and everything!!! He’s beautiful. I’m sorry about the heart failure and cancer though.

 

[littledog]

Thanks, OneHappyRooster and KDOGG331. This thread started out fairly lighthearted, so I was worried that discussing my boy's end-of-life issues might be a downer.

I'm sad of course, but these decisions are a necessary part of dog-loving life, part of our responsibility to them. For the immediate future though, he's happy and not in pain. We're monitoring his quality of life to make sure we choose the right time to say goodbye so we don't cut his life too short, but also make sure he never suffers.

I'm glad you enjoyed his stories! He has many more, like the first time he tried to herd horses (the horses were amused! )one time we fitted him with a GoPro on a hiking trail (hilarious to see where he went, but motion-sickness-inducing to watch) the time we took him to a high-altitude lake and he saw marmots for the first time.
Lots of other funny stories- I guess he's had an interesting and adventurous life, which might be the best life a herding dog with bad knees could have.

 

[Hardknockshomestead]

This is our first border collie. He's half australian cattle dog, half border collie. We rescued him from a shelter in our state (WI), that rescued him from a shelter in Oklahoma, that had gotten him from a shelter in Texas. Each time he was moved, his time had been running out. His name was Bailey when he was rescued by our local Wisconsin shelter (Humane Society), and they changed his name to "Baylor".
When we went to meet him, I took one look at him and knew he had to come home with us, and I knew his forever name would be "Banjo".

Banjo is the smartest dog I've ever had. He's funny, sensitive, and lovable.

I can't seem to teach him to stop trying to get my chickens though!

 

[ShrekDawg]

This is our first border collie. He's half australian cattle dog, half border collie. We rescued him from a shelter in our state (WI), that rescued him from a shelter in Oklahoma, that had gotten him from a shelter in Texas. Each time he was moved, his time had been running out. His name was Bailey when he was rescued by our local Wisconsin shelter (Humane Society), and they changed his name to "Baylor".
When we went to meet him, I took one look at him and knew he had to come home with us, and I knew his forever name would be "Banjo".

Banjo is the smartest dog I've ever had. He's funny, sensitive, and lovable.

I can't seem to teach him to stop trying to get my chickens though!

Awwww he sounds amazing!!! Very handsome!!! Glad he found you.