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Comment by Judgmentality | Hacker News Reader

I've always wanted a border collie, but until I live on a farm or have a large house with a family I just can't justify getting one. They require a lot more stimulation than most dogs.

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Having owned a border collie I can say they are (in general) not the best dogs to have around young kids. They tend to want to heard the little ones and may sometimes nip at ankles if order is not maintained. To an extent this behavior can be influenced by how much work the dog is getting, Genetics too - believe it or not some have a greatly reduced herding instinct. Also, a farm is not essential but daily work/activity is - flyball/Frisbee agility etc work well to.

I was in Scotland in the 90's driving around in the north looking at castles. I saw a really interesting one on a farm, so I drove past the gate and stopped, to find someone to ask if it was OK if I drove to the castle (ruins of one, actually). They were fine with it. On the way out, their Border Collie stopped us just before the gate and ran circles around us. You see, we were in a very small, white car. Perhaps we looked like a cow. My passenger got out and distracted the dog while I drove through the gate.

My wife grew up with a border collie. Her grandparents kept chickens, fluffy white chickens, and to the dog they were tiny sheep. So the dog spent hours herding the chickens, kept them in a group. Of course chickens are not sheep so they would bolt as soon as there was an opening, so the poor dog couldn't rest for a second. After several hours they literally had to drag him inside so he wouldn't die of exhaustion.

Crazy smart dog, allegedly he would escape their fence and go hitch hiking along the highway. They didn't know where he was escaping to until a friend told them she saw him on the road and he jumped in her car.

I agree and disagree, they are perfect around young kids. We got ours 2 years ago when my kids were 5, 3 and 3. She did want to nip at their heels and herd them, for about a week, she trained out of this so easily it was ridiculous. And she had a herding instinct, her parents were working sheepdogs and she was the last of her littermates to be collected, most were gone at 8 weeks, we collected her at 12 weeks, so there were times she was out with her parents. She still wants to run after a diesel engine (the tractors on the farm were diesel) as a result of this. She is amazing with children, she listens to and obeys commands, protective without being aggressive, loves attention, playing and cuddles. You are right that they need stimulation and exercise but so does every dog. We used to have a husky and they didnt need the same level of stimulation but they needed twice (or more) the exercise a collie does.

I grew up with a Shetland Sheepdog, and my parents still have one now. They're smart herding dogs, but much smaller than a Border Collie, and they're fine with less space.

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