Border Collies-are they ever fully happy to be 'just' pets Questions

Something that has always interested me is whether Border Collies ever do make good pets, and I mean just pets..nothing like agility, flyball, herding work etc.
I've known a few over the years that are just family pets, getting three good walks a day..and are happy as larry, not destructive as people tend to say they would be. Infact one of my best friends has a BC bitch 'Paige' who is very much a beloved pet, living in the heart of the city, not worked in anyway..but gets normal exercise and is very content in her life..and I'm aware theres a fair few pet BC's on here.
So my question, can a border collie ever be happy with the average pet life?

Hey Luke,

Well I definitely think they can be 100% happy as just pets. They do need both physical and mental stimulation. Not necessarily agility or flyball but you have to occupy their minds. Cassie is a pet and nothing but a pet. She gets about 3 hours physical exercise a day either on the beach or at the park. We always make sure that we work on her training in the house and she has tons of toys to keep her occupied.
For example, we just spent 1 1/2 hours on the beach and she is knackered both physically and mentally. She's currently out cold upside down on the bed and will be happy there til about 2:00 when it's time to go again. She'll come back from that walk and go straight back to bed til early evening.
If she wants to play later then we have 'indoor' balls and all her cuddly toys to play with her with. Treat ball full of treats, kongs etc.
All we have to do to tire her out mentally is change the direction we go somewhere, take the long way round etc and it completely knackers her. We find that one of her walks a day is the physical one and the second one is the mental one.
I don't think she could be happier to be honest. You just have to spend the time.

Hmm interesting question Luke. I know of a few people who do not believe collies make good pets - full stop. I personally think it is a little more complex than that.

My collies are first and foremost my pets and companions, however I also train and work them on stock. They are all working-bred, ISDS reg collies - basically bred to work. However, I think if I gave my dogs lots of exercise and mental stimulation through training and play, then they could lead very happy lives as pets.

Having said that, when I watch my dogs working stock they seem to really come alive, they absolutely LOVE it, there is nothing else in the world for them at that moment but working sheep, and that is when I question the ethics of keeping collies as pets without giving them some kind of work.

A lot depends on the individual dog (as not all collies want to work) and also on the individual owner. I have a friend who works long hours, has a demanding son, is a single parent and isn't particularly "doggy" in any event. She chose a farm-bred working collie bitch as a pet!! Completely and utterly the wrong type of dog in my opinion (she should have chosen the stuffed toy variety :-().

So, in conclusion, I agree collies can make good pets but only in the right circumstances, where they are very much part of the family and the family's activities, they get lots of exercise, and even more mental stimulation through training and play.

I would also suggest that people wanting a collie as a pet to look at the show bred lines rather than working lines, as they seem to adapt better to a more sedate pace of life :-D

Very valid points. We have no idea what Cassie's background is as we got her at 6 weeks from a horrible house full of dirty children and smelly dogs. She was riddled with worms and fleas and the most pathetic little thing you'd ever seen.
I grew up around a pet collie that belonged to friends of mine and was well aware of what they needed to be happy.
Luckily OH works from home and Cassie is very rarely left on her own. She has never been destructive, only the normally blips when teething as a pup and if our circumstances ever changed and OH had to work outside of the house, we are confident she would be no problem at all. She would still get the same amount of exercise just earlier in the morning and later in the day.
We had our eyes wide open when we got her though and knew exactly what she needed from us. It's a shame that more people don't do their research first though.

Completely agree!

And she cost us nothing! But has given us so much. I'm ashamed to say we live walking distance to the beach but had never walked on it til we got her

I think it is clear that if the are sufficiently exercised then they can make suitable companions. However, saldy, the vast majority of people do not exercise their dogs sufficiently (this applies too all dogs not just collies) and hence problems arise out of boredom and frustration.
Becky

I think it really depends on the dog and the family, if a family wants just a pet dog I think they are better looking at show lines rather than working lines.
My dogs:- Boomer was a rescue, but he is a lovely pet dog, he has done some agility, but didn't like it that much, he only did it because I asked him to, I just think he was in the wrong home to begin with and could have quite happily just been a pet dog in the right home. Bertie could have lived in a pet home with the right people, he can be quite independant, but with the right family giving him enough excercise and mental stimulation I think he would have been happy. Teagan is always on the go and I really don't think she would have been happy in a pet home only, she is also nervous, so in the wrong hands could have been nervous aggressive. Skye is a very friendly, cuddly dog, but she is always on the go and can get into trouble if not kept occupied, in the right home with enough excercise and mental stimulation I think she would have been happy in a pet home only although she really loves her agility.

I think exercise and mental stimulation are important for all breeds, but perhaps more so for the border collie than any other. As with other breeds, too many pups are bred indiscriminately and there are too many people who buy a collie without researching the breed and really understanding just how active and intelligent this dog is. Breed rescue are always overflowing with collies (particularly farm bred) who have gone to completely unsuitable homes :-(

my previous dog was a colliex lab. she would refuse point blank to go out more than 3 days in a row... she loved her bean bag too much!

She went completely against the grain in that respect. We had a very big back garden (3/4 acre) so used to run round that with her and she would try and herd us and the cat in! but other than that 1hr round the village and she was done
Monday - run to the lead
Tuesday - walk to the lead
Wednesday - drag herself to the lead
Thursday - wouldnt even get up!

I think she was contented but i think we just got a very sedated collie cross!!

I think they can be happy, so long as people know what the breed involves...

Alex
xx

I think your dog must have been more lab than collie!

My ex had a retriever x collie and, to be honest, he wasn't collie like at all - although looked more collie than retriever.

And a family friend had a collie x lab when I was growing up - a fantastic dog, but again, he looked more collie-like, but didn't show many collie behaviours - although was a really energetic dog

I think having a crossbreed dilutes many of the collie traits, and therefore collie x breeds can often make much, much better pets than true working bred collies.

I also meant to say in my first post that I do feel that some collies should never be pets - some of these dogs literally live for work, and to take that away from them just destroys their spirit.

My boyfriend has one such dog. He is a stunning big teddy bear of a dog, but he is not interested in cuddles or strokes, going for walks or treats. All he wants to do is work, work, work :-D

I think if people have a dog like this then they need to work it other wise its just cruel....

Definitely think more lab than collie, certainly wouldn't happen in our house. You could pick the lead up 10 times a day and she'd still go. She'd be dragging her bum, but she'd go LOL

I asked Mo and he said he was happy and that if someone had tried to get him to work he would have been miserable cos life is about watching the tele!

No...seriously, I do believe in the right hands collies can be happy to be pets, Mo is knocking on a bit now but when he was younger we occupied him on a daily basis with training sessions and good long walks. He has never been destructive or nippy, never been anything but a joy to be around. He was from a farm and they were going to train him up, we found him under a pig, but wouldn't leave without him so they let us have him!!!! He's a dream of a dog, but if we hadn't been aware about what the breed involves the story may have been different.
BC's happy as pets??? I really don't know, as they can't tell us, all I can say is that my MO and Gelert, my OH's old BC that was here before him, seem to be incredibly happy and content with their lot in life.

Also, just wanted to add that I would never *suggest* a border collie as a family pet- however, I would be happy to tell someone who had already done some research the pros and cons of the breed

That's being responsible. I also would happily tell people about the pro's and con's of the breed. I would also make sure they knew about our experiences with Cassie.

I have a couple of friends who were looking for a new dog and when they mentioned a border Collie I tried to put them off by saying they need stimulation and need to work or do agility etc and that their instinct is to herd and that most of them don't make good pets Well I am only too pleased to have been proved wrong. They got their little girl Sky who is now coming up on 10 months and she has settled in well and ia a real little sweetie . She came from a farm, but they did do their homework beforehand and she is not destructive and is never left on her own and she has two very long and another longish walk per day, plenty of toys and gets a lot of stimulation at home and has turned out to be a wonderful pet, so again I think it is down to having done your homework and knowing what you are getting before comitting to buy, With the right people being given enough exercise and being stimulated, it does work. These friends though I will add are very doggy minded and both of them keen walkers.

I live surrounded by farmers, and, even before I got Kali (nearly 13 years ago), they were telling me not to get a BC, as they "didna mak guid hoose-dogs". However, my first ever family dog was a BC, and I thought I knew better! It turned out that, in the cases of Kali and Snorri, I was right. They came directly from a farm, Kali has been taught NOT to go near sheep (in case he was accused of doing anything naughty, not because he showed any interest) : Snorri is scared silly of anything that moves under its own propulsion, and would never have made a true worker (in fact, I suspect that, had he gone to a farm, he'd have ended up being shot).
Both of them are happy to slob out in their comfy padded beds near the stove.

My Glen was a rescue: we never knew whether he was farm-bred or kennel-bred (we suspected the latter), and, in all his 19 years, he never showed the slightest inclination to do any work. He would walk for miles with me and/or my grandfather, but farm stock left him cold.

Snorri

"Why work, when, with a bit of nose-licking and tail-wagging, you can get everything for nothing?"

Kali Kolsson, quoted by
Snorri