Branched from 'Huskies - Can you let them off the lead'

Hm Off the subject really but not all Border Collies blindly obey commands otherwise in the hills there would be a lot of dead sheep when the dogs are out of sight of the shepherd & these dogs do NOT make good obedience dogs as they are free thinking & problem solvers & generally need very careful handling if they are to be successful in any sphere away from sheep-I do know as I own one hill bred for generations

LOL Moonmaiden, so they take themselves off to work everyday untrained do they, choose which sheep to move where, decide which grazing would be best, open the gates to move the stock...oh yeah and drive the ATV to get up there ;-)

Actually the shepherd who bred my dog has no ATV. no gates on his fields(fields what fields) his sheep live & lamb on the hills & only come to the farm for collection & covering for the next crop of lambs & shearing They do not live in fields nor are they confined in the areas they graze in. He owns very little land & does not have enough room to have his sheep close to the farm. He actually walks miles to his sheep & stays in the "shepherds"huts when he goes up to his sheep.

Sometimes Hill bred BC's do take themselves off to work, one of the shepherd(who bred my dog)dogs disappeared for four days in a blizzard & was found with 20 ewes he had gathered together & held up away from a dangerous 100 foot drop. He did nt bother opening & shutting the gates far too stupid for that he went over the walls & he was 11 months old & totally untrained at the time. He is not on his own amougst Hill bred dogs

So these Spitz go off on their own pulling rigs etc for the fun of of it all self taught of course & never need to be taught anything, funny my friends who have Mals & compete with them spend months training them obviously they are doing all wrong, they should just leave the rig & harnesses with the dogs & let them get on with it. I learn something new everyday

my friends working collie,takes himself off to wait by the barn if the sheep are in! & who has seen "a year in the life of a working sheepdog",when that bitch (cant remeber her name) leaves/escapes her newborn puppies to work!

my friend roy is a expert on blood lines & working collies,& also does sheep dog training, a sheepdog bred dog will work with very little training,& most show bred/obedience bred dogs will work given the freedom & confidence too. ive seen this in my nellie,who he let me try on his sheep,shes show bred inc NZ show lines & it was all instinct!

my boy flynn is obedience bred & easy to train! this does not make him stupid just because he wants to please me!

collies are very clever at being collies,not much use at being spaniels or terriers.

Rats are very clever at being rats,& doing ratty things, pigs are stupid at doing ratty things but very clever at being pigs!

I know a farm bred BC and he is so bright, and wants to work - but in my view this doesn't make them less intelligent (as in, is a dog daft to work for its owner).

A BC has been bred to want to work with man and so is usually at its happiest when it can be working at what it knows best....nothing daft about knowing what brings happiness and satisfaction into one's life, dog or human ;)

Lindsay
X

hey moon maiden,!!!! i read that they are crossing huskies with collies now,& there is one competitve team that has a team of collies!
& i think weve all seen the  "snow dogs" film????????

nough said!!!

Megan is a border collie from working lines. She is obedient and willing some of the time but she also has an independent streak, more so than my retriever. The collie often wants things on her own terms. I think that most working dogs have to be able to think for themselves as well as obey in some circumstances. Look at the canine partners retriever who saved its disabled owner from a ditch. Despite all its training it ran away from the owner (something it is not allowed to do) and jumped up at someone to get their attention. That shows that the dog can think for its self as well as work for its owner. Huskies are different from other dogs because they closely resemble their wolf ancestry.