[Karebru]

The neighbors have a female Border Collie that runs free on our street. Everyone knows Sassy. She loves to play fetch. You will see her waiting at anyone’s front door, hoping someone will come out and throw something for her to retrieve. She really is a very nice dog. When she comes around, we let her in our fenced in yard to play with Sadie. They have a great time, and Sadie gets her exercise. When it’s time to go, we say, “Sassy, go home.” and she goes right to the gate to be let out.
The other day, Sassy brought along a male Border Collie, so we let him in to play too. I’ve seen him in their yard ever since.
Are they getting ready to breed her? (I don’t even know if she’s been spayed.)
...Two very handsome dogs. ... Sadie would sure enjoy a full time companion. ...I’m going to have to ask!

 

[MamaLeigh]

would love to have a Border Collie someday. A friend of mine has one and he is super sweet and obedient. And, he's one of the smartest dogs I've seen.

 

[Murphys Dad]

There is a difference between SMART and EASILY TRAINABLE. Beagles are smart, that what makes them hard to train. Border Collies are easily trained, but does that make them smart or just easily controlled?

A psychologist once did a study on the smartness of dog breeds. Border Collies came in the smartest, Beagles came in way down the list. His main criteria: Ease of being trained. What an idiot.

Which takes more brains, being an independent thinker (beagles) or doing everything you are told (Border Collies).

 

[jtward01]

The dog IQ test I read about used a series of puzzles and challenges to see how well the different breeds ranked. Ten dogs of each breed were tested. The border collie ranked the smartest, followed by german shepherds and standard poodles. Beagles were in the top ten.

We had a border collie for 16 years. She was perfectly controllable with voice commands and sometimes it was amazing what she could understand.

One night we had guests and Muffin kept trying to get them to pay attention to her and she was becoming a bit of a pest. As a joke I told her "Muffin, go to your room." I had never told her to do that before, or trained her to do it in anyway. She lowered her head and tail and slowly walked into the bedroom and laid down on the floor just inside the door. She would not come out until I gave her permission. After that if she was acting up all I had to say was "Muffin, do you want to go to your room?" and she would settle right down and behave.

As much as I love Suzi, and beagles in general, I've got to admit that Muffin was the best dog I've ever known. We lost her eight years ago to a heart attack.

 

[BeagsMom]

We have a border collie. I adopted him from a friend who couldn't keep him and he was probably about 5 years old then. I don't know about training from puppyhood, but I can tell you he is smart as a whip, eager to do as he is told, and a problem solver deluxe. (Well, not as good a problem solver as Paddy but pretty close.)

Borders need tasks, responsibilities. It doesn't matter if it's rounding up all the dog toys, herding squirrels, or excelling in agility. For their emotional wellbeing BCs need purpose. It's in their nature. Get that squared away and you'll have a marvelous, devoted companion.

 

[DreamOfGlass]

I don't really appreciate easy to train pets, always associated them with obsequious and oily behaviour. Beagles are so much more honest /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif They do only what they want to do, and I love it!! :biglaugh: Everyone speaks in glowing terms of Border Collies though, but I never met one. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

 

[BeagleBabe]

I don't know anything about border collies but I wanted to pop in to say I love the quote in your signature! :hi:

 

[willowbeagle]

We've got 3 border collies on our books as we run a dog walking business. They are extremely obedient and always come the first time ....unlike a Beagle that is ....a beagle comes when it wants to and only when it feels like it.

Beagles have a kind of substance, depth & humour to them that Ive not experienced in any other breed...and we love em.... /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

Angela

 

[Karebru]

Yeah, that’s how Sassy is... “Please, please, PLEASE throw this pinecone for me to go get. I need SOMETHING to do!!!” :bounce: :bounce:

We took Beagle Sadie to obedience classes last year. The instructor trains for competition. Very strict. All the while I was thinking, “I want her to listen to me once in a while. I don’t want a robot.” (As if I needed to worry about that happening. ) All the instructor’s dogs were Border Collies.

I haven’t been down to ask yet, but I think the female is locked up now, and I hear the male barking.
Sure looks to me like there’s a litter of puppies in the works.

 

[DodGy]

Lucky you, I saw a beagle X border collie and this mix makes beautiful dogs. If I was not that far away from Florida I would reserve one from you right away !

 

[angelaH]

When our friends heard we were taking on beagles again, they said we should take something easier, like a border collie. We love the beagle character and nobody can turn round and say they are boring! A lot of work, yes, but once a beagle owner, always a beagle owner.

 

[BookerMoose]

Quote:Originally posted by Murphy's Dad:
A psychologist once did a study on the smartness of dog breeds. Border Collies came in the smartest, Beagles came in way down the list. His main criteria: Ease of being trained. What an idiot.

That psychologist (Stanley Coren) is actually from here in Vancouver and we met him at Christmas at a book signing - he had cookies so the dogs loved him! I understand that he has acknowledged that "intelligence" can be measured in several different ways, but that the one he focused on for that study was trainability because most people view that as the most important trait in that regard. And he actually has a beagle - so he can't be a complete idiot!

 

[Jennifer]

It's actually a misconception that Border Collies are easy to train. They are only easy in the right hands, in the wrong hands they can become a real nuisance, aggressive, destructive etc. Because of their high intelligence they can be very manipulative, dominant and ultra sensitive making training hard at times. Most Border Collies are obsessed with stalking and chasing anything that moves and need the correct training to channel this. Many breeds with no or the wrong training just become an untrained dog but a BC with no/wrong training is a liability. They are extremely intelligent dogs and not only have great problem solving abilities also have the ability to question everything. They also need a tremendous amount of both physical and mental stimulation which the average owner isn't able to give. Our rescue homes here in the UK have a large number of Borders and cross Borders looking for homes for this very reason. Most people just aren't able to give this breed with such a superior intellect the adequate training and stimulation it needs.