Quote:well lets not bash border collies now, i've seen some INCREDIBLY independent thinking from them. for example my scottish friend's parents in scotland, farm still and they send out their border collie to heard the sheep......alone. yes alone. and he has to resolve problems as they arise while he's hearding them across the fields etc. that takes independent thinking in my eyes, to be able to access a problem fix it and continue with your objective, of man handling 100+ sheep across a few hills alone. big ups to them.
The people two doors down from us have a boarder collie. She roams the neighborhood with a stick or pine cone in her mouth, looking for someone to play fetch with her. When our 4 yr old Sadie was very small, we started letting Sassy inside our fence to play with Sadie. (While we were out in the yard with her.) Sadie loved chasing and trying to steal things from the much larger, faster dog. Sassy can only be described as “intense”, but she was always so gentle and careful with Sadie. More than once, we watched her ball up and take a tumble in order to avoid stepping on Sadie. When play time was over, all we had to do was say, “Sassy, go home.” She would instantly drop the toy and head for the gate. ( I can’t imagine her current owners trained her.)
Those people usually have a second dog that also runs the neighborhood. They change about once a year. I guess they get hit by cars or something, and then they get another one. (Yes, to some people, a dog can be a “replacement”. ) The current one is a pain… barking at you when your checking your own mail box, etc.
I won’t miss him when he‘s gone, but Sassy, the boarder collie is a pleasure to the neighborhood.
…And apparently smart enough to look both ways before crossing the street.
