Breed advice for a dear friend?

[Theo400]

Hi all

Firstly I want to say thank you for helping me and my sister we both are very happy with the Golden and I don't FD eel the same about the GSD anymore with help from you all. I am really looking forward to getting a Golden in the future.

I thought you all might be able to help my best friend she is like me in her middle 20's however she has never had a dog before she is a newbie. But she know exactly which breed she wants and this is why I'm asking for your help to make sure it's a good match as she wants a border collie.

Now she is one of the most hyper people I know during the week she is working at a pet shop but she goes power walking in the morning and evening at weekends she goes hiking, camping , swimming ect (not in the same weekend she does one ) what I'm trying to say is she has the engery for a border. We went for a 13mile run the other day and still was full of engery at the end my nickname for her is the BC ( meaning border collie as that is what breed she would be)

She's told me she would go to the same dog trainer as me and the trainer is very experienced with collies as she is a trainer with a BC rescue. She would also be talking the collie for a 45min off leash (playing fetch or something) every morning and a 45min walk in the evening plus the collie would be doing a dog sport everyday she has a list of sports she wants to do but she knows that the collie might not like all of them so she said she will let the collie choose which ones he like and wants to do. For example if he liked Agility and flyball then they could go to there local flyball class and do that 3x a week and then do Agility 2x a week and then at weekends the collie would be out all day with the dog. He would also get tons of play during the day as well and reading and socialisation.

So as you can see the collie would always be doing something but I was unsure if there good for first time owners as iv always thought they were difficult. She has read rent a border collie on this forum as I showed her and she is not turned off by it she still loves them.

There is even a herding centre she can go to that is for any pet collie to release all that engery and to do what they were bred for she said her collie liked that she would go there as well but she want to see what the collie likes to do.

What do you think could she be OK with a BC and do you have any info or advice you would like to add?

[JudyN]

How long would she have to leave the collie for in the day during the week? If it's several hours, would she be able to get a dog walker/friend to take him out in the middle of the day if needed? And is she thinking of getting a puppy or adult?

[Nettle]

Looks like she has the right ideas, but her walking times are on the low side. Two hours a day is a minimum once the dog is adult, plus "other activities" as mentioned. I think she would be wise to go and watch some of the events she has in mind before she gets her collie, so she has a real understanding of how they can be. Sometimes events can be too stimulating for a particular collie.

And what JudyN says. Collies can be real stressheads about being left alone so she would need to be prepared to introduce this very gradually. Also they can be sensitive to noise and light - important if she lives in a noisy area.

[Theo400]

Hi

I have asked her and she said the collie would not be on its own as she can take him to work with her and there is a space were he could go if he wanted to be in a quiet place.

Walking she can increase to 2hrs no problem. But with the noise she said her house is in a average noisy place not overly noisy but not quiet either how could she help the collie get use to noises.

And lastly she was thinking breed rescue but is unsure if a puppy might be better.

[JudyN]

She needs to investigate the breed rescue very carefully if she goes down that route. She could easily end up with a dog whose brain has been totally fried. A poorly bred, poorly raised BC could be a nightmare. However, if the rescue dogs are fostered in people's homes, fully assessed for temperament, and the rescue screens potential adopters carefully and offers full back-up (advice, behaviourists, and a willingness to take the dog back for any reason) it may work out. If they are willing to let your friend have any of the dogs available, she needs to walk away.

Naturally, any breeder would have to be investigated very carefully too. Some dogs would probably only ever be suitable for working, not as pets.