Dempsey v Border Collie

Had some 'fun' with a border collie this morning.

Silly elderly lady with a smooth coated Border let her dog come running right towards Dempsey. Now Dempsey was off lead so I yelled "Stay" because his recall isn't the greatest (well in those circumstances virtually non existent!), and that was fine, because he did. But then the collie started to 'herd' Dempsey, you know the way they do with their rear ends higher than their fronts, and of course, being a collie it stared Dempsey in the eye.

Big mistake.

Dempsey will not allow another dog to stare at him! He flew at it, growling & snarling, hackles up & ready for action!

There was an awful lot of noise, and the collie backed off a bit. Now Dempsey rarely chases a dog in retreat - he's too lazy, to be honest - but then the collie turned & stared again! So off it went again.

All the while the woman's not batting an eyelid & just calling her dog, really calmly! I could have strangled her! I grabbed Dempsey's collar & of course that made him launch into quite a frenzy and the collie went back to its owner, who just clipped the lead on & walked away!

Hardly a word spoken, not even an apology!

Some people. If Dempsey had bitten her dog, there would've been hell to pay, wouldn't there?

It's always border collies that we have problem with round here!

The dog himself didn't seem particularly aggressive, but it was the staring. Demps just won't have it.

I just couldn't get over the woman - she honestly didn't seem at all bothered that her pooch was about to be eaten by a bully!

yer the stare is a huge problem with Chance, or the attempt at nipping his ankles.

But it's the main breed that's attacked harv when he was younger

You can get some very 'sharp' Borders. Most of it is lack of exercise/training. They need so much of both or they become quite uncontrollable.

Collies are herders. The silly woman should have know that and anticipated what would happen.

yep, and a lot of owners just let them run round the field thinking that's enough exercise

I'd say that 90% of people with Border Collies shouldn't have them!  

We used to know a large blue merle border collie when I was little. I loved him to bits and he was always really good around me. We were between dogs at the time, so I would spend every moment I could with him. Unfortunately, his owner hadn't a clue and used to let him out of the house all the time. Blue, the dog, would then wander down to the shop where mum worked and chill out there for the rest of the day. He got next to no exercise, until me and dad started to take him for walks. His attitude improved then, but he was still very likely to bite people.

Caryll wrote:I'd say that 90% of people with Border Collies shouldn't have them!  

definitely this! not a breed i'd have as lovely as they are

I had two of them, but both were highly trained & I did obedience training of one sort or another every day! The problem is trying to find new things to teach them, or they get bored.

I think a lot of the problem with Border Collies is that people see "One Man and His Dog" and the obedience classes at Crufts etc and think that this will be easy dog to have who will always and naturally obey their commands, without realising that the training has to be there in the first place.

And also not recognizing that Border Collies have been bred for a specific purpose - herding, which includes the "Collie Stare".

When I got Zena (my first dog) I had no idea what sort of training she'd need, but being young (I was 14) I threw myself into it & found out as much as I could as quickly as I could!

When I got my second, Perry, I was prepared!

But you're right, so many people see the trained article & think that's all there is to it!

With a smart dog comes a wilful dog. Not to be taken on lightly!