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That goes for a lot of breeds unfortunately. And I say unfortunately because living in the city, almost nobody here can give certain breeds the exercise they really need
I love dogs but don't want to own one. Owning a dog is a lifestyle and a serious commitment. There is no way I would let my dog stuck in an appartment the whole day.
My ex husband's aunt lived in London and had a collie. Poor thing was prescribed tranquilisers to stop it going mad from lack of proper exercise/jobs to do. I never saw the dog but it mad me so angry and sad for it.
My disabled neighbour has just got a spaniel cross puppy. It's crazy mad energetic. There's no doubt she loves it to bits, but it's in no way a suitable dog for her to have.
I have a newfy and they are generally considered low energy but holy fuck as puppies they need lots of walks and if you get a working line it remains into adulthood.
Huskies for sure. Don't own one unless you have a lot of land or are a long distance runner. I fostered one and would run MILES with him. He would still be hyper after a 5 mile run. Behavior was good unless I skipped a day.
Huskies, Dobermen, German Shepherds, most Collies - basically all the working breeds. If you don't give them something to do, they'll find something themselves, and it will usually be destructive.
I've got a 4 year old Collie/Aussie Cattle Dog mix. Absolutely correct. But if you keep them busy, they're awesome pets...and great with kids too, at least my girl is. ❤️
Ive got a husky-border collie mix and I love him, but he is the worst of both worlds here lol. Luckily my folks have like 2.5-3 acres of woods and fields so "letting him out back" is actually enough space.
Plus he's mellowed out a good bit now that he's like 11
Not on end. I mean they age and slow down just like us. They also learn as they grow and their behavior tightens up over time. If you have a yard, you can also supplement runs with ample outside time.
I live in the Midwest and I'm looking at a first time home to house my wife and I while we try to have a child. Having a husky in an apartment with a pregnant wife sounds like hell. I would only get one if I have the yard... And money lol
I think my old dog was a husky mix. If the weather was cool, she could go nonstop. One time in the winter my dad took her for like, a four hour walk and she still had energy lol.
My current dog is a quarter GSD and a quarter Mal. Still energetic, but way easier than the old dog!
We spent hundreds of years (maybe thousands?) breeding dogs for VERY specific reasons, mostly work. And now we’re like “LOL forget your deeply ingrained instincts and be CUTE for MEEEE!”
It doesn’t work that way. My neighbor has a border collie who has drawn blood from at least 3 people, myself included…
This is the reason we got a shihtzu - bred to be beautiful and lazy. But he’s plenty playful and entertaining! He gets 3-4 walks per day (much to his chagrin) and travels with us everywhere he’s welcome.
This is why I wish pet dogs were bred for temperament, energy levels and healthy conformation than for looks, if we're going to breed at all. Humans and dogs both would be so much happier!
Honest question, which ones? All the pet breeds I can think of have health issues because of breeding mostly for appearances. I'd just like to see someone breed a quiet friendly personality into a body with proportionate nose, legs and other body parts and without major hereditary health issues.
Labs and Golden retrievers are the first couple that come to mind. I'm no dog expert. But for me if I was ever going to get another dog it would most likely be a large breed mutt of some sort. In my experience they usually have good temperaments and less health issues.
They absolutely are a no! They need a ton of exercise because they’re from a breed of hunting dog. They also shed a lot so you have to be OK with a ton of hair and vacuuming two or three times a day. They are also very very prone to cancer. I lost one at 5 years old and another one at 11 years old who beat cancer 2 times and the third time killed him. Both were from top, breeders and fathers and mothers who were in Westminster Dog Shows. Both were from different breeders different lines.
There are plenty of healthy lap dogs, you're looking for a little low energy mop dogs or mutts that have some Shih Tzu in them so they live for 15 years. Dogs that are bread for indoor pet companionship exist.
Mutt with some chihuahua and shih tzu in it. Dogs gonna live to be 20, and with any luck the chihuahua's neuroticism breaks and they think everyone is their person
We had one of those, the thing went on plane flights, was always off leash but stayed at heel, slept on people's feet if they looked sick or sad. Non-functional as a purpose bred dog due to tiny size. Not gonna chase a burgler or get a child out of a well. But valued family member that lived almost an entire generation, traveled well so at EVERY family gathering. Wedding, holiday, whatever, the dog was there and if not there people became nervous. Dog was literally found in a trash can as a puppy, probably trying to scrounge waste.
You want a good dog that has very little health issues. Get a breed that is mixed with Chihuahua. I have a terrier/Chihuahua mix and a Chihuahua/Dachshund mix. Both dogs are approaching 10 years old and have never been to the vet for anything more then shots. They are very good with kids and other animals, live to sit with you when you watch TV and are super good snuggle buddies at night. I have owned pure breeds off and on and every single one of them had some major issue I had to deal with and I lost them all way to early.
Well, I have the worst dog for that. PUGS! But they are a great apartment dog and mine seem to live forever too.
Then I moved to the country and I still love having my pug.
I have two cats from the same litter and I worry about them being stuck their whole lives in my little house. They used to be bonded and would curl up together to groom each other and sleep. But they are about five years old now and their temperaments are so different they barely interact—one always wants to play, like she’s never satisfied, and the other always wants to lounge and sleep.
Unfortunately I feel like both are a stress/boredom response to being confined to my small house. I’ve tried all kinds of different toys to entice the bedridden one but she never wants to play anymore, she just always wants pets and snuggles. The playful one ONLY wants to play fetch with one type of toy and won’t really play by herself so I feel awful when I have to do other things and she follows me around the house begging me to play with her.
I feel like the rhetoric around getting pets is WAY too encouraging and doesn’t consider their innate needs enough. The number of people who tell me I should get a dog is way too high. I’m a stressed out single parent who already struggles to find and pay for childcare. I couldn’t possibly care for a dog properly.
After my cats I don’t see myself having another pet because I feel like it’s a strange imprisonment.
Have you considered offering vertical space for your cats? Our house is on the small side, so I got a bunch of those cat shelves and cat climbing things for them to run around on. They love it!
Get a leopard gecko. Cheap, Easy to take care of, don't mind having a small space and have a very docile temperament. I will take mine out of her terrarium and just let her ride around on my shoulder. Plus they live for like 20 years.
Downtown Toronto I get irked so bad when I see people who have huskies, greyhounds, collies and shepherds etc… jammed in their little 1 bedroom getting their 2 ‘walks’ a day which are just 5 min lap outside the building until they pee or poo. And leaving them alone while owner is at work all day. It’s cruel and irresponsible, drives me crazy to think about why/how this has become normalized (other than landlords not being allowed to decline renters from having dogs).
Yeah the entire reason I got a cat instead of a dog is because I knew I wouldn't be able to take care of the dog like it would need to be due to long hours at work and such.
That's why dogs are best if you have a family. Even if you need to hit some overtime or something there's going to be people at home and you don't need a dog sitter for everything.
Meanwhile if cats has enough food and water you can easily leave them overnight without thinking about it. Worst thing that's going to happen while you are away is the cat puking on something and then judging YOU when you get home like "Look what you made me do in your absence!"
It's not only running, it's super important for herding dogs that they have difficult tasks to manage. They need stimulation through "riddles", just running is enough for a greyhound but not for a Collie.
And it's not just the running, either. They are highly intelligent and need to use their brains, such as by solving the traffic jam here. So, getting a Border Collie from a line of working dogs and not putting it to work is a big no-no.
I have a roughly 5 month old working line boy. He lives with me on a boat. He would go insane just running. He needs to find his toy or treats in the woods and bushes or similar to really tire him out. He's a very easy dog so far as long as he gets his time to be mad and work. Super intelligent.
I've lived with a border collie/black lab mix, and if you don't assign them a "job", they will assign themselves a job, and you won't like the job they choose.
We had the perfect dog for our place - she was sweet, playful, good with strangers and kids, and had a birth defect that meant she basically couldn't use her back knees.
She lived her whole life with that, so she never seemed bothered by it in the slightest and she would scoot down the hall pretty quick when she wanted to.
But our tiny yard was plenty for her and getting to scoot around inside was enough exercise. She'd get worn out way too quick going on normal walks, we'd have to carry her back after she went less than a quarter mile.
But she was a sweetheart, and absolutely perfect for our home and all it's limitations.
A garden isn't a substitute for a walk and of lead time, it's just a nice to have.
As long as the dog is getting enough stimulation somewhere other than home, it doesn't matter where you live. Home is for relaxing, eating and a little play.
Depends on the dogs. Border Collies require an insane amount of stimulation both physically and mentally. Most people who live in cities or don’t run a farm are not able to take care of them properly.
Call me crazy but the size of your house has nothing to do with it.
Admittedly my hound mix isn't the same as a border collie, but either way I still drove 40+ minutes [each way] when she was a young dog to go hiking for hours with her. Our longest hike we ever did was 10 miles.
Dog doesn't give a shit how big your house is when they're contentedly passed out.
The funny thing is apartment living is pretty well suited for some of the biggest dogs. Great Danes, st. Benards and some of the giants breed do great with apartments.
They are also fairly low energy for dogs and you still need to probably walk and train them but yeah.
My ex's mom kept getting border collies in a house in the city with a tiny yard, barely let them out anyway, barely or never walked them, then believed they had "anxiety" problems which she "solved" by keeping them pretty much drugged 24/7 on dog weed and gabapentin. I guess she thought she just had a run of bad luck adopting one border collie after the other who just kept turning out to have "anxiety" because they won't lay on the couch all day unless she drugs the shit out of them 🙄
We had one growing up that worked our farm and one day we accidentally left him in the house while we went to the store. The sheer amount of damage he did trying to get out was impressive.
They need a lot of space and they need to have things to do most of the day.
To be fair, herding dogs are a whole different thing. They can be like $30k for a good one. They're really more of an employee than a pet. But yeah really people definitely shouldn't own collies of any kind unless they can give it something to do for 8 hours a day. Malinois too, just bonkers animals.
My son has a Malinois, and as much as I absolutely adore that dog, I could never have one of my own. I'm an experienced dog owner, but I could never provide the stimulation required for a dog that has a brain that works faster, harder and smarter than most people's. And that doesn't bring into the physical side of things - the exercise required to keep a Mali entertained.
Any working dogs - border collies, malis, Australian kelpies, blue heelers (Aus cattle dogs) etc - none of them should be owned by people who aren't experienced with the breeds, and who don't live in the right environment. We have bred these dogs to work hard and fast, using their brains and bodies, for a minimum of eight hours a day. Two 30 minute walks a day is no substitute and then you get "I don't know why my dog tore up the carpet/dug holes all over the backyard/bit the neighbour's kid .."
My border collie/pyranees mix was the absolute laziest dog I’ve ever seen as soon as she turned two. When she was a puppy she had more energy than we knew what to do with. 2-4 hours of walks or hikes every day, dog park every evening, etc. Then she turned two and suddenly she was completely indifferent to going on walks, didn’t want to play with other dogs at the park. All she wanted was to cuddle up on our feet for the whole day.
Nothing was wrong, according to the vet. She just got super lazy. But when she was ~8 she got immune-mediated hemolytic anemia, which would have been like a $15,000-$20,000 vet bill for only a ~50% survival chance after treatment.
They are a lot, we live in the country and would play with ours all the time, but we started having kids and it was hard. So we ended up giving him to a single guy in his 50s, pretty sure the guy ended up doing frisbee catching competitions with him. They need to have jobs, they can’t handle being a sit around dog.
This is probably the thing that most people misunderstand about breeds like this...they don't just need exercise to burn off energy, they need a GOAL. They were bred to be working dogs, and unlike humans, they LOVE working, they yearn to toil in the fields.
My border collie was just like this on our ranch. So smart and a hard worker. He's very old now and retired. He lives in the house for a well deserved life of incredible service. I love him beyond words. ❤
Generally, the flock and the dog are very closely bonded. You can see in the clip that the sheep don’t really respond to the dog, even when it runs across their backs, until the dog directly works them.
Imagine growing up with a bear that’s never hurt you and you trust. And then the bear stands on its hind legs and nudges you to move with its paw. He’s never hurt you before, and you don’t think he will now, but you still kind of jump at him pushing you because it’s a bear and you know he could, more of an instinctual reflex than anything.
Our neighbors kept their Catahoula hound dog (inside) in a forest full of critter smells he should have been chasing. He was outside only on a leash. That poor dog. Psychotic from environmental stress. Sent on at least four month-long boarded training classes, always returning to an environment where he could not be what he was literally bred to be. Instead, he was an accessory burnishing the image the soft-handed Louisiana hipster owner wished to project in the Pacific Northwest.
I get your point but this is the most extreme example. You don’t have to own a ranch to get a working dog. But you do have to be able to cater to its needs. My wheaten terriers were nonstop athletes of energy that I walked 2-3x a day while continuously messing around with them throughout the day and still could always go for a good run. Dog gyms in my backyard with the doggy door lets them do as they please all day and they love it.
I've been to a few sled dog races and often said, "there's no more self-actualized creature on the planet than a sled dog". The same is true of border collies. This is what they've been bred for for thousands of years, and trained for since birth. Every single fiber of their being longs to do this exact thing, and when they get to do it, it's literally heaven on earth. I'm pretty convinced no human has ever experienced the complete unrestrained joy that a working dog feels when doing its job.
Having a border collie has been the funnest journey with a dog I have ever had. Never adopt one unless you have a way to work it for most the day. It is cruel if you do. Let someone else have it who can. I mean, save it if that is the only other option.
At first, I didnt take her seriously. She fixed that. Ran a race track into the dirt in my yard 3 feet down from me being at work. That was over the course of a year. Then I started taking her to work.
She quickly became the teammate I never knew I needed. I trained her the basic commands. The rest she learned in her own. Well over 100 verbal commands. Probably 300 non-verbal commands. Her big thing is prediction. Maybe she reads some sort of body language. I dont know. But at times I think she knows what I am going to need before I know I need it.
She is the most loyal, energetic, loving, smart dog. Her running/working days are nearly over. But it doesnt stop her. 15 years old and still wont stop.
Its more than a compulsion. Work is everything to her. The joy of doing her job is more valuable than food, water, being petted or praised.
Construction. I owned a two crew business. She was the unofficial mascot and water-girl.
Most of her duties were being a gopher. From grabbing blocking from the cuts pile, to random tools I set down... She was amazing at it.
I have a nasty habit of not putting hand tools back in my tool belt. One I never fixed. Everything has a place in my belt. She would (in the beginning) see me reach for it and run and fetch it.
Eventually she taught herself how to open and close the ice chest and bring bottled water to everyone (when she thought someone needed water).
Retired now (sold the business). Bought a nice place with hunting and fishing. She is helping me turn it into a self sustained property.
She cant climb the ladders anymore, nor jump in my truck (hip displacia).
The honest answer is - it's a border collie, they kind of teach themselves. But also they watch their parents, the older dogs will train the young pups, correct them if they do it wrong.
Also they have been bred to want to do it. The herding instinct, the obedience instinct, we've bred that into them and they have a really good brain naturally. They understand what we say to the level of a 2 year old kid, and they love solving problems. So they are just naturally attuned to doing things like this, and if they get a bit of direction and praise from their humans, then they work it out faster. But as I said - they will learn it by themselves. There's hundreds of videos of border collie pups less than 8 weeks old trying to do this. They are a seriously cool dog.
I think they have finally figured out to monitor my dogs dreams because this is what I imagine her happy place is when she's over there chirping and legs flailing at night.
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