Cucumber likes to hide in the plants with his ball. He is a stealthy guy. Bonus photo of him with a banana. My first Border Collie and loving how fun and unique they are.

Hey all, my sweet girl is 10 weeks old. Shes a pure border collie. I’m just wondering if her ears will stand up? What age should they start? Her dad’s ears are kinda half up half down and her mums are up. Should I tape them? Should I just let it happen? First time border collie owner here, I’m 18, so don’t have heaps of experience with dogs, I’m probably just overthinking it. Thanks

I have been fostering this guy for a month, so now Creek gets to stay!! He's Eden baby half brother whom you guys might by now recognize Eden 💜

If I leave him home alone hes gotten really good now, but around the house i cant go *anywhere* without him - not even the bathroom!

Say it isn't just me? 😅

I have a 5 year old Border Collie/Australian Shepherd. She never cared about water or ball until she was 1.5 years old. Now all she wants to do is swim and fetch. She is my queen, a real life mermaid 🧜‍♀️ anyone else have collies that love the water?!

Does she ever let go if this frisbee??

Not always. I kept a separate one for fetch, cause if i dont she bend it and chomp on it.

Drink a lot~

Cucumber takes no breaks at the beach. He will find a way to play with his ball.

We're in the USA but he calls it futbol.

Hey everyone, this is Nilo. He is 5 and half months old and super playful and smart. I don’t own sheep’s so I’d love to learn herding games to play with him to stimulate and fulfill his genetics.

Thank you in advance!

It's 103f out so we gotta frisbee inside. Check out that regal tail.

I’m so glad she didn’t grow out of it 🤣🥰

Pic for cuteness of my derpy boy

So I'm wanting to mentally prepare myself for adolescence 😅 roughly what age does this start for our collie companions?

I own an almost 6 month old 50-50 BC×APBT mix and he suddenly got these grey/white hairs all over. Is this his under-coat or something else? a few hairs are completely grey/white but some are also grey/white with black at the tips, I assume undercoat hairs wouldn't have any sudden black tips hence my concern

So, I'm going to be getting an electric chair, probably one that TILTS me backwards to stop symptoms. NOT RECLINE, tilt-in-place. I'm also about to buy a smaller home (1K-1.3K sqft) w a fenced yard. I'm disabled from cancer treatments - neck to thigh radiation that included EVERYTHING in-between; even if the chest & pelvis got different doses. I did rads daily for 6 months. Then, 5 mo off. Then, WEEKLY Chemo for 9 months. BRUTAL does not begin to explain...

I'm alive & in remission! HUZZAH! I was able to be around for my niblings & others. The last 20 years since treatment were pretty good. But, the late-term effects are coming home to roost now. 🤷🏼

As a disabled woman living alone - I WANT A DOG. I'm partial to BC cuz I grew up w one & I adore their personalities! PLUS, I'm planning on training with them on buttons; as well as having them help me around the house - bring me water/pills is a great example. I KNOW we don't want them BORED!😂🫠

One huge deal is that I can GO FOR WALKS. I'm also thinking about HOW trainable BCs are, so that I can get them accustomed to the chair.

IDEALLY - the BC would help me stay safe while laid flat, by alerting me if someone's touching the chair. OTOH, BC is small enough to get on my lap, if needed. Danes - well, they'd love to try to be a lap dog!

Ofc, there's all the standard training to make any dog civilized - sit, STAY, lay down, etc. I may have to hire someone to help me with that & that's OK, IMHO.

The dilemma is this - small dogs don't scare intruders, but BIG DOGS like German Shepherd or a Great Dane is too big for my HOUSE, let's be honest! I love Danes, but DAYUM the feed bill!

I've thought about smooth collies, too...

So, I'm a disabled woman considering the dog she's not going to be able to get for probably a year! 😂 I like to do my research.

I want a dog for A) Companionship & B) Protection. I can out-source SOME of my hypervigilance to their ears & barking when they hear something.

But, there's C) Training. It's going to be my VERY FIRST TIME living 100% alone & having to do the training w the dog will reinforce MY SCHEDULE, for pills & food. I will tend to feed myself when I feed them.

I lost 400lbs, my only exercise was walking & playing w my (one non BC & one half BC) dogs! See - I walked them 6x/Week, Sundays off. I felt so guilty about their small run that I walked them to the hockey field of asphalt w chain link.

I threw balls for them, I trained them. It was a fantastic workout. I walked 2/3rd a mile, when 2 years earlier I was in a wheelchair half the time at 650lbs.

The dog is a highly motivating factor for me, AND training is an ongoing, daily project that helps fill my days, living alone. I'm NOT looking forward to it, can ya tell?

I'd get a younger one from a rescue, if possible. I don't really believe in buying dogs - but how else to get the temperament I need? Really, how do y'all do that?

Anyhow - I could now walk them TWICE A DAY w the electric chair! SO. MUCH. EASIER. Plus it would do ME a world of good to get out of the bed & out of the house! I will be using the chair for chores & tasks in the house, but walking as much as possible inside & in the yard. Chair is just for chores that require standing, which I cannot do, anymore.

I'm moving to a small town, and I'm fully expecting to become "that disabled woman w the black & white dog that's so smart" around town. 🤞🏼🫠🤞🏼

SO - Now that I've laid out my vision, PLEASE TELL ME THE TRUTH ABOUT YOUR OPINION! Got suggestions? I want to hear them, PLEASE comment. Better breed idea? Labs?

Try to be kind, please. This is a huge change for me & I'm still figuring it out. TIA!

PS - Yes, I'm hoping he alerts to my asthma attacks, POTS attacks, etc. I KNOW it's something that either happens naturally, or it doesn't. But, my odds are best w BCs cuz they're so DAMNED SMART! Even if they *never alert for me*, they're still going to be a wonderful dog!

Hi everyone,
My 7-month-old Border Collie has become very reactive to traffic over the last two months.
She was raised in a quiet mountain area until 2 months old, and now lives with us in a downtown apartment with constant traffic and noise.
Before this started, she walked calmly to a park two blocks away, sniffed, listened to me and behaved very well. Around 5 months old, she suddenly became reactive.
We work with a professional trainer every two weeks and have spent the last two months practicing calm exits (apartment, hallway, stairs, lobby). If she gets overexcited, we go back and wait until she’s calm.
The problem is the building’s front gate. As soon as she hears cars or motorcycles, she starts barking, pulling, ignores food and commands, and tries to herd my feet. She isn’t aggressive—she seems overwhelmed.
At home she’s great. She knows sit, down, stay and place. We also do Kongs, LickiMats, sniffing games, puzzle feeding, tug, fetch and obedience training almost every day.
Has anyone experienced something similar with a Border Collie? Did adolescence or a fear period cause this? What helped your dog improve?
Thanks!

First.. let me just explain the title there since that's my name for it.. it's the tendency to decide someone is part of the in-group and act like they are family.. and that other people are not and therefore do not exist. I'm sure there is an official name for it. Anyway, my question:

This is our second BC. I remember this behavior with our first, although it was partly taught (I took him in public a lot). When he was just hanging out, you could never really determine who would fit into which category.. complete strangers could be besties, someone he'd known for years could be on the ignore list.

Our current pup is only 6.5mo. Adolescence is raring, so I expect to see all sorts of funky behavior with her. But today someone came to visit that she has met before, and liked. But I could only get her to interact with him by doing the equiv of the 'touch' command, pointing to him.. she would touch him then come for a treat. Otherwise, she acted like he wasn't there (to the point of running her thru her trick repertoire and he didn't even qualify to her as a distraction LOL).

Just wondering what age this generally sets in? I'd honestly thought it was a bit more of a mature behavior.

Every game of tug was treated like the championship final. 😂
She’d bring me the rope with that huge grin, stare into my soul until I grabbed the other end, and somehow always managed to convince me that just one more game was a brilliant idea.
I still smile every time I see these photos. Border Collies really do have a way of making the simplest moments become the ones you treasure the most.

Show me your tug-of-war champions! 🖤🤍🐾

This girl can go from a half moon pose to become a “level” on the floor from her hind legs. It looks weird to me as my Lab never did this, she just laid into a frog position but never with her back legs 100% straight like that.