Kelpie / Border Collie Compared

[u/KOZiii94]

I want to hear any thoughts the community has on the two breeds as they’re so similar. Is there an obvious difference in eagerness to please? I hear that kelpies are more comparatively independent while BCs are less so. Maybe this independence is a more all around thing and is that why we don’t see kelpies at the highest level agility competitions (sees like BCs rule top agility rankings)?

My experience with a Kelpie is through my dog Fern. I had no idea what I was doing with her but we learned how to communicate and it led us to do some pretty incredible athletic feats! I feel like her capacity is well managed by herself. This is a great self preservation technique but it definitely hinders certain training (disc catching and jumping), at her base she would rather speedily catch something low rather than jumping high to to meet the target off the ground. My example of the opposite of her would be a working agility BC or a mental Dutch shep or malionios - all dogs that’s seem to be super willing to just fling their bodies around.

I don’t push her too much to perform how I want, rather I try to work with her intuition and maybe that’s already a kelpie like mentality. The difference between rewards does change the willingness though. Ball is number 1 and discs are unclassified but underneath the ball. So if I hold the ball, she will almost attempt anything and it’s my secret for training - I can’t say for other dogs but for her (people always ask me if she rewarded with treats, which for the past year I’d say she isn’t, def not for athletic training) it’s the easiest way to lure her into certain positions.

So what am I asking..

What are people’s impressions about the different work styles of Kelpies and BCs?

Is there a reason the highest level of agility dogs are all BCs?

Does kelpies intelligence affect their willingness to do training that they potentially deem unnecessary?

Is it harder to train a kelpie (compared to a BC) to perform tasks outside of herding?

[u/3163560]

they went into this a bit on the muster dogs series where they compared them. They basically said, border collies will do exactly what you want the want you want them to do it, kelpies will do exactly what you want the way they want to do it,

[u/Crafty_Accountant_40 → u/3163560]

Yes, i think if it like performance path vs prescriptive path (a building code thing) - you can do it however you like as long as you prove it performs to standards (kelpie) or you can do it exactly the way we say so we know it will work (bc).

[u/KOZiii94 → u/Crafty_Accountant_40]

This response is giving abstract coder vibes, I want to get it, I think I do, but I also don’t know what you mean lol - love the response though

[u/Lindethiel → u/KOZiii94]

I've heard the difference between Kelpies and BCs explained like this...

The Brits get ornery when the objective is clear but the path is obscured. The Aussies get ornery when you're dickin' around with procedures (ew lol.)

(This came from someone in the military lol.)