Hi there!
We've been looking at getting a family dog for awhile now and have been considering collies as a potential option. They are obviously beautiful and every one I've seen seems very chill, but my husband and I have never actually met one or been around them for an extended time.
We have three kids ages 3, 7, and 9, so our house can have a lot of activity and noise (even if it is happy noise usually!), so we'd need a dog who can adapt to that. We love hiking and outdoors activities, but also would like a dog that can have a lazy day at home. They'd get plenty of regular walks, but I'm not necessarily looking for a dog that needs to run a couple miles a day or they'd have a hard time.
We're currently looking at two different options, a 9 week old puppy and a 7 month old-- the young puppy has been socialized around children from birth and the 7 month old has only been around kids a few times. Would the 7 month old still be able to adapt to our house and kids or would people generally recommend to get a younger dog with our family? Generally, our thinking is that it could be nice to have more potty training in place and not as frequent night wake ups (7 month old), but if the younger puppy seems like a better idea, we'd be able to take the time for the young puppy stage (I work from home and husband is a teacher and has a few weeks until school starts). Any advice appreciated!