Reply #17: Recipe for disaster.

[LWolf]

A border collie without a job, and without abundant space to do it in, is just asking for aggravation.

Working dogs need a job to do to be happy.

I have an aussie; a milder version. She's energetic and must herd everything in sight, but is calmer and less intense than the border collies I've met. Still, we did a 15 mile trail ride last week; 7 horses, 2 border collies, and my aussie. She had enough energy to play when we got home.

She "herds" the ride; rides "tailguard" for awhile, moves up to the front, stops, "counts" all the horses going by, checks with me whereever I happen to be, and falls back in to guard the rear end again. If I did 15 miles, she did a lot more. She drove the border collies nuts; wouldn't let them range, and kept herding them into the "pack" with the mule their person was ponying.