10/08/09
Filed under:
Puppies
Posted by:
Tammie @ 5:26 pm
I am happy to receive inquiries about our upcoming litters of Border Collie puppies.
Curiously, folks who contact me looking for their next great Agility dog often send very similar notes. They want a Border Collie, but they don’t want one that is too energetic, but they don’t want one from a conformation breeder, but they are afraid that getting one from a herding-working breeder will mean the puppy will be frantically out of control, but they want a puppy from someone who performs health screens on the parents, but they don’t want to get stuck with a dog that they cannot handle, but they admire someone who is dedicated to breeding to a working standard, but they are afraid they won’t be able to control the dog….. blah blah blah. It goes on and on and on.
Here’s my response to a recent email I received from a nice woman who wants to get a Border Collie puppy to train in Agility.
While I truly understand the quest to find the perfect puppy, it is my experience that a dog is a reflection of its relationship with its owner - even more so than its genes. Dogs are not born anti-social, but I make a living of rehabilitating anti-social dogs. They get that way because of the way they are managed by their people. So, while you (or I) can do everything to research the parents of a pup and the breeder who socializes the litter, in the end, the dog is a living creature that is influenced by the people who own it. Acquiring a baby puppy is, therefore, a bit of a crap shoot, first from the genetic perspective and then because the environment in which it lives has a huge influence over the behaviors that it will present. So, when folks ask me “will your puppies do well in Agility?”, I reply by asking, “how good of an Agility trainer are you?” I also wonder how “plastic” the person is to work around differences in the dog versus, perhaps, a dog they trained earlier.
The first litter of Border Collies I bred (back in 1994) was specifically designed to “recreate” the sire of the litter - my best dog. But, his son that I retained was nothing like the father. I struggled terribly with that dog for a few years until, one day, I came to realize that what I had been thinking were the pup’s weaknesses, were, in fact, his strengths (they just were not the same virtues that his father possessed). When placing a puppy into a “working” home where the person has great aspirations for the pup, I worry a bit that the person won’t be able to adjust to the specific strengths of that pup and tolerate the “areas for improvement” that the dog may have - and perhaps turn them into strengths. In herding, I have yet to experience two dogs that work the same way - including siblings. I have to adjust and learn how to communicate with each dog, even if I wish it were better a driving or had more natural pace or wasn’t so fast or was a bit faster.
As far as “extreme” / undesirable behaviors that one might see in Border Collies that perform in Agility; my experience is that most Agility folks have no sense how to apply very basic manners and discipline on their dogs. There seems to be a fear about correcting a dog for anti-social behavior (like barking, spinning in the crate, pulling on the leash, jumping on the human, aggressing towards other dogs); that it will make the dog slower or less interested in working. Work ethic is not ruined by sound, fair discipline and demands for social compliance - actually it is quite the contrary. My experience tells me that speed comes with confidence, not permissiveness. Confidence comes not only from doing something over and over again, but in how much the dog can rely on the human to be in charge of the relationship, so that the dog can trust the person even when running very, very fast. That trust comes from experiences off the Agility field, as much as on it.
A crazed maniac type dog cannot work livestock. Breeding to a herding working standard does not mean breeding a dog that has no self-restraint - it is, in fact, just the opposite. If I wanted to participate in a sport that required precision and speed, I would look for a breed that was designed to work with precision and speed. That’s why you see so many Border Collies in Agility - it requires precision and speed to perform in herding. But, first, you need a dog that is biddable (as in, a dog that will work FOR and WITH a human at a job). Work drive without biddability is fairly useless (except for jobs that the dog performs autonomously, such as hounds following scent trails). You don’t see many of the breeds that were designed with high work drive but low biddability in sports such as Agility that require the human calling the shots regarding the course.
The “conformation” bred Border Collies, in my opinion, have been bred with more biddability but less work ethic / drive. The great thing about work ethic is that you can really use it to your advantage if you are a fairly decent dog trainer (it’s easier to place exacting demands on a dog that thrives on working at high standards). It’s very hard to create work ethic that is not there, naturally. I suspect that is why you may get frustrated with your smooth Collie, at times. He does not have the work ethic that you want and you don’t know how to make him have a better work ethic. A dog with a strong work ethic that also has a good dose of biddability / desire to please can be extra-ordinary with the right handler. Many people can learn how to hold back a dog with lots of drive, but few people can put drive into a dog that does not have it. So, your fears of acquiring an “extreme” pup with “too much energy” out of herding working lines, to me, is not a big risk, so long as you understand your role as competent leader for a dog.
The Border Collie is a breed that wants to please and that can be calm and relaxed - in fact that must be calm and relaxed to perform the job for which it was bred (note I did not say “slow”, I said “calm” - they are two different things). If you put some basic obedience on the dog (like down and stay there until I tell you otherwise - which all Border Collies can learn easily), it doesn’t matter how much energy the dog has - since it will be under your control. People who excel at sports are not frantic when they play, but they are precise, fast and intense while they play within the boundaries for the sport. A good herding dog is not frantic. But, it is precise, fast and intense while playing within the boundaries set by the handler. What I see at Agility trials are often frantic dogs with no self-restraint that are wasting energy. That can be controlled by the handler and is not a inherent quality of the dog.