Why are border collies considered harder than other breeds to keep ? Training

Another question...sorry! I've seen mentioned a few times that because they are ahead of the game, BC's pick up bad habits very easily and it's hard work to 're-train' them once they have something stuck in their mind. What kind of bad habits do they tend to pick up? Thanks

I think this depends on the dog...well mine
Sometimes you can do something with them and they find a quicker way, it can depend on whether you perservere in the way you want them to do it.
I've taken rescues where they have been allowed to ''do it that way then'' and they can become obcessive with it being that way and no other.
Dillon my sons rescue had a thing about shadows or rays of sun, he searched for them and became quite obcessive over them, right down to realising that if he put his foot on the door handle and brought it down the ceiling light sparkled off it obviously who ever owned him before either failed or never tried to correct this behaviour, so by the time he came to my son he went quite frantic over these things, which drove everyone mad, it took my son almost 5 months to break this habit, by sending him ''away'' and ''lie down'' this wasn't once a day more like 100 times aday, now Gary just looks at him if he looks like he's spotted a shadow and he immediately leaves it
My own boy bruce got a real thing about about people going out of the front door and spun and barked, we've spent months working with this, now I say ''bed'' before the person leaves......and it works (he doesn't go on his bed but he stays quiet)

i find that my border collie is great to have around in doors he is agentle loving dog but there is one traite to his character and that is barking and occasionally naughty usually when my hubbie is out wth him he will bark at joggers anybody passin g by the house and cyclists yet when with me be is geat apart from what i have mentioned we are still trying to get him to stop but he is of such a gentle nature.he as many doggie friends in particular cass who when out always is looking for him and as been known to go into a neighbours house looking for him.if anyone can help withany ideas about how to help suggestions would be welcome.

I have been brought up with dalmatians, and decided that I wanted a change when my partner and I came to choosing a dog together last year. We chose to have a breed that neither one of us had owned before, and a collie fitted into everything we needed from a dog, capable of long walks when fully grown, intelligent, obedient, loving, good with children, and good with other pets.

We got all this and so much more in Chase, he is our angel dog, he has a couple of creases with certain strange dogs that he meets, but other than that there is nothing wrong with him at all! We recently got another pup Storm (also a BC) and he's already showing lovely potential. Very loving too and they play together really nicely even with the cat too

I love BCs I can't imagine having another breed now tbh

I seriously thought that Jessie was the only dog who did this!!! ha ha, she barks at them like crazy like she want's them to stop playing with each other, but when they turn to her she plays. It's like she can only play with one dog at a time or something, it's strange and annoying...

She's also the easiest dog in the world... She never get's more then 50 feet from me when we're out and about and if I start to go some where she knows and will be right there following me...

very interesting read and I have to put my 2 pennith in!
Well you know I got my very first dog Tilly collie x as a pup from rescue. Completely oblivious to anything about collies other than how cute she was!
Delighted at how easy to train she was/is & her "collie-ness" (I don't know the word!) so prevalent, but also many problems - admittedly through my own lack of knowledge/experience,we've had food agressive,guarding, obsessive feet biting us at home (do I look like a sheep!)& currently fear aggressive towards humans who want to brush her!!
But I've learnt so much & worked through these difficulties. So much harder to untrain something undesired but I know it can be done - and so rewarding. In hindsight,I don't think I would recommend a collie as a first dog unless you are willing to put in the time & energy which maybe is why people give them up? I would never give my Tilly up, she is the world to me.
Apart from walks & ball playing, to stimulate her she loves to track - not proper tracking, just hiding things & getting her to find them, also giving her jobs to do in the house & take things to places - it's true it's like she feels she has a job to do - which is what I was told makes them feel worthwhile.
Aside from the problems we have had I am delighted that she was well socialised as a pup & we never have any problems with her outside. We did have a recall problem for a while when she got to Kevin stage - but got over that quickly.
I love collies

In response to the bad habits indoors....Chase tries to open the back door which is annoying, but also helps if he wants to go out....He has recently decided he doesn't like loud noises on the TV, so he goes to bark but we've now trained him to go lie down when he looks at the TV
Storm doesn't really have bad habits, apart from the fact that he won't go to bed unless I put some kibble on the floor, but thats not that big a deal tbh, he also goes nuts on the water bowl if its empty, but thats fine because I know when they've drunk all their water

Bad habits outdoors:
Chase has perfect recall, but doesn't like other dogs, on lead he's quite confrontational, off lead he's great unless another dog jumps on him, then he'll tell it off.
Storm, so far so good

Obessively staring at things waiting for them to move - I guess that's a herding thing, but it can happen indoors.

Somebody once said to me once you've been the successful owner of a collie you will never want another breed. I wonder if this is true?

Im very sad to say I have been one who failed the BC, well i wouldnt say myself personally however it wasnt the right time to own one in my family. I adore the breed think they are fantastic dogs and have a lot of respect for those who own them correctly-far too many people dont look into the breed before purchasing.

I have many breeds I want to own at some point or another, however I want to go back to the BC when I know the time is right (which will be when I own my farm) They are such a beautiful breed and I have never enjoyed training a dog as much as my little BenJay. He was a little star still pains me to this day losing him.

For me it's true.... yes she's a lot of work making sure she doesn't learn bad habits..... and I'm sure she's more work then other breeds.... but that is exactly why I love BC's.... she's part of the family.... she goes where we go... sometimes on lead (just so that she and we can get our bearings), most times off lead ..... but she's always well behaved but wants to understand new situations and so that sometimes takes a bit of extra work.... and that at 10 months.... she's a character.. and that's what I love about her!!!!! Our next dog???? for me def. another BC.... for the rest of the family.... maybe something smaller with a longer lasting "puppy-look", ....BC's are just so clever.... but I usually get my way

It's because of people who impulse buy. Many Border Collie's are extremely high energy & need plently of mental as well as physical exercise. If a BC doesn't get enough mental exercise it will become destructive. Due to people not researching this in the breed (or not researching the breed at all) they don't know what to do to fix it, can't handle it so the dog is whisked off to the shelter. It can also be because if the person is just not the right person i.e is a pushover the BC will take control very fast becoming a nightmare at training, doing commands etc.

I always think that people who get a collie and already have a "job description" for it to work toward, get on fine. They begin turning their dog into what they want it to be from day one and all is well. The dog is headed for agility, or a long distance walking companion, obedience, herding, WT etc etc etc. The dog likes being pointed in the right direction and all is well.

Those that buy a collie with a lets see how it goes approach, as sadly too many do, usually find that actually, it all goes pretty quickly, the dog thinks fast, it moves fast, it learns fast, it dictates fast, it trains them fast, it manipulates them fast and before long the owner is running round after the dog, trying to keep up with its demands or deal with its issues. Soon the collie has "written" the owners job description

TITLE - Skivvy to the dog
Dog says.... throw my ball, NOW, and Again, and Again, stop throwing it now IN FACT DONT EVEN TOICH IT< ok, throw it NOW, stand still, move, speak to me, MOVEEE children, throw my ball, switch off that lawn mower, hoover, washer, TV, Throw my ball, don't touch me there, or there, throw my ball, touch me there - NOW, throw my ball, dont throw it now, don't touch that toy, Ok you can touch it now - ha only joking - gerrrrroooff - never mind it will heal, give it time! Throw my ball.

There are of course collies that do not do this. there are collies who in fact are laid back labradors inside they just look like collies .

Ha Ha... Jessie has some of these tendency's... although slightly different...

we throw her the ball and she runs and get's it and brings it half way back and expects you to go get it and throw it again... some times she'll bring it all the way back and play a good game of fetch for a good half hour then not bring the ball back, but then the game is over and she doesn't expect you to throw it any more... also she'll trick you into petting her by pushing her head underneath an unoccupied hand and soon you realize you're petting her... but this doesn't really bother us that much, we're working on training our husky to pick the ball up where she dropped it and bring it all the way to us... they both know drop it vary well

I've heard trainers refer to dogs who stop other dogs from playing too roughly as "fun police." And they don't generally mean that in a bad way. A good "fun police" dog can diffuse tension by pulling dogs who are on the verge of taking their play too far away from each other, distracting them, even getting one to chase them or simply get them to cool off for a few moments.

My border collie mix is one of those dogs. She always plays "fun police" at the dog park and I have pictures of her standing near two dogs who are playing really roughly together barking at them and then breaking up their play for a short bit. She's also been known to herd away a more aggressive player from a timid dog that it's harassing. She'll come between them and split the more aggressive player off from the timid dog, drive him further away or until he tries to play with her. It's pretty neat to watch!