Living with a collie.?

Question

Has anyone ever lived with a collie?

what are they like?

i was thinking about getting a smooth coat. i currently have a cardigan corgi. Any advice?

Answer 1

Collies are smart dogs that want to please you.  They have a calm spirit, but love to play and run.  They are great for families.  Type Collie in your search engine, and join some clubs.  You can see what people who own Collies have to say, and get great tips, and support, just like here.

Answer 2

I owned a collie for 13 years and am getting another one next spring for conformation and herding (hopefully). My aussie is the best dog I have owned but collies are definatly my favorite breed. The key is to get a well bred collie.

A well bred collie has a wonderful temperment. They are friendly and love everyone, normally not a one person dog. They get a long especially well with children and are content to stand guard over a yard full of children. They are the least reserved of the traditional herding breeds.

Their drive to herd is much lower than the other breeds. Less likely to nip at running childrens heels though they may run circles around them barking if the play gets to be what they perseive as too rough. You can count on a collie to let you know whenever something is amiss. My collie would tell on children if they played to hard, or on my border collie if she was doing something he knew was against my rules.

They do need daily exercise but for an active person it is easy to meet. A brisk walk in the morning and at night suits most collies fine. In fact you have to be carefull that they dont get chunkey as many collies are world class couch potatoes. They do love to be with their people though and are ready and willing to take part in all activities you ask them to. They do well in agility, herding, and tracking. They learn quick but you have to take care to train them early and use positive methods. Collies will not respond to harsher methods.

Then there is the coat. Smooths shed just as bad as roughs, dont let the name fool you. They are also double coated and shed fairly consistantly. A couple times a year they blow their coat and the hair will be everywhere. Its no worse though than a breed such as a greman shepherd. The smooths coat is fairly easy maintanence.

Do be very pickey about the breeder you buy from. A well bred collie is healthy a poorly bred one can have a lot of very costly heath issue. My rescue colllie had severe idiopathic epilepsy and hip dysplasia. You want to buy from a breeder who has excellent health records and checks her dogs for multiple health issues and breeds only healthy stock. You want things such as eye, hip, thyroid, MDR1, dentition, OFA, checked. Pups should come from conformation championed parents. Its always good if they also herd with their dogs. Breeders should take interest in preserving the instincts as well as the look of their dogs. Along with all the other things you normally check for when purchasing a puppy

A well bred collie is a joy to live with

Answer 3

A border collie? They are the lovely dogs and make great family pets. They are easy to train and extremely are clever and are very loyal and friendly. You should deffiantely get one =]