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The Border Collie Debate: Working Dog or Pet?

Border Collies are not just simple black and white sheepdogs that run after sheep. They’re the most cognitively intense mentally attuned working breeds in the world. And there are other mentally great dogs as well in this same rank in case that upsets anyone, which it will.

Working Dogs or Family Pets?

I’m not arguing that people are wrong! I’m arguing that the advice given is too absolute and ignores how border collies and other high-performance, high-energy dogs adapt when given training, a working structure and the right level of engagement.

For example, a German shepherd, a Belgian Malinois or a border collie otherwise known as a sheepdog, don’t come preinstalled, as loopy or crazy if they are stuck daily in a home as just a family pet which some people think they will!

I know I could bring into this other dog breeds such as the Doberman or the Rottweiler and so on. But let’s just stick with these three breeds. What they are is highly responsive, very quick to learn patterns and highly sensitive to stimulation which can also be applied to lots of other dogs that you wouldn’t even expect!

I believe I can’t be over 80% correct, but the information out there is not correct and I’ve wanted to state this and write this article for some time!
All dogs, especially high energy dogs, needing high amounts of exercise and stimulation adapt more than people know. Their training and structure matters massively more than whether they are pets or working dogs. It’s the training structure that matters!

Many people think and have had this said to me when I bought a collie that it needs 5 miles running a day because generally border collies, sheepdogs could be out with the farmer 12 to 16 hours a day. They absolutely love the outdoors and thrive in the air, wind, rain and the mud rounding up sheep all day long and are in their element.

I’ve had three border collies in my life and two German shepherds. And because I trained them well, all of them are happy content dogs. They’re more than happy to sleep 16 hours a day on and off like other dogs do and have two miles walking a day, with lots of love and attention, and they’ve adapted, to a non-working life. Because the training is in place. They know what to do, they know what’s expected of them. I gave them a map, an instruction booklet through a period of early puppy training.

So they’re not acting upon raw instinct or an impulsive or compulsive nervous system to their own devices, they’re living by the map that was given to them as puppies and that map was a period of 20 weeks or so training to drum into them what is required of them as pets, sit, stay down, come, fetch and so on.

What’s important and paramount over anything else is the training so the dog is not acting upon their raw nervous system or in other words, it’s not left to do what it wants.

The Claim Border Collies Should Not Be Pets!

A border collie is bred for working, it’s bred for herding and its high responsiveness and constant focused engagement with the farmer. People argue that placing this type of dog into a quiet home creates frustration, behavioural issues and boredom which is not true in my experience because it does not know anything else.

Is my lived experience with three border collies over the decades enough to know this? Partly it is but not fully, because other owners will experience things differently. I’m arguing that as long as the dog is trained, it’s fed right, it’s not left all on its own all day long and it’s not got holding over excessive number of calories that it can’t burn off. It’ll adapt and be a content, happy family dog.

If you take 50 of the large high energy dog breeds and don’t train them and let them, just be at the mercy of their own decisions and nervous system and leave them in a house for 20 hours a day and over feed them. If you do not walk them daily, then you will have an edgy dog to deal with. But if you introduce proper training from the start, you’ll have a very sleepy, lazy dog that will adapt. It’s down to training. Yes, there might be other things built on that, but it’s hugely down to training and lack of it. That is the problem.

My Experience, Calm, Adaptable Dogs!

My border collies switch off and rest for long periods and don’t show any signs of boredom or distress and I’m showing that as evidence. I’m not showing that they can’t be pets.

Quieten down, switched off high performing dogs such as German Shepherds, Belgian Malinois and Sheepdogs don’t run at maximum capacity unless their environment requires it or demands it. And that they match the rhythm around them as long as they’re trained.

Adaptability Verses Genetics!

This means dogs are both environmentally shaped and at the same time genetically predisposed.

The Border Collie is capable of intense work, ongoing over a long period of time. But that doesn’t mean it requires to do it daily to remain in a stable state or in other words to be happy.

And here’s the point to note that all dogs do not adapt equally where some collies do settle well into homes as pet dogs, but some don’t.

And there are many variables involved as to why this is the case. That difference includes management, stimulation, training. And high up on the list is temperament.

Most people overlook this and that energy is not just physical. So, when people say sheepdogs or border collies need loads of exercise and I’ve had it said to me when they were puppies, what they’re actually saying is problem solving, engagement and mental stimulation.

And my experience of this in real time, in a real-life situations is when I walk my dog up the road, it engages quite heavily in scent marking, scanning and interacting with the environment. Also, when he sees a person on an empty road or in the distance or a dog walker, he will fix his attention and gaze on them excessively, almost predatory as if they are something to be herded. But he doesn’t do anything. It’s just the dog using its brain.

And this is the work, he has adapted and found an outlet for that type of brain which differs from other dogs and is completely happy. If he wasn’t able to scent mark and zigzag cross the pavement, which sometimes I allow, especially when we go to the grass, the field or the park. He’s in his element then and he’s using his brain, he’s the happiest content dog I’ve ever had.

As long as the border collie engages at least twice a day in two long walks. It then has mental output, it discharges and it releases. He applies his mental capacities or facilities to different things which suits his needs. Otherwise, it would be scraping and screaming, barking, climbing the walls. But it doesn’t do any of that and he’s a happy pet dog.

The Myth of Endless Border Collie Exercise Needs!

How much exercise does a border collie need? Firstly, if you constantly increase your dog’s activity, you can condition it to expect that level because you will be building a higher baseline or moving it from where it currently is.

So, the question has to be changed, to what level have you conditioned your dog to expect?

If a border collie is out with the farmer 12 or 16 hours a day and then you take it home to become a pet, it will suffer and it’s as simple as that.

If you obtain an 8-week-old border collie puppy and it becomes a household family pet that has two or three walks a day, then it won’t know anything more than that, because it’s never experienced running after sheep for hours on end, following carefully trained instructions so it will adapt and find its own way as a family pet in the things I’ve outlined.

This is where people fail with high drive breeds when there is no structure, no mental engagement, an inconsistent training. Or over arousal without any switch down or switch off training.

Belgian Malinois energy level

And this is particularly prevalent with the Belgian Malinois and this is where destruction, anxiety and too much energy shows up. It is at this point when too much energy shows up because you have just trained it unknowingly, possibly to become an energy generating machine. All because of conditioning and expectation.

So, it’s not just the breed, it’s the actual handling or rearing too.

It’s more like they can be excellent pets in the right environment with the right owner, but they are not low effort or low energy dogs and not suited to everybody.

The only criticism I’ve got of my border collie is this. Border collies are renowned for their lunging and puppies walking at the side of the road tend to see cars as their prey, in a predator prey way, and they can lunge at cars. They have to be trained to stop this.

The one thing that my sheep dog has always done is when he wants attention, he can nip you. And that can happen in a family home with children when they’re playing. The border collie tends to just gently bite or nip you and that’s what they do with the sheep or cattle when they want them to move or react or even play!

I would say not all dogs are the same or similar at the same time. Because most dogs share the same or similar traits especially the high-end energy driven dogs such as a German Shepherd and the Border Collie share similar traits, but the collies are generally more environmentally sensitive and obsessive. A Belgian Malinois is a step up from that level of intensity but this is a spectrum of incremental increase, not exactness.

You could be here all day with this argument. I’ve seen, other smaller breeds of dogs, tearing the house to pieces. Spinning around, climbing the walls. Biting the plaster of walls. Tearing up the carpet. Biting doors. Endless untrained craziness and being loopy would be an understatement.

Before anyone makes a decision on any breed, spend the first 20 weeks providing that dog with a map of correct training and then make judgements and assessments and you’ll see that most dogs can make great household pets!

While these dogs love having a job to do, you can easily channel that work ethic at home by using techniques from a Sheep Dog Training and Behaviour Course to keep their active minds fully satisfied.

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