Most Border Collies will require three or four hours a day of very active engagement. They need to work their bodies and their minds. If you want a Border Collie, where will you spend those hours with your dog? What kind of activities will you do? They are busy, hard working, hard thinking dogs. If you do not have a plan in mind, they will invent one -- anticipating the UPS truck and alerting the neighborhood, keeping the area free of birds, rounding up small children, renovating the laundry room down to the insides of the drywall, redoing the landscaping, and wearing a path in the backyard. You believe you want a smart dog; be careful what you wish for!
A Border Collie puppy, in particular, is a relentless bundle of energy. If you seek a more mellow alternative, a responsible breeder may be able to help you find an older dog for rehoming. Do your homework, know what you can manage, and use the expertise of people who know the breed well and want what is best for the dog and for a family considering this breed. It is not uncommon for a litter of puppies to be spoken for one or two years in advance of the breeding.
Different breeders will have a variety of priorities, and there is a wide array in types of Border Collies. They will vary in intensity, drive, reactivity, and body type.
I breed for generous and outgoing temperament and healthy minds and bodies. My dogs are active in therapy dog work, agility, and obedience.
We live on a 180-acre boarding school campus outside of Santa Barbara, among 275 talented and busy teenagers and the 100 adults who live and teach here. Our dogs are socialized to be engaging, outgoing, kind and curious from birth
