I'm a mutt kind of person, and now we have a fairly "pure" bred Collie. Anyone?

[ogneopasno]

Anyone else ever had a collie? What are they like?

[flvegan]

1. If Timmy ever falls into a well, you're gold.

[ogneopasno]

2. We keep asking "What's wrong, girl?" every time it barks, but it never tells us.

[femmocrat]

3. Wonderful dogs, but a major grooming committment.

Good luck! Got a picture? :hi:

[ogneopasno]

9. No pic! Aren't I awful?

Trust me, though -- he's gorgeous.

[ogneopasno]

20. Got a pic now, downthread.

[mentalsolstice]

4. Nice thing about breeds is you somewhat know what you're getting

You can read up and join discussion groups for advice. Nonetheless, I'm mutt-friendly, and have had several. However, I've had pugs since I was 7 years old (also always had kitties in the house). As a young adult and scholar/professional, I continued to seek out pugs, as I knew they were low-maintenance, mostly quiet, and apartment friendly. As I get older, they're still my breed of choice, for the aforementioned reasons, and they're also travel-friendly.

Oddly enough, we now have two purebreds in our house, however, they were both strays. We have a pug (my vet couldn't believe it, that a 8 m.o. pug puppy strayed up to the right house), and a yellow Lab. They just seem to gravitate to us. We also have a stray kitty, who has been with us since 1999.

I don't know much about collies, I've been around border collies some, and they were friendly and smart.

[ogneopasno]

10. Yeah, we usually stick to mutts from the shelter. This guy was from the shelter, too, and we were

surprised to find a collie unclaimed. They said he was a stray. So far, he seems friendly and smart, although on the timid side.

[Lavender Brown]

5. Never had one, but I love Collies.

You know the rule here is, if you mention a pet you have to post a picture. :)

[ogneopasno]

11. Time to dig up the digital cam...

[ogneopasno]

21. I've fulfilled my obligation! It's downthread.

[dawgmom]

6. Had one as a child

They're wonderful dogs. Sweet-tempered, and wonderful with kids.
Only a coupld of downsides: they are double-coated (as my Samoyeds are) and thus require a log of time on grooming. You've got to brush every night, or you'll have a nightmare of mats.
The other downside can be the barking. They love to bark. In fact, collies are the most common breed that vets perform that awful surgery on, to "de-bark" them.

[ogneopasno]

12. He's a little leery of brushing, because he's timid/submissive, but we've been working on it.

The good news is, he's not too barky. The other dog we adopted from the shelter is a hound mix, and he does a lot of whining/talking (I swear, he's part Siamese cat), but the collie is generally pretty quiet.

[realisticphish]

7. collies are great

pretty emotive, listen fairly well, great with kids and cats/other dogs

just make SURE to groom weekly, at the very least. It can get out of control easily (since theoretically, according to the AKC, collies should never be trimmed except for their legs)

[ogneopasno]

13. I've already cut out several mats -- AKC be damned.

I mean, supposedly he's deficient because his ears don't tip forward or "break" properly! :rolleyes:

And I'm sorry, if he's going to poop in such a way that he gets it on his butt, I'm cutting those bad boys right out of there, not brushing.

[realisticphish]

15. oh, definitely

we trim my parent's collie, when necessary. I mean, who has the time to brush and comb them every day, which is pretty much what the AKC's strategy requires?

He's old, and can't really "clean himself up" anymore, so trimming is more important than ever

[lizziegrace]

8. I had a Shetland Sheepdog

I think their temperaments are very similar to collies. I'd get another one in a heartbeat. They're smart and tend to stay close.

[ogneopasno]

14. He does stay close, which is great. Our last dog had been a stray for over a year

and liked to totally ignore us when it was time to come in. This guy is like velcro.

[lizziegrace]

16. He'll probably stay that way

our sheltie had different roles for each of us. I was the shepherd, my ex was another dog in the pack to play with and my daughter was a sheep to be protected. It was funny to watch his routine. He'd herd Lelapin away from the street and strangers. He rarely left my side. I miss him.

[hobbit709]

17. This was Bebop 1989-2004

Sweetest dog ever.

[ogneopasno]

18. Aw, that face! And what a great name!

[ogneopasno]

19. OK, here's a picture...hope I'm doing this right...

You can see the trash he was nibbling on. That's why he looks guilty.

[Lavender Brown]

25. Awww!

He's gorgeous. :loveya:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

22. Is it a real collie (aka Border Collie) or a Lassie type collie?

[ogneopasno]

23. Lassie type. But much lighter colored, with little black/blue.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

24. I just saw the pic -- pretty dog

I have two Border Collies, so I was just curious. I don't really know much about Lassie Collies, excep they came about by crossing a Border Collie with a Borzoi.