All About The Border Collie
The border collie is a dog breed originating in Great Britain, in this article we take a look at the border collies history, genetics and general characteristics. This article also discuss concerns to do with the health of the border collie.
The border collie originates from the border of England and Scotland hence the name border collie. They were originally bred for sheep herding the breed has since gone on to cattle herding and in later years agility and flyball. With the border collies history in so much work it has produce a very high energy, high drive breed of dog.
The main genetic health concerns that effect the breed are hip dysplasia and Collie eye anomaly. If you are thinking of buying a puppy try and make sure the parents are tested for these conditions. Dogs can be DNA tested witch guarantees there puppies will not suffer from Collie eye anomaly. Hip dysplasia is more difficult to test for. Dogs can be hip scored which will help to diagnose hip dysplasia but its no guarantee against it. There are other genetic conditions border collies suffer with these include epilepsy and Osteochondritis.
Border collies are known for there intelligence, speed and agility, these aspects have made them the number on breed for just about every dog sport. If you look around any agility, obedience or flyball competition you will see a sea of border collies. They really do rule all of these sports and will continue to do so due to there intelligence and keen work ethic.
Border collies are a diverse breed that comes in many different colours and often many different shapes and sizes. Some of the main colours border collie can come in include black and white, tri, red, blue merle, red merle and blue. There are also many different variations of these colours and even some rarer colours such as golden. The size of these dogs can also varies greatly border collies can range from cocker spaniel size right up to German Shepard size. Even the eye colour and how the ears stand can varies in the breed. There eyes can be blue, green or brown and in many cases there eyes do not need to match. The ears on the border collie can range from down, up or even between the two. There ears also do not need to match you see many border collies with one ear up and one ear down. Although for breed show purposes eyes and ears should match.
Due to there diversity many countries do not count the border collie as a pedigree dog in there breed club, Canada is one of these countries. This has put countries competing at international events from these countries at a significant disadvantage. There diversity can also make breed shows difficult as the breed diverse so much. Many different countries have different ideas on how the breed should look.
The border collies high work ethic can cause problems with there temperament and behavior. Many border collies can be aggressive with other dogs this can be extremely are to fix and should be taken into consideration before deciding if a border collie is right for you. The best course of action is to buy from a reputable breeder who’s dogs have a long history of good temperaments.
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Gerry Ronson has been working with dogs for over 15 years and now writes about them for numberous websites include dog accessories and dog training leicester. He has worked in numerouse canine fields including training, health care and genetics.
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