I read an article a while back (which I now can’t seem to find) that explained dogs see “more” than we do. While we humans may see or register about 30 or so “frames” per second our canine buddies see quite a bit more than that. I’m reading this, in very basic terms, that our eyes will “take” 30 pictures a second for our brains to read over and dogs eyes “take” significantly more pictures per second. If I understand this correctly I find it pretty fascinating dogs were experiencing the visual world quite different than we are.

I came across this video today and it really touches on this point…(be sure to watch it in full screen)

Beautiful Day at the Dog Park from Kelsey Wynns on Vimeo.

…at a basic level. It’s neat to sort of get an idea, at dog level, what’s going on. The creator of this video, I think, did an amazing job.

Got to wondering about the rig he used. What if I strapped something similar to Ned while he was playing ball or tearing around full tilt? Not sure. Something to noodle on.

What do you think? What do you think a dogs point of view starts to look like? Probably a foolish question but it keeps popping into my head once in a while.

One of the main points we’ve learned in the past several years is Ned seemed to be the happiest when he’s learning something new. Even little stuff gets him going. The time we spend with him on new tricks, or just out chucking the ball around on walks, is really satisfying. Looking at this Agility thing I’m guessing it’s a total riot for the dogs and can only image what the owners are getting out of it.

Check out this video below. You can pretty plainly see how specific and technical this stuff is. Also look at the speed on that dog! Like lightning…

You can learn a bit more about Rev the Border Collie and owner Tori Self over on their blog at HippieDogs.com. There are some great Border Collie pictures on there as well.

From my limited research on the topic it seems like the best way to start is to start with the basics…like pretty much everything else. Jumps are a big part of the process as well as direction of the dog with verbal commands. Do some poking around, find a local group and see what you think!

If you’re into, or thinking about, Border Collie agility training I’d be very interested on your thoughts and experience. It looks like a total blast!

I came across this video of Mr. MacGregor and his pack of Border Collies that herd cattle. I’ve watched this a couple of times through and it’s just crazy. These dogs are so tough and so fast it’s easy to overlook how incredibly fearless they are…

The Mr. MacGregor makes a good point about working stock verses show stock that I feel applies to all potential Border collie owners. Not in any “one is better than the other” way but practically. Be sure to get a dog from a line that suits your purpose. Are you looking for a sport agility / family dog? Then getting a puppy from a long line of working dogs might be a mistake. Same goes the other way. Anyway…thought you’d find this one interesting…I know I did!

Typical sheep herding training starts at about 10 months of age. Before they get to this point basic command training has been in the works starting at about 10 weeks of age. This the the standard regime of dog training such as sit, stay, lay down and so on. The sheep herding training is built over on top of the basics. It takes many months of work but when you see what a fully trained sheep dog can do it’s simply stunning…

Our Border Collie Ned had never really been exposed to any livestock until about 3 years of age. We took him to Upsate New York to visit my Father in Law who lived in farm country. My wife and her father took him out to a neighbors barn and opened the door to show Ned the cattle. He froze for a second, his hackles went up and he started to growl like she’d never heard him growl before. He then slowy backed around behind my wife and looked at the cows from behind her legs…growling the whole time. Big baby.

I found this video and thought it was not only pretty amusing but a pretty good peek into what it’s like to have one around. You’ll note how in tune he is to the smallest weirdest stuff…

…see the thing with the soda can? When is the last time you knew of a dog that was even aware of a soda can let alone interested in one? It’s not the best example but it sort of outlines the point: these dogs are going to be “on” most of the time. They are going to want to know what you’re doing and how they can be involved. If you ignore the dog, or don’t provide enough exercise and stimulation, you’re going to regret it. These dogs have energy and intellect to spare and you’ve simply got to accommodate for it.

Ned is the most outwardly affectionate and gentle dog we’ve ever had. In fact my wife can’t take a nap without the dog curling up next to her for a nap of his own. He is always

So…when I ran across this video below of a Border Collie helping a chick hatch I thought it was pretty amazing…

This is pretty insane, in my opinion, for a couple of reasons beyond the whole “Why is he not eating it?” question. For one he really seems to “get” the fact the little chick is trying to get out of the egg. Secondly it’s crazy how gentle he is as he picks tiny little pieces of egg shell away. Third is when he gently takes the chick by the wing, at the end, and gives one final tug that frees the little bugger.

Thought you guys would get a kick out of this one…I know I did!

This is like the best of all worlds. The dogs get some amazing exercise and they have a “job” which as we all know is critical for Border Collies. The owner gets to hang out with his dog at work, which is great, and the dog gets to hang out with his owner all day. This is great! The only party this arrangement is not so hot for is the Geese.

…I was pretty amazed they figure the geese, left alone, would drop 100,000 pounds of waste on the course! Talk about a huge savings in maintenance cost!

If your dog is part of a Border Collie Geese Patrol unit we’d love to hear about it!

Why it’s necessary

While we were lucky in the point that Ned did not get aggressive with other dogs nor did he become amorous with the legs of friend or family – Ned was simply trying to hump everything on four legs he could get his paws on. It did not make any difference to him male or female, big or small, old or young he just went for it. Walking him on the leash with any other dog in sight became all but impossible. Having friends come over with their dogs was totally impossible as Ned would just not stop attempting to mate. It was simply non-stop, disruptive and really, really aggravating for us. For Ned it was no fun either…in fact our Vet described it akin to low grade torture. It was time to get it done.

After the trip to the Vet here is the dog after neutering…

…and on top of getting neutered he also got his dewclaws removed. Overall it was a bad day for Ned. After the operation he was pretty groggy for a day or two and looked at us in what we found to be a very accusing manner. Physically nothing looked very different “down there” however over the course of several days is scrotum got smaller and smaller. Eventually it disappears altogether. The cone obviously keeps him from licking/messing up anything in that area. Over all he was pretty tender for a while. He was pretty bummed out for a while but it only took about 7 or 8 days or so before he started to come out of the funk and moving around more normally.

Day ten he was running after a tennis ball even with that big cone on his head…see the dirt all around the edge? It was a half-speed sort of thing…only ground balls…short throws…no jumping…that sort of thing.

So, was it worth it?

100% yes. Absolutely. We were concerned that because we had waited relatively long to get this operation done the benefits would either be minimized or simple not take hold. Luckily we saw some great benefits within a week or so of the operation. After Ned was back on his feet we noticed right off that he no longer had that insatiable need to mount every dog he got near. It was like magic. Walking him on the leash was a joy again. Friends could bring their dogs over to our place and we found we could take him anywhere (still do!). Over all if you are considering neutering your dog do it as soon as your vet recommends it. Skip all the hassle and headaches for yourself and save your dog the frustration.

So the question comes up: Just how smart are these dogs and how much can they really learn? Well two guys figured out they’d give it a shot. John Pilley and Alliston Reid are both psychologists and they got to wondering if there was an upper limit to how much a dog could really learn. They had heard about a 9 year old Border ­Collie named Rico who had a vocabulary of 200 words. They wanted to see how much higher they could go.

After working for about 5 hours a day for a few years with Chaser they now have a dog that recognizes over 1000 toys by name. Border Collie Chaser knows over one thousand different toys by name. You’ve got to check this video out…

On top of learning over 1000 objects by name she also can string together instructions. It’s amazing. I’ll let you check out a the website for the specifics but I thought it was an amazing example of what these dogs are capable of.

Here’s that link: Border Collie Chaser.

At one point, when Ned was a wee Border Collie puppy, I was changing the trash in the kitchen. It’s a pretty ho-hum household chore, right? Well this particular evening Ned came over and was checking out the trash bag as I pulled it out of the box. He was sniffing at it and licked it once or twice which was odd as he’d never seemed to notice it before. Just messing around I gave it a quick shake which made that noise trash bags do when you shake them. Neds’ eyes got huge, the tail went up and he went into a sort of high alert ready stance. At the time this was pretty funny so I shook it again a little louder. He took off running like he’d just seen a ghost. A minute or so later he slowly came back downstairs staring at that trash bag like it was the Devil himself. We didn’t know at the time but Ned had found his life long nemesis.

A few days later it was time to change the trash again. Puttering around the kitchen I reached in and pulled another trash bag out of the box. Out of nowhere Ned comes charging full steam across the kitchen, looking like he was ready to really kick some butt, right at me. Suddenly I recalled his reaction from a few days ago and, again not thinking much about it, shook the bag at him just playing around. This, as it turns out, was a bad idea.

See the tail and ears up? He's growling too. He really hates trash bags. This behavior is totally my fault.

That was 2 years ago. We’re still dealing with Ned’s extreme dislike of trash bags. Every time I pull a bag out of the box, not matter how quietly I do it, he comes running. He can hear the slightest plastic crinkle of a trash bag from all the way upstairs and, I swear, even when he’s dead asleep. Now, we’ve been able to calm him on this over time so he’s not running around and barking but it’s still a thing.

My mistake really hit home when we were traveling up and down the East Coast for the holidays a year ago visiting family. We had Ned with us, as we were driving, when we stopped for a visit at my bother in laws house in West Virginia. After a monster dinner my sister in law saw it was time to change the trash. See what’s coming here? As she pulled the trash bag out from under the sink Ned charged into the kitchen, from a dead sleep mind you, and let out the single loudest bark he’s ever made (and he almost never barks). Scared her half to death. My wife and I almost fell out of our chairs we were laughing so freaking hard. The look to total confusion and surprise on her sister’s face was priceless. Funny but still, bad form all around on my part.

So the lesson is, I think, don’t make a game out of things you don’t really want to be a game. It’s been two freaking years now and while it is better (no barking or growling) he still comes running every single time we pull out a trash bag. Something like this could, in an extreme example, be a problem at some point. Like what if a little kid had a bag? What if my sister in law backed into a hot stove? I don’t know…it could be over thinking it but I sure would have felt pretty stupid if someone got hurt even a little bit from this sort of thing. It is pretty funny though. Either way…just something to be aware of!