The Ultimate Herder
Border collies are bred to herd and the chase
instinct is very strong indeed. Border collies should never - ever be
allowed off the lead in the vicinity of stock be it sheep, cattle, horses,
ducks or other poultry unless they are working. Farmers take terrible
losses each year as a result of dogs killing, damaging or terrorising
livestock, if your dog is loose in a field of livestock the farmer has
the right to shoot him - and it will be your fault both morally and
legally!
The border collie is first and foremost a powerful working dog
Apart from livestock some border collies will chase almost anything that moves and that include cars, motorbikes, bicycles and small animals including children.
Car chasing is a lethal pastime and extra effort must be made when training border collies to ensure they are relaxed and disinterested in and around traffic. When exercising border collies in recreation areas or in the countryside the growing number of hobby cyclists can be a real problem, border collies should be trained to ignore cyclists and taught to lie down instantly on command so that they are under proper control even when off the lead.
Most border collies love children and love to join in their games but both children and border collies are prone to becoming over excited and a little out of control. In this situation the border collie's instinct may encourage it to herd the children perhaps, nipping at them as it might do with sheep or even to gripping them. Whilst this is not "aggressive" behaviour on the dog's part, children's skin is very thin and easily damaged and many children are "bitten" by dogs who are simply playing in a sociable (canine way) but have no reference point from which to understand how frail children's skin is compared with that of other dogs or even puppies.
With very young children play should always be supervised to prevent things getting out of hand and some strong willed or less tolerant border collies are really best with older children.
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