Customer Reviews

Understanding Border Collies

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My fiancee and I recently made the decision to follow through with our dream of having a border collie. We've read other breed-specific books (after getting our other dog, a Shetland sheepdog) and came away unimpressed. Most of them provide basic, general dog-ownership advice and common sense. So, yes, we understand that we will need to give the border collie much more time and mental/physical exercise than a typical breed. We have also read plenty of horror stories of restless border collies destroying its owner's home to varying degrees. I bought this book, with limited information in the description, in the hope that it would have breed-specific information that I couldn't find just surfing the internet.

...And it really paid off! Clearly the author has great expertise with respect to border collies and is not afraid to share opinions and impressions that, while not necessarily universal, could be helpful to prospective owners. (e.g. The author believes that coat length and ear shape may give a hint on a puppy's energy level.) What I like, in particular, is that the author provides as much advice for owners seeking mere companionship (like us) as for those seeking working dogs.

I just finished the section regarding specific dietary issues of border collies, and found it very helpful. (I was surprised to learn that the premium dog food we give to our finicky sheltie would probably send a non-working border collie through the roof!)

If I was to find any complaint about the book, it would be that the photographs in the book are not in color. I also wouldn't mind if it were a touch cheaper, given that it's only 157 pages.

These pages, however, are clear, well-written and chalk-full of valuable breed-specific information (and with almost nothing that is just general dog-ownership common sense). I'm sure that this book saved us any number of "incidents" and will only make our future border collie (and its owners) a great deal happier in the future.

This book is excellent in that it is a great help to the reader for "Understanding Border Collies". It does not try to teach you how to train the breed, but rather does an in depth study of how they think and in turn puts you in the dog's mind, so you may think like they think and opens the road to a long, rewarding relationship with your dog.

My husband and I felt this book was helpful in raising our Border Collies but often found the instructions more valuable if you were wanting a companion pet versus a working herding dog. It was still a great book in understanding and working with the impish intelligence of the Border Collie breed. For those who are trying to deal with the herding instincts as evidenced by unwanted or destructive behaviors, this book does help. FYI: The biggest tip I would give those wanting a Border Collie as a companion is that these dogs have to have a job whether it's agility, running or jogging with it's owner, or herding other animals. It would be very unusual for a Border Collie to be kept in a small cage over 8 hours a day or even left in a back yard while at work and not develop some type of unwanted behavior. Since we actually have cattle that our dogs work, we found other books to be more helpful for what we needed but still learned a lot from this one.

The book was mostly the author's opinion on Border Collies and had the usual pet care information applicable to all breeds. While the book was ok, it wasn't what I was looking for and ended up buying Larson's The Versatile Border Collie, which was PERFECT!

Everyone who wants to have a border collie should read this book first. They are NOT like most other dogs and this book does a great job of pointing out the differences. There is a wealth of great information in this book-every border collie "owner" should keep this book handy!

The writing style is a bit repetitive, and the author presents her opinion of the breed as fact. Unfortunately for me (but maybe not others), a lot of the opinions were not ones that I shared. It would have been nice if she had written alternative views to the breed. For example, she insists that traditional characteristics of the breed should not be bred out, as 'our ancestors' had specifically bred them in that way. The logic escapes me, because what she is essentially saying is that 'our ancestors' had the natural right of breeding a dog for specific genetic disposition, but that we (as 'moderns') aren't entitled to do the same. What she seems to forget is that we are the ancestors of future generations and, as an example, professional breeders may be doing good by attempting to breed out the 'herding nip' characteristic for people who like to own the dogs as house pets.

It was a good basic introduction to the breed, but I'm hoping to find a better book in the future.

I bought this to help with training of my border collie mix. Although I don't agree with 100% of the writers views... it did offer some interesting insights. I found the book very useful for it's stated purpose.

I found this book on Amazon when we just got our 7 week old pup, Jeep. Having lifelong street dogs and cast offs this was The Dog We Wanted after the death of our old 15 yr old. Be warned : a Border is not the same as other dogs - they really are sensitive, highly attuned to moods, not demanding but they worry if you do, they are sad if you are, etc. Barbara Sykes does brilliant work by explaining their point of view. We are busy travellers who just retired and wanted to know how to handle the breed. I think THE most important thing is that he has never been alone all day - ever - and the longest stretch (say 4 or 5 hours) is no problem for him now. Why? we go "sheeping" 2x a week - he is excellent I am.....not! but its great fun and exhausts him. We live in the middle of a big Euro city but with a large garden and parks nearby (as well as odd weeks, weekends in other countries where we walk in the hills) our dog is a happy, sociable and calm one. We did have to work hard on his training, he always jumped at me every morning, licked my neck (cute) but not when he tries it with visitors! as well,every day I have done 30-50 mins training (rings, jumps, hiding stuff to retrieve) and it works fantastically as our cat (who loathed him as she loved the other dog) joins in and gets "paid" as he does - mental stimulation is vital to a BC. As a result he never barks, never jumps, and without Barbara's advice I would never have known that his naughtiness with NOT fetching the article I ask for, is actually humour! if I ask for the ring, the rope, the ball, the frisbee, he will fetch everything else but I thought it was stupidity, now know from her its his way of saying I'm bored. He is a fabulous just 2 yr old dog who got lucky ONLY because I read this book.

Never raised a puppy before. There were a lot of interesting facts. Many probably relate to other breeds. However if you are a first time border puppy owner I would suggest this book.

Fabulous book. Barbara Sykes has a keen understanding of Border Collies and dogs in general. I found the information in the book very helpful in helping me better communicate with the border collie I recently rescued.