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market-farming - Re: Finding a farm dog. . .

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Subject: Market Farming

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  • From: Willie McKemie <mckemie AT austinfarm.org>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Finding a farm dog. . .
  • Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2002 07:47:11 -0600


> I thought our border collie would make a great pet too. Until he started

We have had a long succession of Border Collies and I think you
mis-judge them a bit. While I have yet to turn one into a "run off the
deer/rabbit/coon" dog (which means that they are not of much use to me),
I have found them to be eminently trainable. ALL of ours have quickly
learned what is permissible behavior and what is not. They quickly
learn not to go on to the county road, they quickly learn which rooms
in the house not to enter, they quickly learn "lie down", "move up",
"heel", and "get back out".

Early in life each Border Collie becomes bonded to some activity. For
a real working dog (all of ours have been pets), that should be working
stock. Most of our dogs have become bonded to working vehicles. But,
only certain vehicles: my tractors and my diesel trucks. I can not
discourage them from working the vehicles, though they will temporarily
obey "heel", "lie down", and "get back out" commands. They do ignore
vehicles of others both on our roads and on public roads and they have
learned not to follow my vehicles on to public roads. One of our
earlier dogs grew up off the farm and he was bonded to playing catch
and fetch with tennis balls. Alas! though we know the rules, we have
not had the perseverance to consciously bond our young Border Collies
to activities of our choice, we have just allowed them to work vehicles
on the farm. We currently have two Border Collies and they spend their
days following or leading the tractor up and down and up and down rows.
Eventually, they get hot and tired and they find mud puddles to jump
in. Again eventually, they find that they can control the tractor
sufficiently from the shade of a tree, though they never tire of
closely watching the tractor.

Border Collies can make terrific pets if you can give them the activity
that they need. They are highly intelligent and eager to do your
bidding; all that you need do is communicate with them.

--
Willie Celebrating SIX MONTHS of uptime.
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