American Canine Association

Breeds

Border Collie


History

Born and bred near Scotland and England, this breed is known for their phenomenal talent of herding farm animals. Extremely intelligent and eager to learn, this breed calls for a home where he or she is able to have a job to do every single day. This breed has been used for herding, poliece work, sports such as fly ball, search and rescue and much more.

Appearance

This breed is considered a large breed, with females and males measuring an average of 18-22 inches in height and weighing an average of 30-45 pounds in weight. This breed is built lean and active in appearance. Their head is built triangular in appearance and very smoothly transitions into a narrow muzzle with a scissor bite. Their almond shaped eyes are available in hazel, black and at times light blue. In some cases, this breed has two different color eyes or one single eye that is two different colors. Their two triangular ears are either positioned upright and firm on top of their head, or folded 3/4 of the way up. Some Border Collies have one ear up and one ear folded as well. Their weather resistant double coat is medium to long in length and available in black and white, red and white, tri color, yellow, black or yellow with white. Their tail is very long in length and is feathered in appearance with hair.

Temperament

Extremely energetic, the Border Collie requires an extremely high amount of mental and physical stimulation every single day in order to be relaxed and well behaved. This breed is best suited for a farm land environment where he or she can thrive. It is important to note that this breed is best suited for families with older children within the home, due to this breed naturally herding all small things, including children. For potential owners of this breed it is highly recommended that they enroll and encourage agility activities, obedience classes and competitions as well as other active and stimulating actives to include both owner and canine mentally and physically, to have a health, well balanced dog as the outcome. With proper activity, this breed is very devoted, loyal, loving and fun. They stay active well into their older years, which makes them a wonderful breed to grow up with children. This breed is not suited for homes with non-canine or small canine pets.

Grooming

This breed requires daily brushing and bathing when needed. A trip to a professional groomer is recommended at least twice a year.

Special Notes

Please note that this breed is very sensitive to sound and loud noises. This breed is not meant for everybody and it is highly recommended that you have a properly fenced in area for your Border Collie to roam freely and safely within while at home. This breed is not suited for apartment living. Please fully educate yourself about the Border Collie prior to adding one to your household to ensure you are able to provide life long financial and physical care to your new family member. All dogs originate from wolves (Canis Lupus). Each breed of dog was originally created by mixing different breeds together in an effort to bring forth certain characteristics. Once a breeder has created acceptable “breed characteristics” within their bloodline and these “breed characteristics” have shown to be reliably reproduced in the offspring for three (3) generations, the bloodline may be upgraded from the category of “foundation stock” to “pure-bred”. The same “pure-bred” breed standards vary from different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders. Dog DNA testing companies can have accurate results for a specific bloodline of a small colony of dogs. However, there are tens of thousands of different bloodlines in the world which have not yet been tested for marker baseline results by Dog DNA testing companies as of 2017. For this reason Dog DNA testing companies do not guarantee the 100% accuracy of their breed lineage results and will also show different marker results for the same pure-bred breed in different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders.

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