My brother had a border collie, and he trained it to sit around and do nothing.

[hedgehog]

Not really; he had to start raising a flock of ducks to give the dog something to herd other than school buses! Sometimes behaviors are bred into a dog!

[pscot]

1. Humans too

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Every Golden retriever I've had would swim out after ducks on the lake

until they finally learned better.

One time when Ole (now many years deceased) was frantically swimming after ducks, much to the amusement of some people fishing from shore. I told them he was half retriever & half border collie so he just couldn't help trying to herd ducks.

[hollysmom]

3. my Sadie was half border collie half lab

she used to like to lie on the couch and watch Nova and animal planet.
I used to take her to the park to herd the geese away. made our local park pretty goose free for years until she died.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. My wife says one of our goldens, Gus, likes Animal Planet.

The other one, Honey, mostly just wants attention.

[southernyankeebelle]

8. I have 3 little dogs. I like to watch Animal Planet but all 3 dogs spend their time

barking at the tv so I have to change the channel. They love to watch the Sprout Channel. It a channel for little children and I usually leave it on that channel when I have to go out and they are indoors. They lay around the house and are quiet. Until the see the car and they start barking and barking. They act like they haven't seen me in months.

[hollysmom]

22. Well. my hunting dog does not like TV at all, she doesn't even look at it -

probably a vision thing, but Sadie used to love Lassie, collie she had several friends we would have play dates in the park with, but one show Lassie got attacked by a rabid dog., it upset Sadie so much, she left the room and after that when she would hear the theme song of Lassie, she would leave the room. Would never watch it again/ I really loved that dog, miss her every day,can't say that about all my dogs, loved them, in different ways, but Sadie was something special.

[southernyankeebelle]

31. Wow that is interesting. I think the human voices helps them not miss us when we are not at

home. I have one of the dogs that does't like being alone at all and will destroy the house if he was alone. But having the tv on is human voices and they are relaxed. So I leave the tv on while am gone. My husbands sleeps during the day and sometimes I have to go to the doctors. When I leaves they cry like mad for a bit. Then after awhile they shut up. When I come home they see the car and go nuts until I open the door. It's funny. I love my babies.

[MoclipsHumptulips]

27. No blame there.

n/t

[whistler162]

9. So did she herd fish?

[Jackpine Radical]

11. No. She retrieved sheep.

[Marrah_G]

13. hahaha!

[Marrah_G]

12. Ours likes animal planet too!

But she is a malamute, so she would not herd the geese.... she would eat them!!!!!

The only reason she doesn't eat the cats is that they put her in her place as a tiny puppy.

She also hates the basketball... not sure why, but she spend hours trying to kill it.

[Marrah_G]

10. LOL

[lastlib]

5. My smooth-haired collie chases helicopters and airplanes!

(He has never let ONE of those weird birds land anywhere close to this place!)

Of course, he also barks at anything else that flies--geese, hawks, mockingbirds........

[Jackpine Radical]

14. Mine too.

Poor guy--he's out in the back yard trying to dig a hole in the ice & snow to bury the Cessna he caught.

[Aerows]

6. I've successfully trained

every cat I've ever owned to fetch (3). Dogs are infinitely easier to train to do anything than training a cat.

Still, it's possible

And yes, behaviors are inbred. That's why some dogs are herders by nature, and have to be given something to do.

Fighting dogs, well, that's just a sad, sad breed made for a sad purpose.

[grasswire]

7. oddly enough, my border collie isn't interested in geese..

...on our lawn. Canada geese are there every day but he's not interested. He does enjoy their poop now and then when it's gotten crunchy.

Squirrels are another thing. They drive him mad.

And he lives with our two cats. That's a lot of fun.

[LWolf]

15. My australian shepherd has little interest in herding.

She's had plenty of opportunity.

She was a gift. She comes from a long line of competitive trial herders, both sides of her family.

She is interested in being where I am; in barking and pushing other dogs away from me, while wriggling and inviting them to play with HER; in wriggling and pushing people out of my space while inviting them to talk to and scratch HER; in going places with me, and in maintaining a regular schedule when it comes to ranch chores.

When not out doing "chores" with me, she prefers to stay in the small yard in front of the house, barking off anyone, car, animal, or human, approaching the gate 100 yards away.

She does not chase or herd chickens, or horses, or sheep, or cats. She allows the cat to pester her, groom her, and nap with her.

She is out every day, for as long as she wants to be, with the free-ranging chickens. She's never harmed a feather, chased, or stressed them in any way. She can go under the fence into horse and sheep pens whenever she wants; she never does.

She has years of trail rides, off leash with me on the horse. She stays within sight at all times, and constantly circles back around to "check in."

I can leave every gate on the place open; she won't leave home unless I do.

She loves to play. With me. Someone else offers to toss a ball for her and she just stares at them, and then sits next to me.

She is territorial. She is non-aggressive, unless a dog presses close for my attention. Then she has been known to growl, and to apply light nips until they back off. I guess that's kind of like herding them away.

She's never dug, chewed, or engaged in any destructive behaviors except, I'm sorry to say, trash can investigation.

She wants a job. She wants to work. If I don't give her a job, she'll find one. Her self-appointed jobs are "helping" me where ever I am, or patrolling to bark everyone but me away.

But she isn't interested in herding.

[Laffy Kat]

17. That's one good dog!

They are all special in their own ways. My mother once told me "NEVER trust anyone who doesn't like dogs--it's a red flag." So true.

[LWolf]

30. That IS a red flag.

My dog has spoiled me. I've gotten used to it. She's 10 on Wednesday, and still acts like a much younger dog. That's a good thing, because I expect her to be around for years to come.

[Cleita]

16. One of my roommates had a Sheltie.

Every time we took him for a walk he ran in circles and if there was a flock of pigeons around grazing, he would try to herd them. He was a great dog though.

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

18. Our Border Collie who passed last night would bring the geese to where ever we were.

It's been a sad melancholy day, mostly overcast. We had just gotten a new puppy last month then the old dog gets sick. We had taken him to the vet yesterday and scheduled surgery for today, but he didn't make it through the night. The puppy spent time licking his face last night, very tender moment.

[MissB]

19. I'm so sorry for your loss.

Must have been a sweet moment last night.

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

21. Thank you MissB, it was special

The new puppy would usually yap and want to get the older dog to play with him, but last night was different. The puppy was very soft and mellow with the older dog. We have another older dog that we took in when a friend passed away, and the puppy does play with him.

[OwnedByCats]

24. Gosh, I'm so sorry

So very sorry for you're loss, I know how much it hurts

I hope you feel better soon

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

25. Thank you, good company came by and that helped.

The new difficulty is, the puppy learned how to open the door from the inside. We are going to have to make some modifications or have cold air coming in all the time. I think new hardware is in order. Border Collies are maybe too smart... Now he is running around the house with an old sock I tied a few knots in. He doesn't want to drop it and let me have it. He wants me to grab it and play tug-o-war.

[Le Taz Hot]

29. My condolences on the loss of your family member.

It's never easy.

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

32. Thank you Le Taz Hot. (nt)

[LisaL]

20. Funny-I didn't have to train my cat at all to do just that.

[CoffeeCat]

23. We have a blue heeler...

...and she is a herding queen!!

We take her for at least four walks a day and that is barely enough! She tries to corral us!

We take her for walks in the woods--our family of four--and she is not happy unless we are all together and she is leading the way. She has to herd us and keep us rounded up.

She is by my side 24/7.

This is my first dog. I love her so much. She turned this cat person into a dog/cat person, for sure!

[appacom]

26. Blue Heelers are incredible dogs. Lucky you.

[Riftaxe]

28. Labrodors are the same way

they need to be trained and have something to do, missing the latter is just cruel.

I really feel sorry for urban labs, and have contempt for their owners who rarely exercise them.