border collies

My mother has one. A cross between Barbie Collie and Welsh ISDS import. I think she has a mostly ideal BC temperament. She works and learns quickly, and when she gets home, she curls around your feet and naps. No bouncing off the walls, no chewing windowsills, just a nice all around dog. I'll probably have one at some point.
 
Like everyone else said I think it's best to meet this dog first to see if you will all be happy. Maybe a trial period? Let us know how it goes! I know of a very laid back BC for adoption in Texas, will you be interested?

Edit: http://capturetheangels.wordpress.com/2014/06/01/mrbo/ I found the link for you in case you are interested. This seems like my kinda BC!
 
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smooth coated shelties...
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I lucked out with Melli -- she has that working line aussie-type coat. Only about 1" long and totally nonshedding.

I should be so lucky with Cubby -- though the parents did not seem to have excessively full coats.

I really like the short-coated sheltie. Enough coat to be cute, only about once a week grooming
 
I'm with Caro on that one.
I find loads of Border Collies in agility, loads of people around here got one because they think they should have one to be a serious nationals/world class competitor... You can easily see the difference between the ones who got a Border Collie for the right reason and ones who didn't. I enjoy the Border Collies who got the right home, the right and careful socialization, exposure, exercise and positive training usually founded on obedience first and agility second.
... Then the other ones are fear biters, very dog reactive, need loads of personal space, crazy drive but no outlet, get carried off the course for self rewarding doing their own course and don't have much of a recall to speak of because they have been tricked and BC's are smarter than most dogs and pattern so easy it makes your head spin, lol.
Wayyyyy too many dog reactive and aggressive, obsessive compulsive disorder ones being bred as well.. together with less experienced handlers make a bad combination, imo.
Obviously the latter can happen with any breed if you don't be careful, etc, but the propensity to potentially messing them up is too high lol
Of course this is just anecdotal and my personal observations over the last three years. Shelties love Shelties, I found most Border Collies are too intense for my Shelties' liking, they don't play even with the really nice ones, lol
 
My experience with border collies has been pretty different than that with shelties.

I work at a dog day care, and also take my sheltie to sheep herding class (just for fun, not to compete).

The border collies are way, way more drivey than the shelties I have experienced. Then again, maybe the shelties I have encountered (including my own) are just laid back. But I have seen many a nuts border collie and have not yet met a laid back one. Some of them are border line obsessed with any kind of motion (mops, vacuums, anything that moves in any way) and will go after dogs that are playing. Others are friendly but just extremely intense and focused. All of them have been very high energy, very active dogs.

Shelties are active too, and some can even be a little drivey, but even the most active most intense shelties I've met have nothing on a border collie. I love a couple of the ones we have at camp, but if I were to own one, I would have to be dedicated to TONS of exercise, training, and working. Border collies are first and foremost working dogs. If they don't have a "job" of some kind, the results usually aren't too good.

That said, they are very very very smart. Extremely smart.
 
Interesting discussion. My boss is looking at getting a dog - he wants an intelligent dog, one I suspect that he can take on runs with him. I had suggested BCs to him.
 
My experience has been very much the same as what others have posted. There is a huge amount of variance in activity levels. I've seen obsessive BCs with no off switches, I've seen laid back BCs, and I've seen them in between. The key would be to find a breeder you trust, who knows the breed, and understand temperament. Finding the right match is critical.
 
My vet just got a border collie puppy this summer - his comment to me "what the heck was I thinking!". LOL
 
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