THE USEABILITY OF THE COLLIE

Everyone knows that the collie is a sheepdog so is able to herd therefore is a working dog.

Unfortunately this is not the case with each and every collie today. Herding instinct cannot be found in many dogs due to breeding based on appearance and not on working ability. This is a fact to be sorry about: a dog bred for work, in my opinion, should be able to work as its original activity, even today.

Fortunately, there are many activities to use a collie nowadays.

I call the collie a universal dog: it can be used for amost every sport and work - it only depends on the owner's orientation, time and the individual dog's characteristics.The owner should find out what his/her dog likes or what the dog is able to do.

Let's see what the collie was used for earlier, and what can it be used today.

During the war it was used as healthcare dog. Later they were used as guide dogs for the blind, I saw a dog in the 1980's working like this.

It is interesting: collies were used by the police but due to its light body structure, it is no longer used.

No problem, we can chose from a large variety of sports.

Those who have relatively more time to spend with their dogs, and if the dog likes it, too and is happy to jump: agility is a perfect choice. If you chose not to participate at serious competitions, you can select the hobby category.

It also requires more time and rehearsal but can be very spectacular: dog dancing and frisbee.

Flyball can also be selected with a ball-maniac quick dog.

We see a relatively small number of collies but they are stunning at Obedience and BH/IPO/HPO exams and competitions.
Before you start yelling at me: collie is not a classic protection sport breed like a rottweiler or pitbull but there are dogs who work well at protection training (achieved with correct methods, not simply making them wild).

I believe the mondioring would fit more a collie, but it's up to you to decide.

(In parenthesis I would like to inform those who have less information in this topic: in the socialist Germany, to breed a collie, the breeding test with protection check was obliagtory, so you could not breed your collie without it - makes you think, huh?...)

For those who don't like protection/tracking work, but like the general but complex exam: they can chose the BH.

For those who don't like formal obedience work (and machine-like dogs), the Obedience competitions can be recommended (obedience excercises in different levels).

If you want to have a feedback on your progress little by little, the Mirror Method's K99 exam system is very useful.

In my country it's not very widespread but might be worth trying: rallye and longieren.

Collies can pull cart or sled, in winter if you like skiing, you can try skijöring with one or even three dogs.

In Skandinavian countries collies are even used for hunting, of course they will never become a perfect all-rounder hunter dog but they are perfect for tracking and search dog. In Skandinavia you can find more collies with tracking exams (in the forests they need to find lost people in many cases).

It can be funny to try coursing - of course don't compete against greyhounds.

Nowadays the suitable work for a collie can be pet therapy. Its intelligent, calm nature and charm make it especially useful for this task, in many countries collies are used as service dogs.

Rough collies can be trained for search and rescue but the long hair is rather a disadvantage, as with many other activities.

This list is far from being full but I hope everyone can find the most interesting activities.

Still, sheep herding is still on top of the list and even if your full time job is different from taking care of sheep, you can still try a herding instinct test and see if your collie is capable.

If we have no such hobbies, maybe only some dogshows, it is still advisable to train the collies - it should not be finished at teaching them stand and run because this can be boring for the dogs, especially for those who don't enjoy the shows.

You can teach tricks, collies are very smart and learn quickly, and also collies need activities together with their owner and family.

Excercies and learning make the human-animal bond stronger (also easier at shows, too), and at least we are not bored.

MelindaCsecserits

Dog Trainer , Méda-Garden Working Collies