The official EN World puppy/doggo thread

[Dannyalcatraz]

Two of the three legitimately oversized (not fat) border collies we’ve had were both curly furred and stocky. Their muzzles were also more squared & boxy than is typical.

Both were purebreds with siblings who were more breed typical, so I can only assume it was some recessive genes expressing themselves.

The third one was actually our first border collie ever, and was more like that one pictured above- almost like a funny looking German Shepard.

Alas, SHE was a nutcase. She thought she was the last line of defense between our family and the universe..and she wasn’t too sure of us 100% of the time. Didn’t like human women except my Mom and her younger sister. Her aggression got her killed when she bolted out of the house past my Mom and attacked a passing car. At that point, she was only 6 months old and over 55lbs.

 

[Thomas Shey]

My daughter and son in law just adopted this pup. He's part mastiff! View attachment 263651

Yup. Our old boy Eric was a bull mastiff/GSD (and some other things) mix, and while the rest of him wasn't very mastiff-like (too many other more lean critters in his ancestry) his head was very characteristic.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Two of the three legitimately oversized (not fat) border collies we’ve had were both curly furred and stocky. Their muzzles were also more squared & boxy than is typical.

Both were purebreds with siblings who were more breed typical, so I can only assume it was some recessive genes expressing themselves.

From what I inderstand, border collies were cross-bred with other related breeds until relatively late, because the people breeding them cared much more a damn about their functionality than their specifics, so crossbreeding them with other herding breeds was often considered just sensible.

The third one was actually our first border collie ever, and was more like that one pictured above- almost like a funny looking German Shepard.

Alas, SHE was a nutcase. She thought she was the last line of defense between our family and the universe..and she wasn’t too sure of us 100% of the time. Didn’t like human women except my Mom and her younger sister. Her aggression got her killed when she bolted out of the house past my Mom and attacked a passing car. At that point, she was only 6 months old and over 55lbs.

Tamara isn't quite that bad, but she's certain stray dogs or even dogs on leads are ready to kill Max (and us, but she seems too worry more about him than us in that situation) until she gets to know them. This can make encounters unnecessarily exciting. But then, my first dog as an adult was a Belgian Malinois who'd been a stray for a time, and she's positively sane compared to how Lupe could be, so...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

From what I inderstand, border collies were cross-bred with other related breeds until relatively late, because the people breeding them cared much more a damn about their functionality than their specifics, so crossbreeding them with other herding breeds was often considered just sensible.

Could be, could be.

But a lot of the sheep herding breeds aren’t all that big. I mean, yeah, there’s the aforementioned German Shepards and others, but I bet most if the breeds are under 50lbs on average.

Of course, those percentages don’t much matter when the rare genes actually fire up!

 

[Thomas Shey]

Could be, could be.

But a lot of the sheep herding breeds aren’t all that big. I mean, yeah, there’s the aforementioned German Shepards and others, but I bet most if the breeds are under 50lbs on average.

Of course, those percentages don’t much matter when the rare genes actually fire up!

It actually rolls both ways; you have the ones in the weight class of the border collie, which includes the English Shepard, the Australian Shepard, and some others. On the other hand, besides the GSD and their kin like the various Belgian herding breeds, you've got the Old English Sheepdogs, which are pretty huge.

My guess would be that as the job of herding breeds has less and less involved protecting flocks against wildlife, the move has shifted more toward the smaller and more agile herding breeds and away from the bigger ones (though some of the latter like GSDs and the Belgian Malinois have been transferred over to herding, well, humans in a way).

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Our family is helping a friend recover from knee replacement surgery. She’s using a cane or walker to get around. The walker has tennis balls on the back legs. Of course, our grrrl has an opinion as to their purpose:

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Furry “dragon” guarding her “hoard”.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I think I've asked you this before, Danny, but: border collie?

 

[darjr]

Our Foo Dogs guarding the door.

New puppy too. I'll leave the rest as attachments.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I think I've asked you this before, Danny, but: border collie?

Abso-furry-lutely!