Mike, there are three BC crosses on our team, and they are fantastic (one of whom happens to be mine, brag brag). They're little rockets in dog form. All three of them have learned very quickly.

VC, yeah, I'm not afraid of little ol you anymore! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

cool site


Looks like I'm going to have to get meaner and even more fanatic now. . .if Swanston isn't afraid anymore. . .there could be others. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

Dog Breed intelligence Ranks:

http://www.petrix.com/dogint/1-10.html

Rank Breed
1 Border Collie
2 Poodle
3 German Shepherd
4 Golden Retriever
5 Doberman Pinscher
6 Shetland Sheepdog
7 Labrador Retriever
8 Papillon
9 Rottweiler
10 Australian Cattle Dog

"Ranks 1 to 10
Brightest Dogs


Understanding of New Commands: Less than 5 repetitions.

Obey First Command: 95% of the time or better"

OOOH! I saw one of the Lacey's BC's work at a herding trial in Richmond, VA. All I can say is WOW. Dog was like some sort of warp drive in a fur coat, and holy cow was he responsive. Blew everyone away.

Small world, Lacey and I shop at the same grocery store. I try to talk to her but she move too fast and I loose her. Slow down Lacey, you might be able to sell me a pup! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I love to watch a border collie work...you can almost see the wheels turning in their heads! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I don't think I'd want one in the house though: all the ones I've been exposed to are a bit too hectic for me. But like with hectic working shepherds, maybe I've not been exposed to the better bred ones.

Watching a BC work sheep I often wondered at their motivation. It's not just training, 'cause as one owner explained to me, they WANT to work those sheep!
I found the answer in a book called "DOGS" by Coppinger. It has a whole section on the Behavorial Conformation of the BC. And the answer lies in the "carnivore motor pattern", the innate (genetic) internally motivated behaviors as defined by ethologists.

The BC motor pattern is:
<orient-eye-stalk-chase-grabbite-killbite-dissect-consume>
It has been bred so that it has the first four...and lacks the rest of the pattern. (You can imagine that if a BC does kill a sheep, it's genes are not going into the gene pool <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> )