Rough/smooth collies
I know what you guys are thinking OES all the way but hubby vito'd another sheepie. Which of course was my first choice. I find myself drawn to rough collies. Their intelligence, regal and gentle nature. I haven't had too much experience with them, just by talking with owners. Has anyone had one before or known one? What was your experience? |
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I have to ask, why did your husband veto another OES?  |
Baba wrote: I have to ask, why did your husband veto another OES? My opinion is and probably always will be. Whats better that one OES? TWO! He feels that if we get another, our wolf hybrid would get left out since Lily tends to team up with other sheepies isntantly. According to Lily, Ritz already is a sheep in wolves clothing. lol Maybe in a year or two I can wear him down so we do get another sheepie but in the mean time it doesn't hurt to research other breeds to back up why sheepies are the best. (He doesn't know collies are also herding/guardians.   ) |
| If you want a companion for the wolf X then go with an artic breed like malamute, sibby, etc. A GSD would probably work as well. Labs, yeah, goldies probably a bit too laid back. Rhodesians, maybe. Be careful, you'd need a dog of size for the bigger wolfie. AVOID!!!! any of the LGD's...livestock guardian breeds like Great Pyrenees, Kuvasz, etc. They have an inert hatred of the wolf or predator appearing dogs. If raised as pups together, yeah, but be careful. |
| Although spitz, artic, northern breeds are pretty. I do not want to add one. Ritz is enough. Not a huge fan of retrievers either. I do like german shepherds. Well the fact they are well rounded but my concern would be all the health issues associated with them. I love rotties but I have the same concerns about them. |
| Oh, I agree re: GSDs. I hate the way they look now. What about the big blacks..........ah, give me a minute.......... Bouviers? Another one I've considered is the Belgians...such as the Malinois but I'm afraid they are smarter than me! I'd hold out for an OES. DH didn't want another, wanted another "breed" but I find him lovin' up Kensie  Don't get me wrong, I loved our Sibby but I really don't want to deal with the twice a year sheds. |
| Bouviers and Briard are breeds I am looking into also. It usually always comes back to herding dogs with me. Then quickly goes back to OES. Not too sure about the Malinois. I don't really think I could keep up with them, not to mention their prey drive. The smarts dept is also why border collies are out of the question. The dogs can be smarter than my husband but not smarter than me. lol |
| I have a lot of experience with Bouviers in our family and they are absolutely my second choice to a OES if I was choosing another breed. Very much the same characteristics minus a little of the goofiness/silliness I find endearing and a bit lower activity level. |
| Lower activity? I guess I've only met the wild and crazy ones. Great fun, I almost went with them when I found myself Pyr-less at one point. learned to love the Pyr intelligence and devotion to their job. I think Dawn's Chewie might be part Pyr at times due to his work ethic. Except no Pyr is going to put up with long races. Built differently and would stop, turn around and "say", " And why do you want to go there? You could snowmobile you know." |
| My s-I-l had a rough Collie. Beautiful guy, another grooming challenge. He was the dog of her childhood, so I only knew him as an older guy. And I liked him. We rescued a smooth Collie mix two months ago (dumped at the lake). She is now about 6 months old. She is very trainable, smart, quick learner. Tends to be a chewer, but only on certain things - not sure if it is a breed characteristic though. Lots of energy, interested in the cats but leaves them alone, good with other dogs. |
| Archies main squeeze is a rough collie, much more vocal than Archie with other dogs, owner continually grumbles about the hair in the house, that said she is a really beautiful dog, has a sassy swagger that catches Archies eye every time. I just can't get over how her head looks as if it were crafted with a pencil sharpener. The stamping bounce is funny when she spots Archie across the grass. Although she likes to play fetch with her ball she'd much rather be chased by Archie! |
| Ugh - that is one breed I never would ever, ever consider. We have some collies around here, but just don't see them too often. I do get them through my classes periodically. They are not one of my favorites at all. The coat - most people don't groom them well, and the shedding is pretty bad. They are big dogs too, with lots of coat. Not a breed that can clip down, and they don't do heat well. (Good in the PNW though!) Those pointy skulls and noses - bred to the extreme and actually documented that the smaller skulls has affected their mental ability. Based on the ones I see, I'd have to agree. Not bright, and very vanilla personality. The bark - it is a tone that really grates on me, so by the bark alone I would veto them (and yes - I have OES, bassets, coon hound, etc!) And most tend to be very vocal - they are not quiet dogs. They seem to have a lot of health problems too. One of our long time therapy dog members has had them for decades (not a breeder, hers are not related to each other) - auto immune disasters.  I see a lot with bad hips too - they move stiffly and look really "hippy" in the rear. |
| Aww man. Heavy shredders are out of the question for me. So I guess at least the roughs are out of the race. I HATE, HATE, HATE heavy shedding dogs. (I could type that word a million times and not convey how much I hate shedding.) Ritz's coat is freaking already enough to drive me close to the breaking point. Many times I have come so close to shaving him, especially when he is blowing his coat, just to get a week w/out it. It does make me appreciate OES hair so much more! Hmmm..Collie owners have been telling me that they are a relatively healthy breed. |
| Looks like I may just have to plaster my walls with pictures of sheepie puppies til my husband caves. No dog unless it's an Old English Sheepdog! |
| The coat would be different than Ritz's. Where he would tend to have the chunks you can pluck out, a collie tends to hold onto the undercoat more on the dog. Must be the longer outer coat. Then it makes mats and is more labor intensive as you must brush/ rake it out. It would be the same volume/seasonal issue, but in a collie it needs more work to actually get it off the dog. Those that don't get brushed end up nasty matted messes. There is one that lives on a road we go carting with the team....he comes out to the road when we go by (and barks, of course ) He's always heavily matted and looks so bad. Typical case of wrong breed for the wrong owner. |
 How about a standard poodle if you want less hair or a Portuguese Water dog? Tell DH he'll look great walking a big white standard poodle with a pompom tail and poodle trimmed feet, shaved snout.  |
SheepieBoss wrote: :twisted: How about a standard poodle if you want less hair or a Portuguese Water dog? Tell DH he'll look great walking a big white standard poodle with a pompom tail and poodle trimmed feet, shaved snout. LOL! My aunt is a groomer and has a standard. Really smart boy! She's really into creative grooming sooo...DH would end up walking a multicolored poodle with a flower on its butt!  Maybe we should get a poodle Lucky for Lily, my aunt has my mom's sheepies for fun cuts and coloring. She hasn't gotten around to ask about lil, yet. Not that Lil hasn't been pink before. |
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