As above really what are they like to train/live with etc

Parents have had two, brother has one, friends have had two.

Somewhere between great companions and nasty little buggers – depends on you and what you do with them and wht stock they came from. I’ve seen excellent dogs that are placid, fun when playtime comes along and very sociable with other dogs. I’ve also seen them want to have a go at anything that is bigger than they are. At heart, they are terriers and will mostly chase and kill bunnies etc. At the nub of it they are similar to many other dogs – they have inate traits that can rise to the surface, and they can be superb companions and sociable dogs if you put in the effort with training and being a responsible owner.

i thought this was about a new make of bike.

Beast! Does its owners know? 🙂

Lovely little dogs. As has been said, they can be a bit spicy with other dogs, especially if they’re bigger than they are, but I think that’s just terriers really, and I certainly wouldn’t let it put you off, it’s a manageable trait, and they don’t all do it.

My mother has one and it lives with a Vizsla, and they’re great mates. She’s a cracking little dog, great companion, very eager to please, jaunty, go anywhere, do anything dog.

Hard tail? Softail? Full squish?

TooTall has an accurate assessment on the canine race in general as for Border terriers as he says nice or nasty.
Next door neighbour has had them for years and some have been great others vicious little thwonkers, happy to take on most dogs.

Can cope with being out all day and being very loving to owners but very terrieratorial and sharp.

As with all dogs, what stock and breeder from and then how you as an owner are with them.

I’d one for a dog’s age, literally. It was other bigger dogs spicy with them IME, they won’t start anything themselves. Very laid back compared to most terriers, not at all skittish.

Sort of dog everyone says hello to and gets one back, and people don’t mind looking after for you, although they aren’t soppy.

Prepare for a house/car/hoover full of hair though. Not the easiest to train, don’t expect to be able to train them to retrieve or herd sheep, but if you keep on top of things and do it properly you can let them off the lead.

Thanks for the input, I’ve always had labs and spaniels we’ve got a seven year old lab now so it would be brought up with another bigger dog, we had jack Russell’s over the years when we were kids and I hated them TBH wouldn’t do anything and very stubborn, I’ve always liked the look of the border and think they’d make good company for walking and fell running etc, just got to convince mrsfive now oh and find 400 quid 🙂

Our Archie is great, really good with the kids, love him to bit’s.

can be laid back or as mad as a hatter (especially after a bath)

P1000743 by eastham_david, on Flickr

oh, and indestructible rubber balls, my arse !!!!

DSCF0108 by eastham_david, on Flickr

Great breed of dog. They’re all certainly ‘individuals’ and some are more pig minded than others. Ours is great until she sees something fluffy that moves and then it’s tunnel vision and ignores all commands. Someone once told us you’ll never train a border, you’ll just reach a mutual compromise.

We’ve had to wait half an hour sometimes for her to come out of the brambles while she chases rabbits. She’s also chased the neighbours cats into their house. Eaten all of our mail. Ripped a mail cage off the back of our door. Chewed most of the legs on our sofa. Rips our daughters cuddly toys to bits etc etc.

But I wouldn’t change her.

Edit: Most of the damage stuff happened when she was a puppy, and somehow managed to get out of the back garden.

Can you take a border terrier on rides?

My in laws have one and I love it, it’s a very cool dog. But theirs is pretty disobedient and also nowhere near as fast / athletic as their other dog, a spaniel, so I’m not sure they would make an ideal trail companion? Any thoughts?

Sorry to hijack. I fancied a border and the thought of it meeting my brothers mates’ staffie (great with all of us humans :O)) puts me off. I reckon it wouldn’t stand a chance if it had small dog syndrome in front of ‘jason’.

Jason once rugby tackled a dog outside the house and tumbled to the ground with the dogs face inside its mouth. No damage, it just went for it and rolled over with it.

So if a cocky border was introduced to ‘Jason’, would it be safe to say that the border wouldn’t stand a chance or would you have to let them meet up to get to know each other on leashes first or? I have no idea how this would be possible! The staffie gets on great with dogs it knows, it’s just a worry about introducing it to a new dog.

Can you take a border terrier on rides?

Bred for following horses on the hunt so easily.

Looking for his friends by Lee Collis, on Flickr

What size are the paws, though?

What paw-boots for Llandegla?

I have a patterdale. Very similar. The mutual respect comment above is spot on.

Can you take them riding?

[video]http://vimeo.com/71585110[/video]

A friend of mine also has one and she’s a great trail dog. Follows him everywhere.

The small dog syndrome is there in Borders, but I think it’s stronger in males – both my friend and myself have females and they are completely submissive to other dogs and only want to play.

Awesome little dogs. You’ve just got to show them who is boss from day one. Much like any other dog I suppose. However 100% recommend. Don’t eat loads like a Labrador or bigger dog, yet has a brain and knows how to use it!

I like the phrase above about reaching a mutual compromise with them. I think that is a fair assumption. We took ours to puppy training classes for the 1st 18months and it helped us a lot. However I do believe that there is a small part of his brain that we just cannot access. The parts that switches off when he see’s rabbits, squirrels or sheep. However he always comes back, he doesn’t like being away from us for long.

They are very loyal and caring, but equally can be stubborn buggers. He is great with our 2 and 4 year old niece and nephew, he seems to go into a calm state when they are about and let’s them play around with him.

He’s a great trail dog. As Drac says, bred for following horses on the hunt. But he will happily sleep all day under my desk as well.

I take him trail running and riding. It’s a bit unfortunate that I haven’t been able to stop him chasing sheep as I can’t really take him on open moorland off the lead when sheep are around. But through the woods on twisty trails that he knows, I struggle to keep up with him. He often comes back to me barking as if to say “hurry up!”.

Unfortunately I have no pictures to show as Posterous is no longer with us. But he is identical to Drac’s above…

Pretty much all the comments above are spot on.

We have a four year-old Border called Dylan and he’s awesome, soft as a brush but also super stubborn as hell when he wants to be.

If you get one from a decent breeder I can’t recommend them enough. Just don’t expect them to be as compliant as a labrador etc. Ours did the KC obedience training for about 18 months but it was hard work. He always thinks he knows best and has a very short attention span. Bit like me.

Border’s were bred to think for themselves so don’t expect them to be a little robot, they definitely think for themselves. Ours is a prize escape artist and none of these ‘indestructible’ dog toys last five minutes.

He will also run / walk all day with no bother but equally will spend all day asleep on the sofa when I’m working from home. He’s great with children and ok with other dogs unless its an Alsatian but that’s after one bit him.

We have one. Lazy little madam. Just the best dog ever. We wanted her for trail running but she gave up after the age of three. Now hides from the lead and has taken up sleeping and playing with her toys 24×7. She’s great with people but can/is a little grumpy with other dogs and will take on any dog 10 times her size, and win. Remember they are terriers and like to hunt if given half a chance. FWIW, bitches are very much smaller than dogs. Our mutt is only about 10″ and comes in a 5kg

Daisy_Duke 5kg!!! No way. Gylly is 10.5kg, but a very tall boy. We’ve trimmed him down since last summer as he was almost 12kg…..He now looks maybe a bit too skinny.

We have had 3 over the years absolutely brilliant dogs, fit the description big dog in a small package. Get one, you won’t regret it.

Julioflo, is very small for a BT. She was the runt of the litter, but still a cutey 😉

They’re really tough little dogs which can be a problem as they often don’t show pain or illness until its quite serious.

Ours is 10.5kg as well and about 13″ high at the shoulder but there’s not an ounce of fat on him as he does a lot of walking and trail running. He is a greedy little thing though and will eat anything and everything that’s gets near him so we have to be strict with his diet.

This is ours

[/url] Dylan

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Border Terrier threads are always popular there the Audi and Orange 5 of the dog side of STW.

Hi we lost out two Border Terriers in one week last month. 16yrs old the pair of them, litter mates and absolutely great companions. Very much missed too. We were going to have a break from getting another dog for a year but we’re weakening rapidly. BT threads like this don’t help!

Ours were quite different. One was very submissive and shy when out walking. The other never backed down from a scrap but rarely started one. They have loose skin and being very flexible makes them ferocious scrapers even with bigger dogs. As some can be “border terrorists” we have friends with a male BT that must have been part cat it’s so laid back its unbelievable.

On the positive side as others have said they are generally very loyal, hard to train (it took months to train them to retrieve and stop on command) and great with kids.

Damn I’m missing having a dog

Thanks for all the great feedback guys 😛