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Border terrier advise


michufc
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Hi to all I would like to advise please we have a 5 year old spaniel who is really placid at home and goes into work mode when out but my wife and kids would like another dog (fluffy number) but that's just not coin to work so I was thinking about a border terrier but I don't have any experience with them. I have two young kids aswell so we wanted a smaller dog than the spaniel are they good dogs to have and looking at the prices they seam a bit pricey to me £500-£700

Any advise welcomed please

Regards mike

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My parents have a small bitch,it was supposed to be a show dog but didn't make the grade due to a kink in its tail. Now I have two springers that live permanently outside and they smell a bit,but the indoor border stinks and loses quite a bit of its coat,the dog is plucked and not trimmed. It's a nice tempremented dog around other dogs and children, but it has a murderous side when around rabbits. It sort of minds it's own business when around my two who are both dogs but terrible pests.

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We got a BT 3 years ago as a puppy (our first ever dog).

He's an absolute wee gem - Not a bad bone in his body.

He came from a litter of four - two boys and two girls - and my wife became friends with the owner of one of his sisters, purely by accident, after meeting at puppy classes!

 

Our boy is a bit 'big' compared to his siblings... I blame myself for rough play when he was a pup. I've never had him out in the field, though, he's purely a pet. Good coat but needs stripped a couple of times a year. I'm usually allergic to dogs but seem fine with BTs.

 

Register on borderterrierworld.co.uk for loads of advice, and there are similar pages on FB.

Edited by humperdingle
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I had a Border and he was a great dog, I would advise you to get one from working stock not the weedy squashed nosed smaller dog which are show type, there are people that sell them from working parents and they won't cost as much as that.

Great temperaments normally but they are quick and agile and will kill anything smaller, rabbits rats squirrels cats hamsters Guinea pigs you get the idea.

They shed a lot of short hairs and have to be plucked not trimmed, they are not yappy dogs like other terriers and are great alarm dogs for the house they will let you know when someone is around.

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I've got three and had plenty more over the years and bred 3 generations,for terriers there generally good with other dogs really good with kids and can take plenty of exercise. There coats can get everywhere!

My eldest is 16 and never been to vets other than for boosters,so generally healthy.

Martin

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Working Stock why ????

A dog will work as like anything the more you PUT into it,the more you will GET OUT OF IT.

 

Time and effort thats what you need to do,I have had terriers for over 30 years and this malarkey tale of working stock is a load of cods wallop.

 

I have trained and worked many a dog NOT from working stock,dont be fooled.

Show dogs try googling Tyson Border terrier he was on the countrymans weekly page regularly won lots of shows and was a good working terrier

Buying a pup from Working parents doesnt mean to say any pups from that particular breeder will perform any different from any other breeder all you will be buying is reputation of a particular bloodline.

 

Like I say You only get out of a dog what you are prepared to put into it.

 

Great dogs

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this is as a pet so why working stock is beyond me, in my experience working equates to more stamina, more energy and more drive to work. Most of the things that make a house dog a pain in the backside.

My mums had borders for years and they are game little dogs, hers are great with kids fine in the house proper characters. In your situation a dog wouldbe easier but a bitch usually calmer

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I've had one for 11 years. She is from a working foxhound pack in the Lakes and has a wonderful pedigree, but unfortunately due to a bug picked up after being lined she can no longer breed.

They are quite wilful as pups (and at times as mature dogs also :) ) but after constantly taking her beating with me as a youngster she has learned to stop and return to the whistle, she works like no other dog I've seen, and has a magnificent nose. She marks rabbit holes and all in our rough shoot have learned to watch her tail when rooting for pheasants; ignore her and you wont be ready.

She returns pigeons (until she gets fed up with the downy feathers), will pick up rabbits (until they stop struggling, after which she loses interest :) ) will swim the river to retrieve pheasant, ditto for ducks and has on two occasions retrieved geese from the river, once after nephews Springer failed to do so.

A local landowner often asks me to bring her along when they're lifting the last of the straw, as rats often congregate under the last bit of cover before they have to make a run for it. She loves this and her eyes sparkle with excitement.

She has also been a wonderful pet to both my kids and very rarely barks, the exceptions being when she is having a standoff with a pricked and very sharp beaked corvid or my daughter has shut her out of her bedroom, on whose bed she likes to sleep, often with her head on the pillow.

She is wonderful and marvellous, and I'd have another at the drop of a hat.

Get one, you wont regret it.

Forgot to mention, she has on occasion, retrieved the clays we've missed when having an informal knock about on the farm. :yes:

Edited by Scully
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Blimey Scully,I didn't know I needed a Border Terrier,I do now.

:) I can take very little credit for her training as she hasn't had any. All I have done is teach her to stop and return to the whistle. I had to really as she was just about uncontrollable as a pup; one sniff of a rabbit and she was off and I daren't let her off the lead initially when beating, which can be hard work. They can take two or three seasons to get steady but it's well worth the effort.

I couldn't take her beating if she was going to run in, and basically the rest she has just picked up from watching and running with other dogs on local shoots.

There is a picture of her retrieving a dead goose from the river Eden many years ago in the archives of the Shooting Times magazine somewhere.

The only time I don't like taking her is when I'm in a hide; she can just about wreck a hide as she tends to go through rather than round. Mates think it's hilarious, which it is really, 'til the novelty wears off, having to rearrange the hide after every downed bird. :)

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Our Border has a fabulous temperament great with people, Should I say loves people would spend the rest of her life on anyone's knee if she could. Will ignore other dogs unless pressed then WILL nip. and if they don't back down or go away she will happily have a full on fight.

She's a Black Hearted Murderer of Furry or Feathery critters and would destroy cage or hutch to get her prize ! Will disappear when following Hare or Fox scent .

 

She was the first border I have owned and a 7 has been a steep learning climb, BUT she's fantastic company will sleep when your busy, play when you have time and walk to the end of the earth if that's where your heading.

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Our Border has a fabulous temperament great with people, Should I say loves people would spend the rest of her life on anyone's knee if she could. Will ignore other dogs unless pressed then WILL nip. and if they don't back down or go away she will happily have a full on fight.

She's a Black Hearted Murderer of Furry or Feathery critters and would destroy cage or hutch to get her prize ! Will disappear when following Hare or Fox scent .

 

She was the first border I have owned and a 7 has been a steep learning climb, BUT she's fantastic company will sleep when your busy, play when you have time and walk to the end of the earth if that's where your heading.

This made me smile. Just about sums up Borders I feel.

My OH came in red faced and flustered some years ago when the kids were much younger. She had taken them and the dog for a walk down by the river and let our dog off the lead on the banking path. Unfortunately, there were some chickens roaming on the river banking. OH said it all happened far too fast for her to react and our dog had killed two chickens before she could get it back under control, having to physically restrain her.

Daughter, who was about 11 at the time, thought it was brilliant.

OH didn't.

She doesn't get on with my ferrets either. :no: Nor does the dog. :)

Edited by Scully
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