The Ultimate Border Collie

by Allison Hornsby

Book Overview

The Border Collie's strong instincts, quick wits and intelligence have proved both a delight and a challenge to owners. The book explains how to address this intelligence, through training, work and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0876055897
• ISBN13: 9780876055892
• Release Date: March 1998
• Publisher: Howell Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 2.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 8.3" x 11.3"

Customer Reviews

Very informative and full of nifty pictures

While the entire book was jammed packed with useful information and background history of the Border Collie, I especially enjoyed the chapter where 6 dogs were comparatively judged. Head shots, front, side and rear views of 3 male and 3 female black & white Border Collies were each critiqued by judges from England, the U.S. and New Zealand. Very interesting how each judge interpreted his/her country's standard of ideal Border Collie conformation, as well as being helpful in pointing out flaws of basic dog anatomy in general.. A must read before you purchase that puppy!

The Ultimate Border Collie

I got this for my daughter-in-law for Christmas. She has it "dog-earred" and says it is truly the ultimate border collie book

Wonderful book!

Thank goodness for the wise writing and lovely pictures in this book. She does her best to dispell the myth of the 'genius'dog and the other myth of the 'border collies are black and white and stick thin small dogs'. As an owner of a mostly white border collie, who is sometimes dismayed by people's comments about 'well she must have (insert breed) in her to be white', it is heartening to see pictures of every possible shade and shape of border collie. Border collies are very diverse - that's because the emphasis is (until recently, some may say) on a working dog, not a certain 'look'. It's their quirky minds that make them so different. A few hours with an obsessive fly chaser and you'll understand :-) She has great sections on puppies, activities for your BC and lots of history and opinion. Some of the information may rub people the wrong way - bc people tend to be opinionated!

Absolutely worth reading

As a soon-to-be Border Collie owner, this book has proven to be very helpful. Its chapter on puppies and puppy care from the day you bring it to your home is very good. Living in Denmark, you cannot find many books about the Border Collie so I was very pleased to find this one. I am picking up my little puppy in less than 3 weeks and after reading this book, I feel confident that we have made the right choice regarding dog breed and the breeder. I can especially recommend this book if it's the first time you're getting a dog.

The best BC book I've seen so far

Briefly, before I got my first purebred Border Collie I sat down and read through half a dozen "BC" books - and this is the one I actually bought for reference.This is not one of those all too common dog books which add maybe 20% of breed specific information to an otherwise ho-hum recap of canine generalities and the responsibilities of ownership. This book actually focuses on BCs all the way through, and, partly because BCs are *different*, that focus is essential.Prospective owners need to realize that although BCs do have considerable intelligence and are more trainable than other breeds, they are also more apt to get into mischief if not properly exercised, supervised and challenged - they get bored, and they can be very troublesome. Too many BCs end up in shelters because their owners didn't realize what ownership would require of *them* (space, time, effort, leadership).Read this book BEFORE you decide to get that Border Collie!