Don't be too sure. Although ISDA registered, one of ours was a 💯% family pet - couldn't herd her own front paws. Then one day we're driving over moor over Weardale in the Land Rover we had at the time and she clocks sheep grazing on unfenced land. I stantly her demeanour changes completely...
We had a Shetland sheepdog who'd never seen a cow or sheep. We went to visit a friend on a cattle ranch, and when we opened the door, she leaped out, ran straight over to the cattle and started rounding them up!
... She stiffened and goes from scatter-brained family pet to sheep collecting machine as her eyes narrow & her head jerks scanning the sheep. Then she gives me a look to say: "Stop the car, give me 3 minutes and have the back door open!" I swear if she'd got out my car would've had 20 sheep in it.
My family had a border collie mix, way back in the day. We then got a weird little shi-tzu, mixed with who even knows. The important thing is, he had curly hair, like a sheep. Well, a lamb. He was about the size of a 7-layer burrito. The border collie recognized him as a lamb and herded him.
I mean, she herded him back and forth from one side of the yard to the other, every chance she got. I'm pretty sure he was dumber than a sheep, though, because he never understood that she wanted him to keep going in any direction. He would just drift around, with her cutting him off continually.
Lived with a roommate & her wonderful Aussie for several seasons, and my sister sent me slippers for Xmas. Sheepskin slippers. I couldn’t walk through the house w/o that dog trying to herd me in some other direction. Finally had to store them on a high shelf til I moved.
🤣🤣🤣
"Calvin, please, I really need to go to the bathroom" "Oh, no, living room for you, girl!"
I used to work in an inpatient psychiatric ward. Weekly, a man came on the unit with a border collie for pet therapy. Patients with schizophrenia didn't like the group activities and would often wander alone on the deck. The collie would always go round them up and bring them back to the group.
Those solitary patients never seemed bothered by this and it was often the only times I ever saw them smile. I love border collies.
She has discovered her glorious purpose. She'll never be the same
I rounded up half a dozen horses while on horseback, solo, excepting for the assistance of a 6 month old cattle dog. This was on the open range in Montana, and it was, for all intents, my second time on a horse. That little puppy knew exactly what to do