Your Collie was bred to be up in the hills with the shepherd, herding livestock. There would be little noise other than the wind and the bleating of the sheep.
The only movement would be the shepherd and the sheep. Once they had finished their job, the shepherd and Border Collie would make their way back down the hill, rarely passing another soul.
Once back at the farm/croft/house, the shepherd would go in and rest while the collie took their place in their bed in the barn. Peaceful, quiet and undisturbed.
This is what Collies were bred to do for many years.
Fast forward to our chaotic, rat-race society, where Collies are taken into homes as pets and expected to conform to the hustle and bustle of human life. The radio is on, the TV is on, kids are shouting, parents are shouting, everyone is rushing about, trying to get out the door to avoid being late.
Somewhere in the middle of that, the dog is taken out for a rushed walk, often where there is a lot of noisy, fast-moving traffic, people rushing about, some with dogs, people cycling past, sometimes so fast the dog gets an unexpected fright, and a handler who is more focussed on their mobile phone than positive engagement with their Collie. They are back home before the dog has even had time to have a good run about to burn off their energy.
Everyone leaves the house, and the Collie is left with an abundance of energy. To calm themselves, they might chew on something soothing, eventually falling asleep to rest. However, after a couple of hours, the Collie wakes up alone and bored, with no one to engage with. They start wandering around the house, searching for something to alleviate their boredom. Some chewy, bright-coloured toys in the kids bedroom are fair game. But that soon becomes boring. Trying to avoid boredom, they continue pacing from room to room but cannot satisfy themselves. They bark, hoping someone will hear them and come back home to play with them or let them out to run about.
Several hours later, everyone comes back into the house at the same time. From bored silence to all of this excitement all at once. The Collie is jumping around, ecstatic to see them all. Someone to play with and talk to them, but they get told to lie down, and they are ignored. The dog thinks the humans need some prompting, so they go to get their ball and leave it at the human’s feet, to find the ball put out of reach and told to lie down again.
But the excitement is too much, the collie wants to play, so they start running around the house, from room to room, looking for someone to engage with them. Grabbing clothes, toys, or anything else they probably shouldn’t have, to get shouted at and told to drop it.
Eventually, someone takes the dog out for a walk, before dinner is ready. From all of that silence, to the fast, very noisy rush hour traffic, numerous bikes cycling past, bright lights everywhere, people shouting, dogs barking and an owner who is more focussed on their mobile phone than engaging with the dog.
Struggling for time before dinner is ready, they head back home again before the Collie has had time to burn off their energy.
The Collie gets his dinner and is told to lie in his bed while the humans have theirs. He has been lying down all day, and he wants to play. He is bred to run about the hills all day, but he has only run around for about 30 minutes in the morning and walked for about 30 minutes on the lead at night. He has way too much energy to lie down. Anyway, he hasn’t seen his humans all day and is so happy to see them.
He doesn’t settle, and he won’t lie down. He thinks one of the high-energy kids will play with him. So he jumps up at them whilst they are eating their dinner but he just gets shouted at and told to get down repeatedly.
He hears the adults state they don’t know what is wrong with him as he has just been walked and fed. The Collie can’t understand why they don’t know how happy he is to see them. How he has been on his own all day, then he had all of that stimulation in the outside world, to come back home and have to lie bored again.
He is bred to think smart and fast, interpreting his owner’s commands while moving the sheep and preventing them from scattering. He is bred to do this all day. But he hasn’t needed to think during the day, as nothing has been asked of him. He is bored, and he needs to use his brain. He has energy racing around his body and he can’t lie still.
After dinner, the kids get sent to their room to do their homework, and the humans sit to watch the TV after dinner, saying all they want to do is relax. The Collie sees the sitting humans as the perfect opportunity to get rid of some of his energy, so he bounds up onto the sofa to see them. But he is told to get off and go and lie down again.
They don’t realise they can entertain him whilst they are sitting down, so he goes and gets his ball, placing it on the lap of one of the humans. They ignore it, so he sits looking at them, waiting . . . and waiting . . . and waiting . . . nothing, so the collie barks to let them know its there.
Eventually, the human picks up the ball and throws it across the room. Game on, thinks the Collie, who fetches the ball ready to play again as the ball lands right back in the same human’s lap. Not realising the human is just wanting the dog to stop sitting staring at them, barking for their ball, the Collie continues this exciting game of fetch a few more times until the human gets annoyed and shouts at the Collie to go and lie down.
Despondent the Collie lies down, ignored by the humans, until its time to go to bed, where the Collie is expected to sleep for another eight hours, before getting up in the morning and doing it all over again.
This is only day 1 of 5. Can you imagine how this Collie feels by day 5?
How would you feel if you were the Collie? Are you that human who has taken a high-energy, intelligent dog and wonders why they are not behaving?
Collies need to exercise mentally and physically every day. They are not meant to be left alone on their own for hours on end.
If they need to be left on their own for a few hours, they can cope with no problem, provided they have had all of the mental and physical stimulation they need. If their brains are tired, their body is tired and they have switched off, they will be happy to curl up and go to sleep.
