[Fronhaul]

Our local farrier has a border terrier cross who is a fantastic little dog.  I never thought I could be tempted away from JRTs but he has made me think again.

[lachlanandmarcus]

heres proof that Borders can be sociable - but will always be top dog and hold their own.....Monty and Taggie (shortly before haircut) asleep....

and fun in the snow!

[SteveHants]

I nearly got a border but two things put me off;


Firstly they are no longer really bred to work so, I see a lot about that I would consider too big or a poor shape and you you don't know if they will work if their parents haven't been worked.


Secondly, they are now a kennel club 'breed' so of course pedigree breeders are selling them and therefore want an arm and a leg for them.


I really do like them, but I ended up getting a Patterdale instead, and I am glad of my choice for the following reasons: Working strain of dog, isn't too big and catches rats like nobodys busniness, wide genepool, as they are bred on working merit and it makes little odds to the breeder if he puts a border x pat to a pat or one that clearly has a lot of JRT in it etc. This also means you get lots of interesting coulors etc (mine is almost all black, but had a littermate that was clearly a borderesque throwout, who was also loveley). Final reason was I couldn't find a border for less than £400 and my pat cost me £150. Pattedales aint everyones cup of tea, but I like mine and I'm glad I bought him.

[Nickie]

I know what you mean Steve. Ours is from working lines. He's tiny compared to others I have seen, but don't let that fool you, he's as hard as nails & loves the hunt & kill. He was reasonably priced at £200 & worth every penny.


Couple of points I forgot to mention earlier:


It is almost impossible to contain him. He fit through or under every gate, even between gate & post where the hinges are. He jumps on top of the stone walls & squeezes through the square holes in the stock fencing.


He is very persistent. He will follow orders, but will then try the same thing over & over again.


If he hears something in a wall or under a board for example he will sit there & wait for his prey for hours on end - bless him.

[SteveHants]

I used to be up on these things and knew of a few lines of working border, glad you got one.


Patterdales can be mental, but mine isn't (unless you are a small, furry thing), and I know people who wouldnt have one, but mine is great with nippers compared to the JRT I used to have and will put up with any ammount of crap from them...just woe betide you if you happen to be a small mammal, bird etc...

[kja]

I nearly got a border but two things put me off;


Firstly they are no longer really bred to work so, I see a lot about that I would consider too big or a poor shape and you you don't know if they will work if their parents haven't been worked.


Secondly, they are now a kennel club 'breed' so of course pedigree breeders are selling them and therefore want an arm and a leg for them.


I really do like them, but I ended up getting a Patterdale instead, and I am glad of my choice for the following reasons: Working strain of dog, isn't too big and catches rats like nobodys busniness, wide genepool, as they are bred on working merit and it makes little odds to the breeder if he puts a border x pat to a pat or one that clearly has a lot of JRT in it etc. This also means you get lots of interesting coulors etc (mine is almost all black, but had a littermate that was clearly a borderesque throwout, who was also loveley). Final reason was I couldn't find a border for less than £400 and my pat cost me £150. Pattedales aint everyones cup of tea, but I like mine and I'm glad I bought him.

our bitch comes from working stock she is very small our dog (her son) is much bigger his sire was a show border out of her litter she had 2 working size and 2 show size they will both hunt we paid £450 for the bitch we had to travel to get her as we wanted a working strain (the breeder had 17 that he worked). i would not be without either of them, they are like shadows.

[SteveHants]

Worked below ground or above?


see, I don't know If I could £450 'want' a dog, but thats just me..

[kja]

he works both above and below ground with his terriers (he also breeds JRT's and x's the 2) as well as labs for his shoots and runs/ran courses for terriers & shooting pretty much all country sports with dogs.

 :innocent:other than our JRT the border was the cheapest dog i have brought ( isold 3 out of her pups for £400 each )

[rispainfarm]

Most dogs have gone up in cost, even mongrels that fetch sometimes more than a pedigree, look at labradoodles which cost 8-900 pounds. I paid £350 for my border but that was 6 years ago.

[SteveHants]

I admit, my Patt is now 6, but I just bought a perfectly servicable collie dog for £250....


I reckon before I paid that again, Id rescue a dog, the kinds of dogs I like seem to be the kinds that end up in rescue places..I want a lurcher, but we have no room, pref a bedlington x whippet......


So many rabbits on my ground....

[Wendy@blueborage]

We have one and he's the best dog.  I'm interested to read how other people find their borders.   Our dog will come when he is called 99% of the time, but he can be selectively deaf if there's something more interesting that's distracting him. 

He's also greedy and seemingly will try and eat anything, so he has to be watched on walks.  And he'll sit by an outbuilding for hours if he hears a rustle underneath it.  He's a true terrier.  He wasn't interested in the sheep as a young dog, but one day something clicked in his mind and he realised they were interesting after all.  As he's not an aggressive dog he would probably just like to run around with them, but obviously he's no longer let anywhere near them.

But if these are faults, they're nothing to his wonderful qualities. He's great around people, especially children and children he doesn't know who want to pat him in the street, he's no problem with other dogs, and he's an affectionate character.  I wouldn't be without him.

Wendy@blueborage

blueborage.blogspot.com