Understanding Border Collies

by Barbara Sykes

The Border Collie is an extremely versatile breed, faithful enough to be a loyal friend, honest enough to be a hard worker and intelligent enough to be an asset in rescue and other services. This comprehensive, illustrated book gives essential advice on how to become the pack leader by understanding and interpreting the body language of man's best friend. Topics include: choosing your Border Collie; taking your puppy home; commonsense dog training; nutrition; creating a partnership; training, adolescent and older dogs.

Genres: Dogs, Nonfiction

168 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 1999

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book. I am glad I read it before we began down the path of Border Collies. I would say Sykes is to Border Collies as Wolters is to Labradors. After I apply Sykes's methods to train our first Border Collie I may come back and upgrade the book to a five star. I will be continuing to read this book and refer to it often as our Border Collie grows.

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I found this book disappointing.

There was some advice I found questionable (very few toys... really??), some border collie info I am skeptical about (although maybe you can tell a bc's temperament by his/her ears, eyeshade, and coat color), and much of the rest was applicable to general dog raising.

And that's probably the rub- I have plenty of dog experience, and was really looking for a book to explain the oddities this breed: why my pup is so touch sensitive; why he demands respect and time to think, rather than just being shown what to do (despite his very sweet and helpful nature); how to deal with the incredible complexity (and intensity) of working with these dogs. It wasn't in this book.

I did appreciate the pictures and the talk about stalking. I further appreciated the author's explanation about why kids and bcs can work together just fine, thankyouverymuch, if both kids and dog have clear rules to follow. Unlike too many websites, the author was not trying to steer everyone away from these fabulous dogs, nor was she trying to scare us with horror stories. Since this book was written primarily for pet border collies, she does a good job of discussing hyperactivity, and what owners can do to 'fix' it or what they could do (in error and on bad advice) to make it worse. She abhors food rewards (I used to agree.. UNTIL my bc came, ironically.) There is a little talk about pack position, but she neither discusses it at length, nor ignores the value of positive training methods- very middle of the road, so regardless of which you embrace, you probably won't be offended by her book.

It is clear the author knows and loves bc's- it just wasn't clear that she fully understood how different they are than other breeds. Better than nothing, but not really that helpful.


Update: now that my own BC is 2 years old, and a settled adult, I gave this book a reread. In a way, that was helpful: with the incredibly tough puppy stages behind us, I can find more common ground here. However, I still believe it doesn't make a good enough distinction between border collies and other breeds. It also didn't address many of the challenges we had to work with that just aren't out there (my bc never ate the house, herded the children, or chased cars. But he had to be very carefully socialized to EVERYTHING, we had to overcome a litany of 'wolfy' behaviors, and his intelligence means I have to reach his brain FIRST or he just won't do it, necessitating a very special kind of training) . This book should have been the go-to source to that stuff. Unfortunate that it wasn't.

[David Tlk · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do not want to criticize or doubt Barbara Sykes knowledge and experience with border collies. However, while much of the content is useful, there are a significant number of generalizations about temperament and appearance which could never be established with data. And the reason why these generalizations could never be established via data, is that they are simply not true.

Her writing style is as sort of "round about" way of getting to each point. I found that in many passages, she tended to digress before finally addressing a topic. That may have been intentional, and she may be aware of connections between seemingly unrelated topics. However, she was not clear in making the connection for the reader. Thus, they appeared to be digressions. I found this quite annoying.

Barbara Sykes has a deep love of border collies, and it is highly likely that her ability to understand them, train them, and live with them is very high. But there was just enough "nonsense" in these pages, that I could easily begin to doubt everything else in the book.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and enlightening book about a fascinating breed. I’m hoping to bring home a BC puppy in 2022. The pictures are very helpful and I felt I really knew the breed better as I read. One star off for the author’s vagueness on important particulars about training. For example, she’s quite clear about teaching recall and avoiding car obsession, but there’s almost nothing about teaching your BC to assume an appropriate leash position on walks. I also question her insistence that training be accomplished without food or toy rewards, but I’m giving it thought.

[Johanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just okay. Things I loved about this book- interesting insights into BC behavior and personality, along with some great photos of these beautiful dogs. But honestly, the overall bulk of the book read like an episode of CM, made up if very outdated pack theory (though, in all fairness this is an older book). As a freebie, its okay, but tbh if I had paid for a copy, I'd regret the purchase.

[Cindy Lea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant read

Thank you to Ms. Sykes for helping me to know my pup so much better. I know know si much more to appreciate her intelligence.

[Elisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book to learn a little more about my new boy Max. It's more geared toward puppies (that you buy, vs. older guys you adopt) but it still had some interesting insights into the breed.

[Liz Boyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of raising and yes understanding the border collie focusing on the puppy year. Sykes knows and loves border collies. Most of her advice seemed reasonable. I disagreed with a few points, but like she says, there is no single path. Every border collie is unique and should be respected as such. With a border collie, the trainer is the master, the leader, but also they should work to form a partnership. The border collie of course is intelligent, and the trainer needs to listen as well as teach.

[Caroline Christoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, i read this a long time ago, but now I look back at it being helpful. It helped me now decipher the actions of my own border collie mix, and know what his prey drive may lead him to do. I recommend it if you are getting a border collie. Very helpful.

[Antje · Rating 5 out of 5]

the best dog books I've ever read....