What are they like? Comparisons to other herding breeds? Energy level? Obsessive tendencies? Other animals/kids/strangers?
They are fun dogs. Extremely smart, highly active, and some can be pretty sensitive. They do have a bit more tendency to have that "crazy" and nervy personalities than say, Coolies (having been able to compare those myself). But they are fun dogs who tend to be very tolerant of handling. The ones I know aren't terribly physical in play, but could be training or lines. They ARE intense though and do obsess, something that is innate but should be curbed as much as training can in the early days. They're a working dog so focus on balance is key, some don't know how to dog if they're too focus on needing a job. Training down time is a must. They're loud, the barking can be trained, but their bark volume is loud due to their original purpose. I prefer them over border collies, mostly because there still is some thoughtfulness into their breeding still (though with their popularity in sport rising that will change i'm sure) verses the whole "zomg this dog is fast breed breed breed!" that i see a lot in other dog sport excelling breeds.
Just my observations from running Roo and playing agility with him.
I overall agree with MandyPug. I have a Working Kelpie straight off a cattle farm and I've talked to a TON of Kelpie people and breeders, showline and working.
Limit is...amazing. I love this dog so incredibly much. He was hard to raise. He was super motion reactive, independent, pushy, and a bit of a dominant jerk as a pup. He constantly started fights with Kastle when he was young, would run to chase a toy and then play with it without me etc etc. It was a lot of work but now...oh, now he is just darn near perfection.
The breeder with very competitive agility dogs in Canada I talked to said that it is common (and Limit did this) for them to go through an extremely intense fear period for a relatively long time (Limit's was 1.5 years roughly), and then have to build back up to being more...competitive. She also said to not do drills with him (we do agility) because he would not excel with excessive drills of the same behavior over and over (and she was right).
Limit is hilarious, quirky, drivey, spazzy, incredibly incredibly fast, athletic and a joy. He is a very clean, very good boy, fastest pup I've ever potty trained. He follows the rules. He is never, ever intentionally naughty, ever. He gets upset when he knows other dogs are being naughty. He is handler sensitive, not soft, but very sensitive. I rarely have to raise my voice with him unless he is in drive. He tries VERY hard. He has fantastic ball drive, fantastic food drive, and an excellent off switch. He can entertain himself for hours chewing on a bone. He's got good hunt drive as well (I started him as an explosive detection dog at my old job).
I've raised and trained, GSDs, Mals, Corgis, Border Collies, and now the Kelpie. He's somewhere between a BC and an ACD I think. He's not so strong minded as an ACD, nor quite so...in your face. He's not as OCD, or as temperamental as BCs. I did not enjoy BCs at all for training. Granted, all Sporter oriented so that may be the reason. But they were in everything for the themselves/the work. It didn't feel like a team/bond to me. Limit is always looking to work with me. The BCs I felt didn't have much personality, Limit is FULL of personality, which I adore. His nerves are not as stable as a Koolie for sure (I've met Zinga), but otherwise they seem quite similar.
Limit is quiet in the house, in his crate, in the car etc etc He will alert bark, or occasionally bark if he really needs something (to go out, he's hungry etc), but overall he's quieter than a GSD for example. He does bark at flyball and at lure coursing, he barks waiting his turn in agility but not on the course (so far anyway). He's not a physical dog at all, at all. Might be training, I don't like to be slammed around. He will get up on his hind legs, gently, and hug me, with my permission. But he never, ever, ever has run into me, knocked into me, tripped me etc etc He's very aware of his surroundings and he's very careful. Same with the other dogs in the pack.
He's high energy outside, but I can work it out of him pretty quickly. He has Border Collie Collapse syndrome which blows but is common in several breeds. He's not had any obsessive tendencies as an adult so far. Fine with our pack dogs now (we had scuffles in the past when we were joining our families together), fine with the dogs he sees in agility every week. We've added numerous puppies and not had any issues (we have a breeder in our club who brings her pups a lot to training to socialize). He can be shy with new people but that's really changing a lot as he ages, a lot, so I don't know what he'll end up at.
That's a novel, and I obviously only have the one but I've met several flyball Kelpies and they seem very similar to my Limit (all working Kelpies). My husband is a GSD person through and through, the only breed he'll personally own forever and Limit is his favorite dog. He just worms right into your heart with his quirky antics and unique personality.
