Border Collie vs. Australian Shepherd vs. English Shepherd

Thank you! There will definitely be tons of pictures

Rereading what I said, I wanted to clarify that I wasn't bashing Aussies at all. I love the breed and I think that a good Aussie and a good ES would actually be very, very similar. I just haven't been impressed with many Aussies I've met recently - they've all been very big dogs, probably from show lines vs working ones, and have had timid temperaments. It could just be the area I'm in too - I've seen some beautiful dogs online from breeders in Alberta, where I'm sure they work for a living and are bred for this purpose.

Those are my thoughts. I've only met one but MAN was she the best dog. But the fur . . . I couldn't deal with the fur . . .

Now see, I'm kind of sick of the little porcupine Pit Bull fur that gets stuck in everything, including skin.

But, Grant has kind of a thick coat for a Pit Bull/AmStaf. It's almost more like a Dalmatian coat in texture.

You people and your fur phobias. Tsk tsk. :lol-sign: The longer hair is actually easier to clean up, because you can actually pick it up instead of having to pick it out of everything. A proper rough coat is about as easy to care for as a short coat.

A good Aussie is amazing. A good Aussie is also quite hard to find these days, as the good dogs are staying in the working/serious hobbiest homes and not quite so much with the general public, which has it's pros and cons. Aussies are my heart breed, though ES's have caught my eye ever since that huge hoarder bust up in Montana(?) the other year; they sound like rather awesome dogs.

Cleaning up off of the floor/couches/etc doesn't bother me. I'm very tactile and long hair just feels creepy to me (same goes with men LOL).

How funny--I'm very tactile as well and I love the feel of rough coats over short. I love being able to dig my fingers into Sawyer's coat.

Unless it's my own hair, I don't like to dig my fingers into ANY hair! Which sucks because there are a few wire haired breeds who's temperaments I adore. And even more so than long and/or double coated breeds I HATE touching wire coats. Nekked dogs. I could deal with nekked dogs. LMAO!!

I love long hair on dogs. It's so much softer and in my opinion better to pet. But I can understand having an aversion to a hair type... curly dog hair is like that to me. Doesn't matter how clean it is, it just feels icky to me. I could never have a poodle or a breed with that kind of coat.

I have to say, Charlie's wire coat took some getting used to. Petting his face always felt like petting an incontinent old cat.

:rofl1:

...that just put me off from ever having a wire-haired/bearded breed.

:rofl1: It may have had something to do with him swimming in salt water daily and delicately lapping up fresh cow patty afterward.

Well...after reading this thread and looking at some websites, I've put the English Shepherd on the list of breeds I need to learn more about.

I did notice they seem to be used on cattle quite a bit. Do they have the same kind of DA issues that other cattle dogs have?

Well, my puppy is home and I am in love!

She was awesome on the 3 hour car ride home, slept quietly on my lap, did her business right away during stops and then went right back to sleeping when it was time to go again. We stopped at a Pet Valu on the way home to pick something up and she was very social, not nervous at all - thinks everyone is there to see her.

She's really quiet in her crate at night. We're on the third day and no mistakes in the house. She's really quiet in general - I'm so used to my ACD, it's nice to have a dog that will lie with you when you're tired. She's already turning into my "English Shadow" as the breeder puts it - she's currently sleeping right under my chair. She watches me constantly and seems very intelligent.

And while we're on the coat discussion, she has the thickest, most plush puppy coat! I love it, I'm constantly petting her.

Unfortunately no pictures yet because I realized the morning of that I left my camera at the barn (sigh) but I just got it back this morning so I'll take her out this afternoon for a photoshoot.

We will hold you to the promise of a photoshoot

Here she is! I think we've finally decided on the name "Quinn".











I'll probably post some more in Dog Pictures.

So cute!!!!!

Squeeee! So between the Border Collie named Quinn, the Koolie named Traveler, and your squishy puppy, I want a herding breed

Herding breeds are the best.

















And sometimes they're also the worst...

I hope that you enjoy taking pictures, because we will demand more. Many, many more as she continues to grow. Get me hooked, please. I think that this would be a sensible choice for my family.