The official EN World puppy/doggo thread

[Morrus]

1 assorted Blue Merle border collie “hiding” (let’s call her “C. Merle”)

1 assorted red Merle border collie at the vet (let’s call her “J. Merle”)

This is J. Merle’s immediate predecessor, JBW, who was probably the smartest border collie we’ve ever had:

It took us a while to notice her “Punisher”/“Misfits” markings.

We had a border collie before Jango. Adric was whip-smart. Hudson is half border collie, half retriever, but I’m seeing much more collie than retriever in him. Also super smart. Jango was the exact opposite of smart.

 

[Zardnaar]

Border Collies are known for being smart.
Not common as a pet here more farm dog.

Not all make it as farm dogs though and they become pets.

They taught one to read in Hungary iirc. It knew and could spell around 300 words.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Now this is a quality thread!

Here's Eve, whom we rescued from a shelter 12 years ago. This photo was from a few years ago, so there's more grey on her snoot these days.

More recent couch-dogging:

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

We didn’t count, but we know JBW had a huge vocabulary of spoken and spelled words. But what made her brains obvious was how she would figure things out for herself.

For instance, when we got J. Merle as a puppy, JBW stopped playing fetch. Instead, she’d catch the toy, wait for J. Merle to come over and “take” it from her and bring it back to the thrower. IOW, she delegated half of the game.

JBW was also the one who used to throw balls down stairs (pre-J. Merle). Dad decided she needed more exercise than she was getting, so while he was doing laundry, he’d throw a ball up the stairs. JBW would run up and then bring it down, occasionally running back up in anticipation. But on day, the ball came back solo. Dad figured it had just gotten knocked down by accident, so threw it back. JBW caught it, moved to the edge of the top of the stairs, and flipped it forward. As it bounced down, she took up her position for th next throw.

Dad, believing himself smarter than a border collie, subbed a rope bones for balls in stairplay. Initially, JBW was frustrated that the ropes did not roll, so she had to keep following them down as they only went a few stairs when flipped. But eventually, JBW figured out how to flip a rope down stairs, end-over-end, slinky style.

JBW showed J. Merle the basics, and she and C. Merle have both continued the tradition of throwing balls down the stairs, but neither has figured out the slinky rope toss.

 

[darjr]

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Not that the others are stupid, of course. J. Merle has notably figured out which shoes I wear for working in the yard and which shoes I wear while taking dogs on walks, and reacts accordingly.

Meanwhile, C. Merle has proven to be a music fan. Not only does she like to watch certain music channels when we put them on, but certain songs when hummed or whistled get amazingly joyful responses. Right now, the “magic” songs are “Also Sprach Zarathustra”, “Mars, Bringer of War”, “Ride of the Valkyries”, and the themes to “The Pink Panther”, “James Bond” and “Gilligan’s Island”.

And we had another TV watching dog, JBW’s predecessor KBW. At the scheduled time, she always got in the oversized recliner in the den and waited for someone to turn the TV to Oprah’s show. If no Oprah were forthcoming, she’d either mope at you or leave.

 

[Morrus]

Border Collies are known for being smart.

Yes. Us border collie owners are well aware of this.

 

[Sacrosanct]

In case you weren't aware, Lucky (the puppy) is a great wingman if you're single. I mean, just look at him . He's almost 2 now, but still around 25 lbs so he's still pretty much the same size. DNA tests came back 99.9% central american village dog. Makes sense. But I didn't know that was an actual breed. Though it was just a mutt.

 

[BookBarbarian]

In case you weren't aware, Lucky (the puppy) is a great wingman if you're single. I mean, just look at him . He's almost 2 now, but still around 25 lbs so he's still pretty much the same size. DNA tests came back 99.9% central american village dog. Makes sense. But I didn't know that was an actual breed. Though it was just a mutt.

Sometimes mutts do get a designation title (not exactly breed) like the domestic short hair cat.

Handsome boy you got there.