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Location: East Midlands, UK
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 8,775
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I have a theory about collies - before I go any further, I would like to say that I personally do not think you can beat a good collie or a good labrador ... most of 'em do what it says on the tin. I have only ever known a nasty labrador and that was the old boy Flint who we inherited with the house that my parents were left in a friend's will. He had never been socialised, was grossly overweight and underexercised and was a thoroughly grumpy, bad tempered old git. However, he came with the territory and we all did the best we could for him.
My theory about collies is this - particularly those who have a very ancient lineage of farm/working collies in their genes - they are first and foremost shepherd dogs, bred for herding. Young children are a bit like sheep, especially when in groups - they run around in an unruly fashion, often making a lot of noise whilst they engage in their playground games of tig or hide and seek. Now to a collie who has a very strong herding instinct, I can imagine that this can trigger the desire to control, to herd, to round up those recalcitrant "sheep". And how do collies round up sheep? They herd them whilst nipping at their ankles to get them to do what they want. Of course I am not suggesting that collies will actually bite children's ankles, but I suspect some of them would get a quick nip it and terrify a small child, who would then scream blue murder and say that the dog had bitten them. I have been bitten in exactly this way by a farm collie, a lovely bitch called Nell, in Wales when I was a kid. Totally my fault, and it didn't phase me at all being dog-mad, and I got a smack on my bottom from my mother for teasing the dog!!
That is why I personally would never have a collie with very young children ... not because I would be worried that my kids would get nipped, but because I would be worried that there may be repercussions for the dog.