But you expect border collies to jump thru hoops, because that is what they were bred for? The fact is that if you give a border collie the choice to jump thru hoopies or do field work, there will never be any hoops.
No dog would choose agility over the field, why? because all dogs are Wolves, check the DNA, it says Wolf and Wolf alone.

http://www.livescience.com/50928-wol...-ancestor.html

So no dog should be a pet dog? No dog should have his/her drives satisfied by any means other than what they were selected for?

On that theory, dogs would very quickly become extinct

Nicky Anne ....how many wolves have their tails docked and wear e.collars ???

You know like your wolf ( in gsp clothing) does !!

Very true. How many people actually have sheep farms? How many actually use their dogs for hunting? Instead, we find a new "job" for our dogs and anyone who thinks that dogs don't LOVE agility (or flyball or dock diving or freestyle) is off their rocker.

How many wolves live in crates with loving families that keep them in cages for their safety?

Agility is not natural, sure it is better for a dog to be active, but no dog would choose agility over something natural, because all dogs have wolf DNA, even those dogs that are owned by people that are repulsed by the wolf and what represents.
For me the wolf represents freedom, and a dog in it's natural state, is not a lion in Kenya a more beautiful than a circus or zoo animal? This said a hunting dog, hunting is far more beautiful than a hoop hopper.

Definition of the word agility
Agility is the ability to be quick and graceful. You might have agility on the basketball court or in the courtroom, or even with your gaming remote. The noun agility can be used for both mental and physical skills in speed and grace. Your mental agility might allow you to follow both conversations at once.
Sounds natural to me.

and what do you think would happen to all those lovely GSPs who don't make the hunting grade? Would you deny them a home that offers alternative pastimes to satisfy their needs?

With your views on a 'dog is a wolf' theory, we should not have dogs at all because by all you believe they are the 'mutilation' that you abhor.

Sometimes sitting and looking at the wider picture makes us realise how narrow our views are

A dumb dog is a dumb dog, sad to say and a GSP that can not hunt is a dumb dog because it is what they do, thus they are not likely to be able to be trained to be hoopers either.

That dogs have wolf DNA is not a theory, and it is not mine.

The dog, Canis familiaris, is a direct descendent of the gray wolf, Canis lupus: In other words, dogs as we know them are domesticated wolves. Not only their behavior changed; domestic dogs are different in form from wolves, mainly smaller and with shorter muzzles and smaller teeth.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/li.../l_015_02.html

But the dog is no longer a wolf, Nicky. As you've demonstrated their behaviour has changed as well as their morphology.

In the same way, many of the selected traits that came through early domestication have been watered down in a lot of breeds.

Evolution is a wonderful thing although we do tend to interfere to alarming degrees at times