r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Reasonable-Pop-9933 • 1d ago
The amazing agility of a Border Collie
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u/lmawatt 1d ago
I've never watched this dog show thing before but fuck me that dog was impressive.
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u/fireusernamebro 1d ago
I definitely won’t fuck you about it, but I do agree that dog was very impressive.
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u/denied_eXeal 1d ago
won't fuck you
But they kindly offered the opportunity, if you were raised right you gotta oblige
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u/AlwaysSunnyInTarkov 1d ago
Check out "flyball" too, It's a team relay style thing and it's pretty cool
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u/sofa_queen_awesome 1d ago
I went down the dog athleticism rabbit hole one day and really enjoyed dock diving
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u/roguerose 1d ago
We compete in flyball, can confirm it's cool.
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u/AlwaysSunnyInTarkov 1d ago
Oh nice! I've always wanted to try it with a collie I look after, but he's just a bit too nervous of strangers sadly.
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u/Danominator 1d ago
Your thinking that's impressive? Look at this guy fly through an agility course https://youtu.be/GjqtwNUE148?si=E5-odtGoYiZjdoQs
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u/SuperDuperBorkie 23h ago
Don’t forget this plucky little fella - Ollie
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u/gymnastgrrl 23h ago
My ADHD totem! lol. It's always amazing to see the dogs that just go after it and ace it like the border collie, but this would be me. "Yes, yes, let's go! Heyyyy! What's that over here? Oh, right, yes, yes, let's goooo!" lol
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u/IsabellaGalavant 20h ago
My favorites are the ones that have absolutely no business in an agility competition, like the old boys just there to get some exercise, or the big dopey ones like Saint Bernards that barely fit through the weave bars and get through the course in like 4 minutes. Love 'em!
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u/TheRealBananaWolf 1d ago
Wait till you hear about the dog sport of Barn Hunting! Rats play hide and seek with dogs. Best part is, the rats and dogs are friends and usually grow up with each other. The rats are in tubes btw.
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u/brianfinite 1d ago
Professional zoomies!
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u/Appropriate-Sound169 1d ago
Yes! Going to try our springer at agility i think. He needs a sport. Tried man trailing but he's too good at it so it's no challenge 🙈
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u/pLedGe000 1d ago
We took my spaniel to agility when he was still in his teen years. He is now able to jump high enough to snatch all my underwear off the clothesline
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u/Appropriate-Sound169 1d ago
Lol mine can jump over 5' without trying. Luckily a 2' fence has him convinced he's locked in. He loves sniffing, running, chasing and jumping. Loves water but only if his feet touch the bottom. (ie puddles). He'd be an excellent hunter except he has no impulse control. So I think a sport without the possibility of getting shot would be safer
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u/raven-eyed_ 1d ago
The commentary is amazing lol, they lose their shit. That was honestly crazy though. Way faster than you'd think a dog could go.
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u/Goliath422 1d ago
That was as fast as I could track the handler’s indications of where to go next. I have a laptop that doesn’t open the Start menu as fast as this dog completes obstacles.
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u/mwa12345 17h ago
Yes. That dog followed directions and kept her eye on the human while running fast and jumping thru hoops!
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u/InEenEmmer 11h ago
You might think the dog is tired after such a run with such high focus.
But knowing Border Collies, this dog is probably wondering when he can do the second part of the warm up round.
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u/deaddaddydiva 16h ago
I would have definitely fucked up and got overstimulated by how fast they were going. I would have just been like fuck it, go wild and run all over this bitch
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u/SirJamesCrumpington 21h ago
This is exactly why I love seeing clips of obscure sports, the commentators being so passionate and losing their shit over something when I can't even tell if what just happened was particularly impressive or not.
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u/mmmaniaaa 1d ago
That is Nimble, a border collie-papillon mix; purpose-bred agility dog!
I also have a border-pap and she's incredible :D
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u/Th3Alch3m1st 1d ago
I have a border collie and was confused because I knew that was not a pure bred. Also coincidentally we're looking at getting a papillon puppy, but now I'm wondering about a mix :0
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u/mmmaniaaa 1d ago
I also have a papillon! They are both strange sweet little creatures :)
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u/mrawya_rashaka 1d ago
That's actually quite smart. I knew he's smaller than a normal border collie, and I was thinking how great it is to have a smaller border collie for agility.
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u/GuiltyEidolon 1d ago
That's what I was going to guess, and then I second-guessed myself because I thought the size difference would be too extreme!
But life, ah, finds a way!
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u/Mike-__-Hunt 1d ago
How much daily exercise does she get? I love bc’s but with me and my partner working full time I’m not sure we can give one the outdoor time it fully needs
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u/Rik_the_peoples_poet 1d ago edited 1d ago
As an Aussie who owned and grew up around countless BC's and helped train many there is no way in hell I'd own one if I had a full time job. Even on a big property you need to run them for hours on end daily if they don't have sheep to herd, and they'll rip apart the house and start biting if they get bored. Even country folk on acreage without livestock in rural Australia avoid them because they're too neurotic without a job and become a liability. Still love them though but they're not built to be house pets.
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u/squags 1d ago
I own two BCs in suburban Brisbane and both my wife and I work full time. We walk or run them twice a day, and do obedience training on weekends. Occasionally (like this weekend), we'll take them into the hinterlands and do some sheep herding training, but that's very infrequent.
They require a fair bit of work and a confident handler, but they're not so insane that they're unmanageable by any means. They adapt to your lifestyle.
They are pretty nuts whilst still maturing (< 2.5 yrs) but both my girls are very chill now, even if they miss a walk. Biting is much the same as any dog - socialisation, training impulse control and general manners. Never had a problem with my dogs except that they sometimes go too hard trying to herd other dogs, but no biting or anything - just being too intense and stalking/chasing. If they miss out on walks during floods etc, they might dig some holes, but no crazy damage after puppy years. No more so than any of my other friends dogs.
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u/LieutenantStar2 1d ago
Yeah I agree - it’s not just about physical stimulation, but mental stimulation. The breed needs a job.
Want a lazy full-time person dog? Get a greyhound. Even in the U.S. you can still get them affordably as Australian racing dogs are dumped on the U.S. market.
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u/synonymous_downside 23h ago
This is the most frustrating misconception about border collies. I've had three BC's, I'm currently dog sitting four more, all of them are either bred for herding or for agility, and none of them need hours of exercise per day. I work full time (albeit from home), and I don't put up with my dogs acting unhinged all day while I'm trying to get shit done.
Yes, my dogs lead active and fulfilling lives. I compete in agility, herding, and flyball, and I'm adding obedience to that list in a couple of weeks. They get lots of training and off leash hikes. But sometimes life is boring for a week and they just have to get over it and chill out. Running these dogs into the ground MAKES them neurotic.
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u/Rik_the_peoples_poet 23h ago edited 23h ago
That attitude leads to hundreds being euthanised when they're treated like ordinary dogs, to the point where Aussie shelters will often euthanise them before other breeds because they so often get into bad biting habits when not given enough mental/physical stimulation and it's incredibly hard to train formed habits out of working dogs. The vast majority of people's lifestyles do not meet the criteria and so you shouldn't recommend them as you're just setting them up for failure.
Some BC's will be calm enough to not act out, especially in the US because the bloodlines there are less concentrated for working because sheep livestock in the US is relatively rare. Many won't be, and the commenters from the UK which does have a big sheep industry so chances are it will be hyper-active. Kelpies and Koolies are even worse.
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u/mmmaniaaa 1d ago
Most days a run or walk with my partner and lots of play time at home. Agility training twice a week. I am disabled and she is happy to laze about with me for half the day lol, got very lucky with her.
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u/Appropriate-Sound169 21h ago
I love them too but opted for a spaniel because BC have a rep for turning vicious if they're bored.
In my experience bored is not the same as no exercise. Mental stimulation and having a job are what's needed, not miles of running. Most shepherds drive their dogs to the fields and they maybe do 20mins running. The rest of the time they are in a kennel in the farmyard.
My springer is much the same. He's not interested in hikes. He's happiest standing still in the woods (me) while he races about the bushes 'hunting'.
So if you can provide mental exercises every single day after work, even in the winter when it's dark at 4pm, and if you can forget holidays where dog doesn't come too, nights out without a dog sitter, weekends or working away etc. Maybe boarding would work but don't count on it. These breeds need their humans as much as possible.
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u/csixteen 1d ago
That face at the end, as if asking “Was I a good boy?”. Of course you were a good boy.
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u/tinaoe 1d ago
Best girl, actually! Her name's Nimble and she's the first mixed breed to win this competition :D
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u/Grepus 1d ago
Came to the comments to find this info, she looked too small to be a Border Collie
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u/GuiltyEidolon 1d ago
The face definitely is wrong too for a pure Border Collie. But she's a very good girl regardless.
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u/PearEducational6136 1d ago
Thank you! The face for sure!
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u/GuiltyEidolon 1d ago
Oh, yup, the article /u/tinaoe linked says it - a border collie-papillon mix.
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u/NeriTina 1d ago
Papillon + Border Collie = quick and smart as a whip! There’s no better combo for primo doggo mix! 🥰 You can really see the papillon in her at the end when she’s being held. It’s that “eager” look. What a cutie pie.
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u/aperdra 1d ago
And, crucially, gets the dog into a lower size class, where there are fewer border collies. If you can compete where there are next to no full borders, you've got way more chance of winning 😂
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u/Crazed_Chemist 22h ago
The 8 inch class is dominated by Papillion to almost the same extent the taller height classes are by border collies. It's not unusual to see it be Papillion, Shetland, collie, collie in the increasing height classes.
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u/aperdra 21h ago
Yeah doesn't surprise me at that height. In the UK, generally our smallest category is 350mm (13.7inches), so that covers a lot of very small spaniels (which I suspect are being crossed with paps somewhere along the line to make them that small).
But I guess there's a reason that "anything but collies" comps exist, categories with lots of collies tend to be a one-breed race. If you can make a tiny collie, it's gonna excel.
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u/OntarioPaddler 21h ago
Not for long, in 5 years it will be entirely Border Paps at the top levels. All of the top handlers are buying them now.
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u/CitizenCue 1d ago
I’m now aware that’s a breed, but I had to ask google how someone managed to mate a dog and a butterfly.
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u/NeriTina 1d ago edited 1d ago
They get their name from the long whispy hair beneath their ears that runs down their neck, giving the ears and mane a ‘butterfly wings’ shape. I’ve got a papillon x rat terrier mix (rat-a-pap), I swear the papillons, they’re a type of dog that knows how incredibly smart and pretty they are. 😄
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u/Chewcocca 1d ago
I am compelled by the blood of the ancients to share this response with you:
Better hope the butterfly is the dad.
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u/badstorryteller 1d ago
I would put black lab border collie up there too, as long as you live in the country and have a very active 4 year old who likes to spend all day every day playing outside with them and being herded around!
Source: Former 4 year old human livestock
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u/flatwoundsounds 1d ago
My first dog was a black lab/collie mix. I got her for my 5th birthday and named her Rocket. Such a fun dog for a kid to chase around the house!
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u/badstorryteller 1d ago
Yes! I bet you have a lot of fond memories of Rocket 🙂. Mine was named Sam. Between Sam and I, and a calico cat that never really got a real name, we had a lot of fun together when I was a little kid. I called the cat "kitty," my mom and most other people just called her "the bitch." She got to be ~20lbs and was just a menace to most living things, but she was always best friends with me and Sam. She would curl up and cuddle with both of us, even play fetch in the yard. She couldn't pick up a frisbee of course, but she would get wicked excited if Sam missed it and she beat him to it on the ground!
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u/Sporkalork 1d ago
I have a border collie/German shepherd, also an incredible mix
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u/-AgonyAunt- 19h ago
My sister had a border collie x German shepherd. She was the size of a border, was orange for some reason, and the face and huge fluffy tail of a German shepherd. She was mental. And hilarious. She loved nothing more than digging a hole and sitting in ilthe cool dirt. She lived til 15. Her name was Sasha 🧡
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u/badstorryteller 1d ago
That sounds like a really fun mix! My grandfather got mine as a very young puppy shortly after I was born, and since there was no daycare at the time I spent almost all day every day at their house. He even helped me learn how to walk by standing very still while I stood up leaning against him and slowly moving to the side 😂. I remember trying to harness him to my sled to pull me around the yard one winter - he tried his very best, but it turns out I was not in any way skilled enough to make that work.
Man do they take their jobs seriously. I'm glad my grandparents were (mostly) retired when they adopted him. My grandmother trained him to pick up weeds and put them in the wheelbarrow when she was weeding her gardens and my grandfather would take him for rides everyday when he would go visit his friends to play cribbage. Grandpa also taught him to run off the groundhogs that would try to get in the gardens - he knew never to cross the property line, and he wouldn't attack them, he would just sort of aggressively herd them out. Anti-herding? Lol.
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u/makebbq_notwar 19h ago
I have one too, it’s a little scary how smart they are. She recently had surgery and figured out how to use the plastic cone as a ram to push stuff and a lever to open doors and cabinets.
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u/Muted_Gur_213 1d ago
I swear when she picked the doggy up he kept looking around the crowd as if appreciating the applauds and cheers
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u/harm_and_amor 21h ago
when she picked the doggy up
That pup freakin soared into her arms, which might’ve been my favorite part of the whole video.
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u/LightsaberThrowAway 1d ago
Hopefully not rude, but it’s applause*.
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u/Muted_Gur_213 1d ago
I appreciate it. It's not bad to be corrected, even if just for the sake of conversation. This is my third language, and in online conversations I mostly go by browser autocorrects. It didn't proc this time for some reason. After checking it, I guess it's an obsolete UK form of spelling or something? It does still exist Merriam-Webster and Wiktionary.
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u/RA576 1d ago
Applaud would be the verb version of it. As in, "I applaud you" would mean I'm cheering for you. "Applauds" would be second person. IE He applauds you. Applause is the noun version of applauding.
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u/Muted_Gur_213 1d ago
Thanks. So it would have worked in the sentence if I had phrased it "as if appreciating their applauds and cheers", or something like that? Or maybe not..? 😬
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u/Mootsou 1d ago edited 23h ago
"Their" is possessive. You can't possess a verb, so it should still be the noun. "their applause".
Edit: You could have wrote "their applauding". I have to admit I had to check this was right myself, it just didn't sound obviously wrong to my ear and ing can modify the verb such that it functions as a noun. Which is why I can use the word "ask" (a verb) like this "do you mind my asking". But "their applause" is still better, because "their applauding" when said aloud sounds the same as "they're applauding" which is even further from what you meant to say.
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u/TreacleOutrageous296 23h ago edited 23h ago
Not to be that person, but probably better to say, “could have written” 😉
If we are going to be Border Collies about grammar… 🙂
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u/RA576 23h ago
In that example, Applause would still be the accurate word. I don't think there's a way to work Applauds into this scenario as multiple people are clapping, and Applauds only works in the singular. As it's plural, it would be Applaud. "He applauds the dog" vs "They applaud the dog"
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u/NonVeggieRaccoon 1d ago
I had a collie mix who did agility years ago (of a much lower level) and he ABSOLUTELY knew when the applause was for him. he loved being the center of attention
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u/thefalseidol 1d ago
It's so funny (and cute) to see an animal perform peak athleticism and have zero context as to why or "winning".
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u/North-Pea-4926 1d ago
I love how jumping into their arms was part of the run🥰
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u/LordessMeep 1d ago
That's highkey my favourite part of the agility runs. The way the dogs jump into their handler's arms after is way too adorable 🥺
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u/terror_billie 1d ago
I have a Collie cross but he’s massive. All I could think about while watching this is how amazing he’d be; only to traumatise everyone at the end by splitting me in half if he tried to jump into my arms like that. 🤣 it’d be like getting shot with a bazooka!
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u/BandoTheHawk 1d ago
That dog is living the champion lifestyle. I wonder if it knows the people are cheering for it and it feels proud. Looks like its locked in when you see it eyes in the beginning.
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u/tempinator 1d ago
It’s absolutely locked the fuck in lol. Working dogs have unbelievable focus. It’s like their entire world is their task and nothing else exists.
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u/okaywhattho 1d ago
People tend to forget that dogs were working animals for much of history. You don’t just get rid of that with a short amount of pet years. They’re hard wired to work. That’s why they dig, herd, hunt, protect, etc.
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u/Toshinit 23h ago
Whenever we're planting our flowers/food plants every year our dog sees us digging and get hyped up to dig with us. We started getting an extra tomato plant to put wherever her hole is and I think it's adorable.
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u/auApex 23h ago
My sister has a bordoodle, and we were at the beach one day. The dog kept very cautiously approaching the water and backing away.
The five of us stood there encouraging her enthusiastically until I swear she looked around and decided to give the people what they wanted. She bolted into the ocean, swam.about 20 metres out, and came straight back.
Everyone was cheering, and she had a genuine look of pride on her face. She then went up to each of us individually for a pat and acknowledgement of her triumph. So I'm pretty sure the doggo in this video knew she'd just done something awesome.
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u/dashmone 1d ago
Looks like it has a batman mask on lol
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u/Coretron 1d ago
RIP Val Kilmer
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u/BAHatesToFly 1d ago
Imagine this being how you found out Val Kilmer died
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u/arthur_nemosnax 1d ago
That is literally what just happened to me 😂 saw this comment and was like, wait when did Val Kilmer die.
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u/EggsceIlent 1d ago
Absolutely just happened to me as this was the top link and the rest (including the onslaught of killer links was below).
Took a look yep.
It was an absolute disgrace the academy didn't award him with an Oscar for his doc holiday. They didn't even have him nominated for the category
Rip to a legend.
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u/Imanidiotththe1st 1d ago
Border colliers are very intelligent dogs, this one looked like it was doing math in its head before the the start of the competition.
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u/MrPatch 1d ago
My grandma had border collies all her life. She started going deaf as she got older, the dog she had at the time, Jason, basically taught himself to be her hearing dog, entirely unprompted.
We first noticed it when we went for a walk with her & him. We were on a country road, no pavements just a bit of a verge so walking in the road, a car was coming from behind and Jason heard it early, came and stood in front of grandma until she stopped then hopped onto the verge and looked significantly down the road behind her at which point she turned and saw the car and got out of the way. She said he'd started doing it a few months previously. After that we realised he'd started alerting her when we came to the house and apparently he'd come and stand in the doorway when the phone rang.
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u/Niveker14 21h ago
Dogs are a lot like people in that way, some are just born stupid and some are born geniuses. Even within the same breed there can be a lot of variation. Kind of the opposite story to yours, my dad had an Australian Shepard for awhile when I was younger and that thing was just not smart, which was kind of funny. He found it wandering the streets and it was already 4 or 5 years old. We put up posters and no one claimed it. So we don't know what it's history was - if it was just born that way or if it had a head injury, malnutrition or what, but I'm telling you that thing was dumb even by dumb dog standards.
It was one of the most lovable dogs I've ever been around though, it just wanted to cuddle and have head pats all day.
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u/Dima_Ses 1d ago
Wow! He is almost as fast as Shrek!
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u/potheadmed 1d ago
About 10 seconds faster than Shrek actually
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u/aurorasoup 1d ago
I wasn’t ready for this. Thanks for the link
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u/MrBenzedrine 1d ago
I expected it to be at the top of the page. Has been a favourite of mine for many years!
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u/Pickerington 1d ago
Its actually the same trainer but a different dog used for that video.
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u/OntarioPaddler 21h ago
No it's not. Nimble is handled by Cynthia Horner and Gabby (the dog replaced by Shrek) is handled by Andrea Samuels.
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u/MsBobbyJenkins 1d ago
Cool. My border collie shits on the living room floor if its raining outside.
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u/ButFirstMyCoffee 22h ago
I was watching this thinking about how my dog won't tell me she needs to go out, she'll just quietly sit there making full, unblinking eye contact until I get up.
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u/magicshiv 21h ago
Get a doggy raincoat and maybe some boots, my dog loves puddles and mud, he doesn't mind the rain and still expects me to walk him but won't walk in the rain without his raincoat.
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u/Rookitarian 1d ago
Heck, I'm amazed by the agility of the dog's human companion, let alone that of the black-and-white lightning bolt masquerading as a dog!
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u/Ashamed-Pool-7472 1d ago
The greatest dog that ever was or will be passed away two years ago. She was half BC half Brittany Spaniel she was at least this good. Wicked smart, and an endless amount of energy.
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u/zoolandermagnum 1d ago
Here's the original video on YouTube. Not a pure bred Border Collie but a mix of some sort.
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u/nearly_enough_wine 1d ago
1st. Nimble
2nd. Swindle.
Wouldn't have seen this without the source, thanks :)
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u/MightBeTrollingMaybe 1d ago
BCs are absolutely majestic dogs. If you train them properly you'll have an outright trooper. If you don't, adopting a Velociraptor would probably mean less property damage and less stressful walks.
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u/FionaTheFierce 1d ago
I love how happy agility dogs look when they are racing around. It’s the best of zoomies with your-owner pal and cheering crowd.
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u/Pando5280 1d ago
So fast. That dog was built for this.