Hi chaps - I hope you had a great Christmas and wish you all a Happy New Year!
I love border collies having watched "One Man and His Dog" with Phil Drabble when I was a boy. Your pets are gorgeous animals!
When my youngest son finally persuaded my wife and I to get our first pet last year, we would have loved a border collie, but we just knew it would not have been fair on the dog because our lifestyles would not have allowed such intelligent and energetic working dogs sufficient stimulation and exercise.
So, we followed the "idiot's guide" on the Kennel Club web-site which helps you chose the right breed, asking questions about age of children, size of garden, time available for walks etc.
There were loads of terriers and poodles but the breed which caught our eye was the "Kooikerhondje" - Dutch for "decoy dog". These dogs appeared in many of the old Dutch Master paintings. We thought that the coat was very similar to a brown and white collie and the face very handsome.
Jack joined us in September last year and is now around 18 months old:
Jack's arrival has had a huge impact on the family and mostly for the better! Not quite so good was my wife
not tripping over him after we had only had him for a couple of days, and completely rupturing her Achilles tendon, (which did not get diagnosed for almost 4 months!), leading to a major op in January this year! On the plus side, Jack has forced us out walking and we're all fitter for it. My testosterone-filled teenage boys also seem to mellow in his company!
) who passed away when I was 16.
