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In reply to the discussion: Why there are so many border collies at animal shelters [View all]Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)I work shift work and my wife doesn't, so ours get nearly constant attention. I agree that it's not good to leave them alone for long periods of time. Mine get into trouble if I do this very often.
I use both physical and mental stimulation with them. Fortunately I have a big back yard so they have plenty of room to run. This time of year is difficult, because I can only run them for a couple of minutes during the middle of the day before they start getting too hot. So most of their exercise comes in the morning and evenings. During the day when they start getting restless I use a laser light indoors which works quite well.
Even though both of mine are pedigreed border collies, my male is not really typical for them. He is large and tires much faster than the female. Of the two he's more well suited in a domestic situation. He lays around a lot more than the female does. My female has both AKC and ABCA registrations and she is the quintessential border collie. I think she would have done extremely well in a working dog environment.