Border Collie as falconry dog?

[plaraway]

Just wondering if anyone has any input on using a border collie as a falconry dog. She was abandoned on our street shortly before moving and I took her in. Unknown age or condition but she's going to the vet at the end of the month for a complete checkup.

I know they are great herding dogs and that they do well in agility tests but I haven't heard anyone mention them in falconry.

Any ideas about how she will fare as a falconry dog?

-Paul

[Master Yarak]

I would bet it would be remarkable hunting partner. They are one of the MOST cognitive breeds. Adaptable, robust and can go for hours without rest. I would certainly give it a shot if I had one.
Yarak

[Falcon Boy]

If you shave it so it doesn't get too hot i bet it can give a jack a run for it's money!

[plaraway]

Sounds great!

Now I just have to convince the landlord and my wife to let me build a mews on the back porch

[Falcon Boy]

A friend of mine from NV just emailed me and wanted me to tell you he runs his border collie with his accips no problem and they will give a jack a good chase!

[dirthawker]

I fly with a Queensland heeler they work just fine its just another tool to get the bunnies up. and she is a good quail and dove retriever as long as its not to hot out

[Nisus]

I have heard and read about one guy from UK that have great border collie.

He is about to point any pheasant just like pointer and he is also imba rabbit, hare dog.

I know there is also one Japanese guy who is using cross breed of border collie to flush pheasants.

[silverleapers]

I had a Border Collie mixed breed....best rabbit dog in Newfoundland..shot over 200-300 varying hare in 3 weeks with her....she regularly beat individual hounds 5 or 10 to 1! She went up against 3 highly trained and regularly hunted beagles one day....beat them 6 to 1! She was a rabbits nightmare! The local wild goshawks hunted with her (lost 5 rabbits to them one day). If the hawked killed a rabbit she was on the dog just let the hawk have it and when to find another....This went on all one fall.....The hawks had a blast (and were fat!). Had as many as 7 Goshawks all hunting off her often. Same dog also hunted with wild peregrine and gyr in the arctic of Ungava region of Labardaor for two summers....falcons loved her too....it got to the point that as soon as the dog walked out the door the falcon(s) would jump off the cliff 2-3,000 feet up. Musta been 300 ptarmigan on the small lake shore...at least when we started...lol....what a blast.

[silverleapers]

Oh BTW had a bald eagle in the arctic try and kill this same dog...stooped from about 1000 feet up and broke off the attack 40-50 feet above the dog. Yikes!

[njsc]

and they are just such nice dogs to have around the house.. i would have to think a while before i got a dach.

[forestfalcon]

njsc said:

and they are just such nice dogs to have around the house.. i would have to think a while before i got a dach.

I used to have a dachshund. She was a big nerd around the house, but once she had a job to do (we had her chase pigeons away from our pond,) she was really focused, and even a bit neurotic about getting her job done. Border Collies are great dogs, that is, if they have a job to do. I've never seen one as a falconry dog, but they are so freaking smart, I wouldn't doubt that you could train them on jacks. (heck, it might even herd a jack towards your bird...wishful thinking?)

[njsc]

doesn't sound too far fetched to get it to herd them toward you. I mean in the south i know that dogs do it with deer all the time. they just sit in the back of the pickup and shoot what the dogs bring in.

[Joby]

Njsc,
Why would you have to think awhile before getting a Dachs? Different coat types of doxies have VERY, VERY different types of personalities. While the smooths (what most people think of when they think of doxies) can be snippy and bit#%y most of the time, the wires and especially the long hairs are really quite sweet. I chose them over JRTs for exactly that reason. Now, that being said, just as with choosing what bird to fly, you need to consider the types of cover and the quarry when choosing which dog to get. A border collie might work really well where there is little cover, but if you're going for bunnies here in the east, where they go down holes and hide in THICK THICK cover, you need a smaller dog that can get in to them. Bigger dogs just don't work as well as these little guys.
-Joe

[njsc]

Yeah i agree that you have to suit your environment. I have only had experience with the smooths so and what bad experiences those were. I didn't know that it was that big of a difference. Thanks for the info.

[Kitana]

Well bred border collies from working lines (and other sheep herding breeds) have a very interesting characteristic in their predatory motor patterns: they will stalk (fix, point) the prey intensively, for a long time, which gives the falconer time to adjust before the flush. And they do not have the tendency to grab the prey, they want to stalk it and run after it, that's all. A border collie that grabs/bites is usually faulted in trials, so this characteristic is bred out of them. I guess it would be an advantage for falconers, who do not want to see the rabbit grabbed by the dog, but by the bird!

I have had interesting non-hunting experiences with a friend's young shetland sheepdog this winter. This dog have a strong stalk, and a very strong chase, but he only chases moving things: when the snowshoe hares stopped moving, the dog stopped running 4-5 feet from the hares and returned to stalking them very intensively, until they started running again. The dog is still receptive when stalking, and could probably be directed left-right to direct a flush in the ideal direction, just as they are trained with the sheep.