If you think Border Collies are the same, then you probably only have one or two of them. I use to think that too until I got into more than nine and with the rescues, I see from time to time and hear from their fosters, no two are alike. Oh sure, most have a hearing instinct. But some are far different than others. Clancy was a natural leader and herder while Dutchess is a ball and Frisbee freak, not to mention a foodaholic. Annie and Gabby along with Molly could care less about sheep and Annie will kill chickens and ducks.
Abbie is not a sheep herder either, and when we went to try her on them, she could care less and wanted to play ball. After just a few minutes, she was brought out of the sheep run and went for something she knew about, and it was her ball. To this day, she is obsessed with it. Because the age of our dogs and they have gotten older, we don’t play ball like we use to. It was a ritual, we would usually play on the hills and straightaways, jumping the water with every other throw. We would do this 3 times a day for 30 minutes or so. Now, when we play ball or Frisbee for 15 minutes, Dutchess, Molly, and Meggie will have a hard time getting up off their bed because they are so stiff.
Abbie is different… She has the energy of any dog I have seen, and she is always ready to go. Sometimes she will bring me a stick and place it by my feet, and I will ignore it, but if I move, she moves it in front of me again. One of the problems I encounter is when we all play ball, some of the dogs do not play well with others. Shepp, for example, is a great ball player, he runs and fetches and will drop it at your feel. If anyone is invited to play with him, he goes into his ninja mode.
He will ignore the dog but focused on the player and run at them and nip them. Doc, Dahlia, and Gabby will stalk them and just keep right beside them, never looking at the ball.
A solution to all of this is to take individual turns with the ballplayers, but Abbie is the always the most interested. Inside, she will look at the door at then at me and then back with her dark eyes. As hard as it is to schedule, she knows it’s “game on” when I look at her and just mouth the words “are you ready?” her eyes perk up, and she walked to the door.
We usually go out the garage door because no one else has figured it out, but it’s our secret. Abbie loves the alone time and is so talented, I will sit in a chair, and she will lay the ball right in my hands. If for some reason it rolls out, she’s right back fetching it from the ground and placing it back in my palm. As she plays, her tail is wagging as fast as it can and will let me know when it’s enough and back to the house we go, and no one is wiser but us. Ken
