Not Just Any Dog

I came upon a quote once that said, "If it's not a border collie, it's just a dog."

Well, I have a border collie, and I'm here to tell you today that there is nothing more true than that statement.

There are times when my border collie Ramsey behaves like a normal dog. When no one else is around he is able to relax and cuddle and sleep. On walks, also, he is a fairly normal dog.

But any time anyone new or different is around, any time a ball or frisbee is anywhere in his vicinity, or any time anyone goes swimming in our pool he turns into some kind of super dog freak.

For example, this weekend we took our dogs to the local dog park. Our husky ran around and socialized with the other dogs. Very normal. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Our border collie, on the other hand, was on a mission the entire time he was there. The mission, if I was reading his body language correctly, went something like this: MUST. CHASE. BALLS. Notimeforanythingelse. MUST. CHASE. BALLS.

We had brought a ball for him to fetch, but it didn't quite go fast enough or far enough for his standards. He is crazy fast. And he never just trots or jogs anywhere he goes. He is always in an all out, full on sprint that amazes everyone who ever sees him. You can barely see his feet touch the ground. I kid you not.

In any case, the ball I was throwing wasn't good enough for him. So, he set his sites on the frisbee guy. There was a guy there with his boxer who was very obviously trying to teach his boxer to play fetch. Well, sorry boxer guy, but your dog never stood a chance at catching that frisbee when Ramsey noticed it. Without fail, the man would toss the frisbee, and Ramsey would haul ass to the end of the dog park, jump into the air, and catch it victoriously in his mouth. I don't think that man liked Ramsey very much. He seemed rather miffed.

If his biggest problem was that he stole other dogs' frisbees, I wouldn't worry about it too much. But, that's not even it. The problem is that he doesn't have any limits. Most dogs have limits and pain thresholds. But, border collies aren't built like most dogs, and I do believe that my border collie would chase a frisbee until he keeled over dead. No joke.

Because he ran at an all out sprint chasing every frisbee or ball being thrown in that dog park that day, he was near death when we forced his exit from the dog park.

I felt like the worst dog owner in the world walking my exhausted, gasping for breath, foaming at the mouth border collie back to the car. I wanted to scream to the accusing onlookers, "I tried to make him stop to drink water! He would take two sips and run off in search of a ball! I tried to stop throwing him the ball in order to give him a much needed rest! He would simply take the ball and drop it a someone else's feet! He's a maniac! A maniac I tell you!"

But, it wouldn't have mattered had I tried to defend myself. When other dog owners look at Ramsey they see a dog just like any other. What they don't realize is that Ramsey is not just any dog; he is a border collie and those two things are not even close to being the same thing.