Working dogs are working dogs because they have behaviors that make them useful. Some of these useful behaviors have been further honed through advent of trials and working tests, although it is often debated about whether trials reflect the “real world” of a working breed. Either way, working dogs are bred behaviors, drives, motor patterns, and emotional reactivity that makes sense for the dog to complete the task at hand.
But are are these traits compatible with the needs of the pet home? Generally, pet owners want a dog that is of moderate or low activity level and very low prey drive. Herding, retrieving, pointing, flushing, and the hunting behavior of scenthounds, sighthounds, and earthdogs are all either modified predatory behavior or full predatory behavior. The dogs that perform best at these tasks have relativley high levels fo prey drive. In some of these working breeds, an extremely high energy level and endurance is also necessary.
These traits simply do not fit well in most pet homes. Most Americans work long hours, and while that does not mean that one cannot care for high-energy obsessive working dog, it does mean that most people are unable to make the time to do so. Further, leash laws and fenced yards mean that most of these dogs wind up living like tigers in the old zoo cages. It also means that an intelligent, highly active dog will come up with ways to amuse itself. Hole digging, landscaping, and home renovation could become wonderful diversions from an otherwise boring day.
So the traits that make working dogs excellent at what they do can make them lousy pets. It is possible to channel those traits into other work, which explains why border collies do so well at agility and flyball. However, the average person is better off with a low energy, low drive animal.
And what are these low-drive dogs?
Well, although they may have health problems, most of the small brachycephalic breeds are low drive dogs. Great Pyrenees are quite low drive, and unlike other livestock guardians, some lines have really low protective instincts (of course, you don’t want that if you want a real livestock guardian.)
However, it is a bit of a mistake to choose working breeds that have been intentionally bred to be calm. You simply do not know how the addition of that one trait will effect the general temperament of the animal.
So when choosing a dog that has been bred for a purpose, one must consider how one intends to focus that dog’s abilities. Otherwise, the dog might prove to be a disaster.
This is one of the reasons that I so often tell people that mine are mutts of unknown lineage. An average person would never guess it by seeing her, but my Kelpie is clinically insane and would be the Pet From Hell for almost any non-sheep-farm home except mine. And while my English Shepherd is much calmer and less driven than she is, he’s still not a pet for the average person.
Facing a year or more of orthopedic surgeries, I’ve trained the ES to act as my service dog. As wonderful as is for *me* (I am a professional trainer) the ES is not the service dog breed of choice (or even last resort) for a person with less time and skill. So — I’ll just lie and let folks think he’s a golden mix ;-)
I suppose that’s an advantage of not owning a breed that everyone instantly recognizes.
Great article retrieverman. This is the number one issue we have with Lacys. People think that because they are small, don’t shed much and are so pretty, they would make great pets. Not true! Yes, they are incredibly intelligent and can be trained to perform many tasks, but they have working drive. High drive does not mix well with the average family.
Unless you are a serious hunter or rancher, look for another beautiful dog, not a tricolor or blue Lacy! Fortunately the red Lacys aren’t as popular, they aren’t as unusual looking, but unfortunately that means unethical breeders are starting to breed for color, not working drive.
SmartDogs, I’ve been very tempted to say the same thing about my dog. I do tell them what breed she is, but I make a big deal about them being a working dog.
And that is so interesting you describe the English Shepherd in the same terms. We’ve recently found documentation the ES was on of the original breeds used to create Lacys. I think if you shaved their coats off, they’d be built just like a Lacy, and it sound like their personalities are very similar. So if you have any pointers on how to protect a working breed, let me know!
More people need to understand this- thanks for writing it. I see Border Collies on more and more pet products and it makes me worry about the trendiness of the breed and that people will get them for the wrong reasons. I have one, but we’ve got around 70 goats that need to be moved rather frequently (and they’ll follow me into a pasture, but make a mad dash for the gate as soon as I head in the direction to close it- the dog stops them from doing that). I spent quite a few years contemplating whether I had the right sort of life style to keep a border collie busy enough. Even though I am on the farm 80% of the time, and she does some stock work every day, she gets really bored when I have to do computer work and after about an hour or so starts giving me “the eye”. I was just looking at the local border collie rescue and it is so sad to see how many people took on BCs and are overwhelmed that the dog isn’t working out for their apartment lifestyle, so they are putting the dog up for adoption. Gah! Read up on the breed you’re getting people.
If you must have a large dog that is going to just want to hang out all day, get a greyhound. Sure, they can run 42mph…for 0.1 mile and then they’re winded and ready to hang out and recover for the next week.
My dog is great, and she’s exactly what I need for what I do, but I would (and do) actively discourage anyone from getting one as a pet.
The main reason why I don’t have a BC is that I don’t have livestock, but my neighbors do. And I don’t think they need a volunteer farmhand.