BC vs. PS
BC vs. PS
I'm getting many questions on differences between BCs and PSs and well, there sure are many! I always laugh when people call BCs high energy and in desperate need of a daily job... Obviously, they never met a PyrShep! Personally, I find BCs extremely easy to live with. Sure, they love running and working, but can also survive without it for a day or two, lying quitely at your feet. PyrShep can't do that. First of all, they don't lie by anybody's feet. They either jump in your lap or are checking something out, they always look like they had too much coffee or maybe something stronger. It's a kind of a dog that is difficult to live with, but for those of us who find them irresistibly cute, impossible to live without.
You can only either love or hate the breed, there is nothing in between. BCs are not that black&white, I think everybody likes BCs and there sure is many things about them to like. What I love the most about BCs is that they're all somewhat weird, they all have some strange obsessions. For example, raison d'etre for my Bu is running as fast as she can with Bi when I call "ready, steady, GO". And tunnels, of course. Bi's biggest and weirdest obsession is herding my friend's barking Croatian Sheepdogs, she can't see or hear anything else when they're around and she will recognize them barking anytime, anywhere.
I think they're all somewhat psycho and I love that, the weirdest the better. I love their love to run and work and play, but I miss the hyper part that only PyrSheps can provide me with, so I guess that makes me an addict.:) PyrSheps are not nearly that obsessed with running or playing, their only raison d'etre is: you (followed closely by food, of course). I don't know a BC who wouldn't run agility or play with any stranger who comes by and I hardly know a PyrShep who would run for anybody but their owner - at least not with the same eagerness. PyrSheps are one-person dogs, they breathe just for that lucky one, but they expect the same from their person. Teaching a BC to jump in your lap is often a long process of teaching them to trust you to jump into your lap and a PyrShep will jump in your lap at 8 weeks, just to give you a kiss.
When I wanted to take a picture of Le, I put her on a high rock so that I could keep her at one place, but after she checked out the rock, she came flying off of it towards me. She also doesn't see any risk at jumping from a sofa towards my head, while I'm sitting on the floor 2m away. Luckily, La has trained me to be able to catch any merly thing flying by my head unexpectedly! If you fail, a PyrShep will always give you another chance. And jump again and again. Catch me if you can! BCs don't have such emotional approach to things, they are way more rational. They will be much more reluctant if you fail.
Anyway, I guess that means I'll always have both. Can't live without a PyrShep, their craziness and cuteness. Can't live without a BC, their weirdness and obsessions. Yeap, they got me addicted to that stupid "ready, steady, GO" game too! How cool is that, running all out as crazy when you hear "ready, steady, GO", it's just too funny. If you're a PS person, you'll like BCs too, it's a nice change. If you're a BC person, you'll probably hate PS. Too hyper, too barky. And very addictive, as you can see in my case...
Wonderful pics!
Though I’ve never owned a PS, I’ve always loved them, and even though I know I’ll always be having at least one BC, I also know that somewhere in the future I will own a PS as well. Now I finally know why: e-ve-ry single characteristic of the PS that you named, totally applies to my 3 year old BC. Never knew the breeder actually sold me a PS in BC-clothes. 😉
She certainly has her obsessions. But OTOH she is very hyper; the only thing in her world that really counts is me, she is crazy about running agility or working on sheep but won’t ever do it with anyone but me; she barely ever has her 4 feet on the ground, and whenever she gets a chance she’ll be in my lap (even though she weighs around 20 kilos).
And you summed it up wonderfully: people who know her, often tell me it must be hard to live with her, and sometimes it is, but it’s always impossible to live without her. 🙂
Sounds like you got “two in one”! Maybe you have to give me the address of her breeder:). My BCs are for sure NOT lap dogs. -- Maybe because my lap is full of evil PyrSheps:). I also wish they wouldn’t take agility so dead seriously, it’s just agility afterall! But it’s really just so beautiful to watch them run, PyrSheps are not as impressive runners.
Haha, you never met Sleet then…the mad merly girly. Wren is very much a laid back dog who’s happy to laze about at home. Sleet not so much…she’s either mithering you with a ball or she’s trying to herd the cats or she’ll suddenly start barking at some imaginery sound. She’s neurotic. Out and about, other people never see the calm side she can display at home and only see her as a neurotic fruitcake who HATES seeing other dogs having fun that she should be having…and at home, thats only from teaching her how to be calm…although that goes out of the window when visitors such as other family turn up or it’s time to feed the cats or let one of them in or out etc…. She’s also quite vocal and likes the sound of her own voice when excited etc…I think You’d find Sleet quite interesting to own….her obsessions are plentiful.:D I can’t call across to people I know in the street without her joining in. She gets that wound up sometimes when out that she bites chunks out of the ground….if it’s grass that is. Her and Wren have an obsession with grass or bits of twig or anything being picked and tossed. If you touch a bush or tree, they attack it. They go mad round water too…attack the hosepipe and sleet attacks puddles. They attack the lawnmower, the hoover and wren likes to chase motorbikes down the fields if I don’t watch her. Sleet developed a habit of lunging at passing cars but I trained that out of her quick. She likes to listen for mice in the grass and pounce. Wren also likes to try and grab the broom when I’m sweeping….they also like to chase around after rabbits and flushing birds out of the grass…although they wouldn’t know what to do with one if they caught it.
Also, as a lifelong owner and former breeder of working strain BCs, I can testify that there are many who are very one person dogs and won’t work for anyone else….quite a few of ours have been like that…one of my sisters male BCs is very much like that…a mummies boy who wouldn’t do anything for anyone else. Some will work with other people if they think there’s something in it for them but others will not. Depends on the individual…BCs are very variable in temperament.
The very first BC in our family, a red and white dog from working parents (BCs weren’t recognized by the UK kennel club when he was born) would not even let any strangers touch him nevermind listen to them.
Of course, there’s no point really comparing any one breed to another. They all have their own points that attract different people. There are people who don’t like BCs and I have met people who don’t like them.
They hold the top spot for the breed of dog most likely to end up in rescues due to inexperienced owners not being able to handle them properly.
Of course, BCs were always bred to have an off switch. Farmers didn’t want a dog pestering ALL the time. They wanted them to switch on when required but switch off when not required and good working dogs are bred for this still but this off switch does lack in a lot of dogs now who are bred for other sports like obedience and agility…the working strain is most likely to have it whereas the show strain are at risk of getting to the point where the off switch is the only one they have:(
How good each breed is is purely down to personal perspective which is why I don’t really think that people should be asking to compare. I’ve grown up with BCs from being born and so they are the natural choice for me. My friend has a bull mastiff who plays with Sleet and Wren on walks but, even though he’s walked my two on occasion and they’ve been great for him (They love him anyway), owning a BC full time would not be suitable for him at all.
The reason I compare those two breeds is that I get TONS of mail by people, wanting to get a PyrShep because they want a BC-like dog for medium class. Also, I don’t think a dog readiness to work for everybody is a bad thing. I actually think it’s a sign of good drive. I ran a BC who was terrified of strangers and would never let me touch her: but in the moment I took her ball, she would run with me without a question. PyrSheps don’t have that much of a drive as BCs, they have other reasons to work. La thinks running after a ball is pretty stupid, but she would kill to be able to run agility -- with me, of course.
Oh my god! What you wrote is sooo right! Just such a perfect description of a PS
I’m living with 4 Pyr Shep and 3 BCs…..And I’m definitively a Pyr SHep person!!! I’m really found of their crazyness!!!!
Here’s a vidéo of my Blue…So good at the agility and then so crazy at the jumping! And he’s always like that but I find him so funny!
http://agilitypics.smugmug.com/Video-Agility/Clearblue-du-Pic-dEspade/7123296_gLwFB#903051403_mRxfg-A-LB
One of my BC’s obsession is swimming….Once he’s in the water nothing can make him leave it….Once I left him there and when I finally came back he was still there, sitting in the water LOL
Very nice dog! And well, there is no such thing as a PS person. You’re either smart and you’re a BC person, or you’re just simply crazy:).
I have both a PyreShep and a Border Collie and from my experience what you say is sooo true!
I also think I’ll always have both, I find them to be such a great combination to have. They are different in the all the right ways and the same in all the right ways. I was a Pyre person first, and the BC was a nice change. Everyone who had BCs told me “They need lots of exercise and mental stimulation!!!” And I got one and thought , “Wow, this is sooo easy”. haha.
I agree if you are used to BCs, Pyres will be a huge change. I’d almost describe them as more terrier like sometimes than BC like. xD
I always love to read what You’re telling about PS and BC. I’m for sure pyrshep person -- now I have one and she’s just a puppy but I’ll get more of them in future for sure :o) …and I’ve always loved BC’s too and I’m telling people that when I’ll have too many pyrsheps for me and will be tired of them -- than I will get BC for nice, easy to handle, calm reward for all those hard job with crazy PS ;o)
Naah, I’m sort of person who adores pyrsheps, but not BC’s, I find their obsessions unsetting, as well as their body language.
And what? Pyrshep not as impressive when running? With this fur flowing and crazy barking all the way? They absolutely ROCK! 🙂
And I find them really easy to live with. They’re hyper, but so am I. They’re loud, so am I. And they sort of read my mind and put like 1000% of enthusiasm into everything -- I was teaching Brava to vault from my thigh and she actually tore my trousers (not to mention the leg…).
Hi, I agree there are differences in these breeds. I don´t have PyrSheps, but mudis, which I think are pretty similar like PS´s (but still have their own “specialities”) -- and yes, they are far different from BC´s which I mostly can call “not that crazy” …
But I also agree with Toni-Marie -- I think REAL working BC is also this kind of hard-and-a-bit-selfish dog by my opinion, just most BC´s of nowdays are somewhere else …
But to be honest about “my” breed -- there are also mudis with lack of drive and look like they don´t have the switch on button (while ours seem to have no switch off :-D).
BC´s have been bred for sports (agility, obedience, etc.) much much longer than mudis or PS´s, so I´m afraid after some time also “our” breeds will be not that much crazy and funny as they are now 🙁
Let´s hope PS´s or mudis will never become as much popular as BC´s !!!
Have a nice summer time everybody and see little devil Le & whole pack soon in few weeks 😉 !
Barbara
“Let´s hope PS´s or mudis will never become as much popular as BC´s !!!”
This.
Yes, it is a pity when a breed becomes too popular and too many people start breeding them willy nilly and churn out useless stock that aren’t a good example of the breed. I think breed and kennel clubs also have a lot to answer for.
This is why I stick to working strain BCs.
I notice that Kelpies are also becoming popular in agility.
All dogs are selfish mind…they’re all in it for themselves as Silvia states elsewhere. My current two girlies love to get a bit of attention from other people.
Also, my sisters dog Storm wouldn’t run for anyone other than her in flyball.
My two would run for other people which actually made things more convenient because it meant they could still run even if I was stuck at stupid work that day. My sister would have to be there for Storm to run though. As much as he liked it, he wouldn’t do it unless she ran him.
I remember our Mist, who was my dog, used to live at my dads so obviously adored him but I trained her to do agility for fun and when my dad attempted to take her round a course, she just wouldn’t do the stuff for him at all. His signals and body language would be all wrong for starters anyway.
Picture of Storm doing flyball.
I was struck by another thing you wrote when you were describing Le, about pyrsheps looking in your eyes the first day they’re with you and telling you they are the center of their world and you are the center of theirs. I couldn’t have described it better. I will never forget the day I first met Tani, everything was so easy, she already knew we belong together and she acted like she’s always been in my life. It’s weird, she’s only 18 months now but I honestly can’t remember what it was like before. It’s a huge difference for me, because with Xsara, it took us a while to create a strog bond, it wasn’t a natural thing for her.
And yes, she is passionate about everything we do together. I’ve never had anybody else run her in agility, but I’m pretty sure she either wouldn’t do it or wouldn’t do her best, even though she’s crazy about it. Weird, but even if I throw a frisbee (and I suck at it), she’ll enjoy it more and do better than when other people throw it (even if they throw better than me, which is not hard). On the other hand, I’ve ran with several friends’ BCs and they would all work for me, none of them seemed to mind.