I've had Scotties (smart, but ONE person dogs), Labs (friendly, playful but a lot of duh:>) hounds of several varieties, spaniels of two varieties, and several Heinz 57s. We currently have a 2-1/2 yo purebred BC. Folks down the road breed and train them for herding. Molly was a large female left at 4 months after all 5 males in the litter sold. Breeder had grown attached at that point and offered her to us for free to keep her close....we had lost our last two dogs 6 months earlier (to age and illness). I am 59 and have had dogs probably 50 of those 59 years. Never have I seen anything close to as intelligent. Like many BCs, she has OCD, except for them OC is an order rather than a disorder....it's how they organize their lives.
Molly lives in the house, and plays outside daily. She plays by herself some of the time, and (weather permitting) one of us will throw the ball for her till we're tired (usually 15-20 minutes).....she has never grown tired of chasing it. Also....the neighbor has a Jack Russell about 6 months older and they play daily as weather allows. He is retired, so we just call each other, and usually my wife will take Molly out. She and the neighbor sit on the porch, or under the shade tree in good weather, and the dogs romp, rest, romp, rest some more. We try to get them together for 30 minutes minimum, more in good weather. They are entertaining, so it is good time.
Molly herds us. My wife is her assumed primary responsibility...she follows her from room to room, and lays across the doorway when she is in a room for any extended period. She has never ever nipped at a human to our knowledge; she does her herding of us and others by simply running around us to block off areas. If we go there anyway, she adjusts rather than getting more assertive with us. Molly will bark at the SLIGHTEST abnormal sound, but it is a warning bark and she retreats at the same time. She has "warned" us at night of deer, coyotes, other dogs, cats, etc. from her post on our back porch, but has NEVER offered to give chase or engage (and we've seen the critters as close as 50-60'...she just retreats to the porch, her back to the door). She does not go near the road (when we put mail out, she stops 30' or so short of the road and lays down), but she is vehicle-stupid. She is an absolute attention ****, and she has learned that vehicles contain those creatures she loves to get attention from. As a result she is inclined to approach moving vehicles in the driveway. We have worked on this, and she now seems pretty good about staying on the porch until the attention-giving creature actually emerges from the vehicle...then she ingratiates herself by wiggling and sitting in front of them.
You definitely have to learn to live with a BC, as they are unique. They do need attention, and they need physical exertion of some sort pretty much daily. I mentioned Molly is big....her sire is the largest BC we or our vet has ever seen...at his working weight (he herds sheep daily) he is in the mid 50# range. Molly does not work to the same level, though she is active, and she is 54#. She believes she is a lap dog, and will take her post there if you let her. She has learned most things, even difficult lessons, in 1 to 2 repetitions. She may need reinforcement if she doesn't LIKE the lesson/command, but she darn well knows it. Her learning ability has left me in awe. I would have another in a heartbeat SO LONG AS I had the space and ability to let them exercise. She roams the house free at night, has not had an accident since she was a pup, and has gotten us up to go out at night perhaps a dozen times in a year (she typically doesn't get outside from around 10PM to 8AM). Pics are Sept/Oct 06 when we got her, app. 24# then.
Molly 1 Molly 2 Molly 3 Molly 4
