As beautiful to browse as they are informative to read, the coffee table-sized books in this stellar series are a must for fanciers and enthusiasts. Written by teams of experts and brimming with full-color photos and indepth information, the books cover a range of topics--puppies, dog care, and popular dog breeds, as well as selected other animals. The breed-specific books offer a breed history and complete U.S. and international breed standards along with detailed advice on selecting a puppy or dog, care, training, and showing.

The Border Collie is an extremely versatile breed, faithful enough to be a loyal friend, honest enough to be a hard worker and intelligent enough to be an asset in rescue and other services. This comprehensive, illustrated book gives essential advice on how to become the pack leader by understanding and interpreting the body language of man's best friend. Topics include: choosing your Border Collie; taking your puppy home; commonsense dog training; nutrition; creating a partnership; training, adolescent and older dogs.

If you’ve ever seen a dog in a television commercial, there’s a pretty good chance it was a Border Collie. Or, if you’ve watched herding competitions, you’ve probably seen a Border Collie controlling the herd. First and foremost, Border Collies are sheep herders. But when they’re not on the clock, they can make excellent companions. They’re energetic, playful, and extremely intelligent. They’re also sensitive, affectionate, and adorable. Even though this breed is still vital to livestock owners, we will focus on the Border Collie as a pet in this book. Intelligence is perhaps the most prominent trait of the Border Collie. In the pasture, this dog can understand specific commands and respond accordingly. They also excel at obedience competitions and agility runs because they can pick up new skills quickly and respond to challenging commands. This book will give you the information you need to jump-start your ownership journey, including: Border Collie History Choosing a Border Collie Preparing your Home for your Border Collie Bringing Home your Border Collie Being a Puppy Parent Housetraining Socializing with People and Animals Border Collies and Your Other Pets Physical and Mental Exercise Training your Border Collie Basic Commands Dealing With Unwanted Behaviors Traveling with Border Collies Nutrition Grooming your Border Collie Basic Health Care Advanced Border Collie Health and Aging Dog Care This book will become your go-to guide throughout your BC’s life, as it has helpful hints and reminders that will prove to be practical far into their adulthood. Border Collies are an absolute joy to have as pets. These dogs are beautiful, intelligent, and silly. They love to test their owners and call the shots, but at the end of the day, they’re capable of following orders. You’ll never find another dog quite like them, as they’re capable of running around one minute and snuggling up beside you the next. All your Border Collie wants is a purpose. While they may drive you nuts when they’re bored, it’s amazing to watch them work. Whether your Border Collie’s “job” is to tend livestock, chase the rabbits and birds from your garden, or just be a loving companion, you’ll find that your Border Collie will do anything for the love and affection with which you pay them.

Celebrating the world's most intelligent purebred dog, the Border Collie--the star of every canine competition, from agility and obedience to herding and flyball-- this Smart Owner's Guide, created by the editors at Dog Fancy magazine, offers the most up-to-date and accurate information every dog owner needs to become a well-informed caregiver for his dog. Illustrated with color photographs of adorable puppies and handsome adults, this easy-to-read primer is designed in a modern, lively manner that readers will find user-friendly and entertaining.Each Smart Owner's Guide offers a description of the breed's character and physical conformation, historical overview, and its attributes as a companion dog. The reader will find informative chapters on everything he or she needs to know about acquiring, raising, and training this remarkable purebred dog, including: finding a breeder and selecting a healthy, sound puppy; preparing for the puppy's homecoming, shopping for supplies, and puppy-proofing the home; house-training; veterinary and home health maintenance; feeding and nutrition; and grooming. Obedience training for basic cues (sit, stay, heel, come, etc.) and solving potential problem behaviors (barking, chewing, aggression, jumping up, etc.) are addressed in separate chapters, as are activities to enjoy with the dog, including showing, agility, therapy work, and more.Entertaining tidbits and smart advice fill up colorful sidebars in every chapter, which the editors call "It's a Fact," "Smart Tip," "Notable & Quotable," and "Did You Know?" Real-life heroes and rescue stories are retold in full-page features called "Pop Pups" and "True Tails." Recipes, training, and care tips are highlighted in the "Try This" feature pages.The Smart Owner's Guide series is the only series that offers readers an online component in which dog owners can join a breed-specific online club hosted by dogchannel.com. At Club Border, owners of the breed can find forums, blogs, and profiles to connect with other breed owners, as well as charts and checklists that can be downloaded. More than just 20,000 pages of solid information, there's a host of fun to be had at the club in the form of downloadable breed-specific e-cards, screensavers, games, and quizzes.The Resources section of the book includes contact information for breed-related organizations and rescues, as well as practical guidance on traveling with dogs, identification, and locating qualified professionals to assist the dog owner, such as pet sitters, trainers, and boarding facilities. This information-packed Smart Owner's Guide is fully indexed.

Chaser has a way with words. She knows over a thousand of them—more than any other animal of any species except humans. In addition to common nouns like house, ball, and tree, she has memorized the names of more than one thousand toys and can retrieve any of them on command. Based on that learning, she and her owner and trainer, retired psychologist John Pilley, have moved on to further impressive feats, demonstrating her ability to understand sentences with multiple elements of grammar and to learn new behaviors by imitation. John’s ingenuity and tenacity as a researcher are as impressive as Chaser’s accomplishments. His groundbreaking approach has opened the door to a new understanding of animal intelligence, one that requires us to reconsider what actually goes on in a dog’s mind. Chaser’s achievements reveal her use of deductive reasoning and complex problem-solving skills to address novel challenges. Yet astonishingly, Chaser isn’t unique. John’s training methods can be adopted by any dog lover. Through the poignant story of how he trained Chaser, raised her as a member of the Pilley family, and proved her abilities to the scientific community, he reveals the positive impact of incorporating learning into play and more effectively channeling a dog’s natural drives. John’s work with Chaser offers a fresh perspective on what’s possible in the relationship between a dog and a human. His story points us toward a new way of relating to our canine companions that takes into account our evolving understanding of the way animals and humans learn.

These dogs breed originally in Scotland to assist in sheep-herding are noted for their obedience, working skills, reliability, agility, and loyalty.