We got Cody the day after Thanksgiving in 1999 and this page will be about Cody and links to webpages pertaining to Border Collies.
My wife Dorothy was after Bill Tolhurst and I to look into a Border Collie for years.Finally she saw and ad in the local newspaper and went to look at a litter of pups. And brought home a little black and white furball.
Cody has been trained in Article Search (Locating items with Human Scent),Cadaver Recovery, and is doing Tracking pretty good . Cody is also Bi-Lingual as he is given his commands in the field in Native American but at home my wife speaks to him in English and he will pay attention to both languages. But when he is working he will not pay attention to any commands in English.
I want to thank my son, Bruce Jr., and Keith Stebbins for all the trails they have laid for "Cody". I also want to thank my friend Bill Tolhurst for all his help he had given me in tracking. Bill was a world known expert in the work and training & handling of scent discrimination dogs.It has been a honor to train and work with Bill over the past 20 years. Bill my friend, and partner passed away on Feb. 7th,2005. My wife, and I plus the other members of the Special Forces Unit of the Niagara County(NY)Sheriff's Dept. miss him dearly. You can learn more on Bill and his accomplishments by going to his page at Home of the Big T this is an excellant page pertaining to scent.
When we brought home Cody I was "hooked" on this breed right away.We knew of the intelligence of this breed but never imagined it to be as great as it is. That bumper sticker is true,"My Border Collie Is Smarter Than Your Honor Student". Cody was so alert and willing to learn as a puppy it sure convinced me of Border Collies.We love our Labradors too but this dog has shown us so much.One thing certain is Border Collies are not for everyone ! ! They require alot of exercise and they demand Attention from you.If a BC becomes bored they can be very destructive and become neurotic.Our BC is very friendly and is affectionate to people but is aggressive towards strange dogs.Border Collies are fast learners and can learn things quickly as their minds are always working and they get pleasure of doing things for you.
A very good way of describing a Border Collie has been done by
British Columbia Border Collies at the "That'll Do Border Collie Rescue"
Most Border Collies are around 30-50 pounds,but alot of the size depends on the parents.Some dogs are as small as 25 pounds and some as large as 65 pounds. In Cody's case he was 62 pounds the last I took him to the vets.And another thing about BC's you should consider before buying one is they don't mature as a "normal" dog. Border Collies will still be puppies till the age of 2 or 3. And it is said they don't start acting mature untill 3 or 4 years of age. So if you have the time to spend and a way to keep them exercised
(they don't exercise on their own) then a Border Collie is waiting out there to take over your life.We play fetch 3-4 times a day,train with either Cadaver, Tracking or Article Search once a day and spend alot of time with him.Cody's middle name should be "Fetch" because he loves this activity and looks forward to it everyday. "Cody" is 5 years old now and still acts like a 6 month old puppy at times. I do not know if it is a common trait with all Border Collies or not but Cody has bonded so tight to me and the eye contact is unbelievable with him. He is a very loyal dog and seems to have bonded so well and at such an early age.I always had a good bond with my Labs but not as early in age as with this BC.
Here is Cody coming to the hidden runner he is tracking. In this picture "Cody is working free.
And here is "Cody" working on lead at a practice training session at the 4H Farm & Home Center in Lockport,NY.
Cody is very good as a Cadaver Dog. On September 11th,2001 we were called to the WTC but we told our Fire Coordinator that the State should call in Disaster dogs first. They should work the scene first as they are better trained to locating live survivors and of course they also alert to deceased humans. "Cody" is more trained on finding decompsed bodies and we train everyday with human bones and about once a week with decomposing tissue.
"Cody" is working here looking for the cadaver aids we placed out for him to find.
This is the end of the search. "Cody" located the cadaver material buried several inches deep and he is alerting to it by barking at me and he will then lay down in front of the find.
Here is a small page I have started on "Cody's" work in Accelerant Detection. Accelerant Work Click Here I do not use Cody in Accelerant Detection as he is such a high energy dog. I worked him in several fires and the way he tries to search a building I worried about him getting cut or hurt in the scene. We can still use him if the fire investigators want him to check fire samples and they bring them outside the scene and Cody can check them there.
Here is a Border Collie Message Board that is one of the best on the web.
Here is a Border Collie Group at Yahoo that I belong to.It is called "Ultimate Border Collies"
We have started a page on Border Collie and Work Dog Links. If you have either a Border Collie or a work dog of any type and would like its link added here just
Just make sure if you email me your webpage you place BC Links in the subject area because I do not open mail from strangers. I will recognize the BC Links and open it to get your URL.
