I believe we should go into dog ownership fully cognizant of what it entails and be responsible and make that one-way decision that says "forever home" and mean that more seriously than what many people do with the marriage decision.
But, you know I see the word Border Collie (or Jack Russell, or Australian Shepherd) and I want to give the person a break. This is a special needs breed. It takes a special person/family. My brother adopted a Border Collie from someone who thought she knew what the breed needed and was pretty fit. She was surprised when she aggravated her plantar fascitis, then blew her knee out trying to exercise it. My brother took the dog in at 16 months, and it was seriously lacking in the exercise it needed from the previous person, and fast becoming a behavior problem. My brother (bless his heart) did agility with the dog an hour a day, walked an hour a day, and threw that damned ball for it three times a day. Turned it around into a very sweet, intelligent, but still extremely energetic, and high strung, and constantly in need of mental stimulation, animal. The woman who gave her up did the right thing because with the behavior issues, the dog was suffering and she did not have the ability to cope with it from her injuries. The dog lived to 15 with my brother and his family.
SmartsyArtsy, not criticizing. For me just the "Border Collie" word conjures memories of my brother's dog doing forward flips while catching frisbees 5 feet in the air, and knowing she wouldn't have had that wonderful life if the original woman owner hadn't given her up to my brother.
