Meet my dogs – Nova

Nova was born in 2018, she’s a working line smooth border collie. Her ancestors were active herding dogs or agility competitors. She is the type of dog I always wanted. She has a very high drive, always ready for work anytime, anywhere.

She has a compulsion for conformity and can be motivated easily with toys and food as well, although in many cases there is no need for motivation at all, as she simply acts for the joy of work. Compared to the temper of Border collies, she has a pretty strong personality, knows what she wants.
Loves to play ball, tug, do everything what is game. Brings her toys immediately, it is the biggest joy for her if she can play with me. I did not have to specifically train her to retrieve, it is part of her nature to bring things back to me.

She loves people but doesn’t want to get in touch with them as outrageously as Merlin. 🙂 Unlike most border collies, she likes children a lot. Nova ignores stranger dogs and if one of them is unsympathetic, she makes it known. 🙂 She is happy to play with smaller breeds but avoids bigger dogs. Nova hates pigeons, this might have to do with the fact that I am not a fan of them either. I have a verbal cue and if I say that, she chases them. It is useful. 🙂

Nova is very cuddly, demands physical contact, one of her body parts always has to reach me. She’s always by my side, she cannot take her eyes off me. She is a one-owner type of dog, while she obeys for the members of the family (generally follows the rules) but isn’t happy to do so.

Nova hates water. 🙂 Doesn’t matter if it is in a form of a lake or a bath. When it rains, if it would be up to her she would not move out of the house.
She walks confidently without a leash, stops at sidewalks and at pedestrian crossings.
Nova isn’t afraid of anything, doesn’t care about lightning or fireworks.

At home she is a couch potato, sleeps through most of the day. In her puppyhood she always run around and wanted to play. She had to learn how to relax as she would not lay down on her own, not even for a moment. Now Nova is a lot calmer, easy to live with her.

At work, she is 110% pure energy. She is workaholic and is a bit crazy. Nova can actually work until she collapses – I will have to watch out to avoid this, as she is able to take action until being nearly exhausted. She loves to run full speed, she’s really fast.

Nova is extremely intelligent. Loves to learn tricks, do fitness exercises. During these times she is constantly thinking and observing, thereby she gets the tasks pretty fast. She demands daily learning, I have to provide her sufficient mentally stimulating challenges, otherwise she is bored.

She is my dream dog! Her drive, motivation, attitude in work and behaviour in everyday life is just perfect for me. I am very grateful to have her.