Border Collie Lab Mix (A.K.A Borador) – An Overview

The Border Collie Lab Mix, also known as the Borador, is a large sized designer dog cross breed that results from cross-breeding a Border Collie dog with a Labrador Retriever dog.

The Border Collie Lab Mix dog is very well known for its high energy levels, love of psychical activity, athletic body, outgoing social nature and outstanding friendliness and affection towards the people it loves.

Border Collie Lab Mix Appearance

Size, Height & Weight

As far as their size is concerned, the Border Collie Lab Mix dog will stand at an average of 17 inches tall and will weigh an average of 35-85 lbs.

Other than their relatively large size, this dog’s body is also a bit similar to its Labrador Retriever parent when it comes to its frame, although its build is also a little bit more muscular and athletic, which it obviously takes from its Border Collie parent instead of its Labrador Retriever parent.

Coat

Determining what the coat of your Border Collie Lab Mix dog will be like is a tricky subject, considering the fact that their coat can be very much like their Border Collie parent (being dominated by black and white) or very much like their Labrador Retriever parent (being dominated by golden with a little bit of white spots).

Sometimes, the coat color of your Borador can also be a mix of the coats of its two parents.

Lab Collie Mix Temperament

Attention

This cross-breed is one of those dogs that thrives on the attention that’s provided to it from its owner as well as other family/household members, as making it feel like its the most important thing in the world can make it feel happier than you and I feel when eating chocolate. 🙂

Exercise

With one of its two parents being the Border Collie, and knowing the fact that Border Collies are one of the most physically active working dog breeds with some of the highest energy levels ever, it’s directly evident that this cross-breed is going to almost always be in need of high amounts of physical activity day in, day out.

So right off the bat this would cross anyone on the list of potential dog owners that lead a sedentary lifestyle in which the only form of exercise and physical activity is going to the bathroom.

This dog will be miserable with such an owner, and you will hate yourself for having to do stuff you hate doing each and every single day just to keep this dog content.

Unless you’re willing to change and adopt a new, active lifestyle, this dog isn’t for you if you don’t like exercise.

Some of the most happy Border Collie Lab Mix owners we know are those that love to be on the move on a daily basis with activities like walking, jogging, running, etc .. basically doing any physical activity that they and their Borador can do together.

For those of you who like to think of dog walks as the benchmark by which you compare the physical activity of any two dogs/dog breeds, then with this dog you’re looking at around 1-2 dog walks a day, which are preferably done somewhere like a dog park which will greatly improve this dog’s mood.

This is also definitely not the dog for you if you’re looking for a dog to live with you in a small space like an apartment with no outdoor space for this dog to spend time in.

Training

Being an offspring of two of the most intelligent dog breeds out there, the Labrador Retriever and the Border Collie that are notorious for helping leading the way for blind people and excelling as working dogs respectively, the Borador is just as clever as both its parents.

This means that the Borador will do great in all and any kind of training you decide to have it go through, especially when it comes to obedience training that the majority of dog owners like to put their dogs through.

However, and just like we talked about in an earlier section, Border Collies are known to be one of the most hyper dogs ever, which is a trait that they sometimes give their Borador offsprings.

If this is true and your Borador is very easily excited and gets hyper right away just like its Border Collie parent, then this will be fairly apparent during training and could make things a bit harder for certain people who don’t have enough experience when it comes to training dogs.

However, the calm and eager-to-please side they get from their Labrador Retriever parent will kick in most of the times and make the job easier for you.

This dog is rarely known to be aggressive towards other people, strangers included, but is known to sometimes like to “play rough and bully around” other animals that it comes across, which is something that can easily be solved via proper training and socialization in case you’ve got other pets at home that you don’t want to be negatively affected with the new presence of this dog around.

One thing you may face with this dog is that they may be excessive chewers, if they take this trait from their Border Collie parent.

If this is the case, then you’ll notice that your Borador will want to chew anything from furniture, toys, clothes, anything they can get their teeth on for that matter.

However, this shouldn’t be something that would deter you from adding this dog to your family and household, as this is one of the issues that can easily be solved with proper training practices.

Watchdog

In general, this dog can be a very good watchdog for your household, as it will bark to alert you of any intruder or suspicious activity that it senses happening around.

And the good thing is that this dog isn’t very sensitive to any and all movement around the house, meaning it won’t go around barking at anything and everything that passes by your property, regardless of whether there is actual danger or not.

Some dogs are overly sensitive to all and any movement, so you will be getting many false positives with them. Thankfully, this isn’t one of those dogs.

Lab Border Collie Mix Health

The Border Collie Lab Mix dog is known to have a higher risk than other dogs when it comes to suffering from certain health problems, mainly ones they inherit from either one or both of their parents.

The most common health problems that this dog is at risk of suffering from are:

  • – Obesity and rapid weight gain – mainly because this dog has such a giant apetite that goes along with its high levels of activity, something which could easily become a problem if it’s being fed calorie-dense foods in excess amounts, or is being fed a haphazard diet that doesn’t keep track of how many calories are going in VS how many calories are being burned via exercise during a day’s time.
  • Bloating
  • Hip dysplasia
  • Elbow dysplasia
  • Allergies
  • Ear infections
  • Eye problems

Given that this dog leads a healthy lifestyle where you, as a responsible owner, give it all it needs to thrive and remain problem-free, the Borador will go on to live for a lifespan of around 12-15 years.

Border Collie Lab Mix Care

As far as shedding is concerned, this dog isn’t the most heavy of shedders out there, and certainly not the least of shedders as well.

Your Borador is most likely to be a moderate shedding dog just like its Labrador Retriever parent and Border Collie parent.

With that being said, you don’t have to worry if you’re allergic to dander that becomes out in the open when certain dogs shed hair, as this dog’s coat is dander-free to a great extent.

To stay on the safe side, make sure you properly brush this dog’s coat around 3-4 times a week, which should be enough to keep most Borador’s coats intact.

If that doesn’t prove to be enough for YOUR Borador, feel free to brush their coat once every day, but that should only be your last resort option because it is indeed overkill for many Borador’s coats.

Brushing a dog’s coat once every day is usually something that would be done to heavy shedding dogs, not moderately shedding dogs like this one.

As for giving this dog a bath, this should only be done when the need arises and not excessively, because this dog isn’t known to get itself dirty real fast like other dogs that need to be showered much more frequently.

Keep in mind that this dog does need a special kind of dog shampoo for dogs that have somewhat of sensitive skin to them.

Then all that’s left is brushing this dog’s teeth, cleaning its ears and trimming its nails, which should be done (respectively) 3-4 times a week, once every 1-2 weeks and whenever they get too long.

Border Collie Lab Mix Living Conditions

This dog is known to thrive much better in moderate weather conditions rather than extreme weather conditions, meaning that it’s best if they live somewhere where it doesn’t get way too cold or way too hot.

And, generally speaking, most Boradors do better in places where the moderate temperature is a little bit leaning towards the cool side rather than the warm side, given the fact that they have the coat required to withstand somewhat cooler weather climates.

1 COMMENT

  1. The information was very helpful, I didn’t know that my dog ( Lucy ) had to be trained different. If you have a news letter I would love to receive it. My dog is a Borador.

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