I'm thinking of getting a Border Collie/ Decker Terrier cross for a hunting companion. Any opinions?

Ive owned a Collie/Cur cross and she was great. The collie side brought out some good and bad traits for a hunting dog. Overall I loved her.

Ive had big Rats. Not exactly a Decker but basically the same thing. Was not impressed for a hunting dog. Not terrible, just not great. Nice little dogs to be around, just not quite right in the head. Of course Ive never seen any Terrier that was. If you just want an uncontrollable dog that kills stuff that is smaller than itself then you should be fine.

Neither of the dogs you mentioned are known as gun dogs, especially the Collie, so be prepared to start shooting around them early. Nice and slow. Just because a dog will grab a cow by the head does not make them a gun dog. Collies are tough as nails and fragile as glass at the same time.

You asked for opinions. My opinion is only based on what I do, which is decoy coyotes. For that use I would run from that cross. Of course I do not know the parents. If they are working dogs then maybe. If it is from someones pets I would not waste one second with one.

Thanks for your input! I went ahead and bought a 6 week old puppy. I wanted some brains in a dog, along with some grit. I hope I get some of both. My new pup is a good lap dog when he's sleepy, but really tough when he plays. He loves to stomp around in the woods, and seems to have a good nose on him. We'll see how it goes, I'll go really slow with training him around guns. He's going to be easy to house train too.

Good deal, what'd you name him & how about a pic ?? TIA

His name is Kyle, I named him after Chris Kyle, Navy Seal.

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmxM8D3C
Try this one instead.

I think I got the picture thing figured out, sorry for the delay.
Roger---https://flic.kr/s/aHsmxM8D3C

cute little guy, but wait till he grows up !!!

He's getting to be a hand full right now. How did you get the picture to post without the link?

You've done all the hard work of getting the image into flickr.

I went to the flickr page, chose download, then all sizes, then original size,
then right click on the image to get its properties (its URL).
Copied the properties URL filename.jpg, pasted it into the PM "image add" field to finish up.

The key to it, is to make sure the link (URL) ends with extension *.jpg
In this case, it was "https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/32762690017_8e6b5bafc6_o.jpg"
and the PM "image add" icon will add the "[img]" tokens to front and back of that URL.

Jeff we have had this conversation before. All my terrier/terrier cross dogs listen, a terrier needs a heavy hand. Mine know if they dont listen there will be a reckoning.

Yep, we may never agree on this topic. You may be using different dogs than the ones Ive been exposed to. I am certainly not saying there are not some good ones around. The ones Ive seen in my neck of the woods that aint worth shooting. Anyone with eyes and willing to be honest would agree. If you feed them and they make you happy then thats what matters I reckon.


Truth be known I really dont care one way or the other. Ive got one old, fat dog left and I will hunt her as long as she wants to go. After that I doubt I will mess with it anymore. Aint got the energy left to make a dog what it needs to be. I have no earthly idea why I even posted on this thread.

Lol, very true my friend, but that why we get along so great. We respectful disagree. Not every Terrier I have ran has made the team for sure.

I sure hope after Spot is gone you get you another. I cant imagine coyote hunting without a dog. It's a lot of work making good dogs but in the end it's more than worth it.