Over the last couple of years, the border collie has managed to climb from being the 52nd most popular dog breed in the USA to the 35th most popular dog breed and its popularity just continues to increase as time goes by.
As the breed keeps on winning people over and more and more people choose to add a border collie to their family, the number of questions that we see from people who either already own or are thinking of getting a border collie keeps on climbing.
We have noticed more and more questions from people about keeping a border collie in an apartment recently so we wanted to publish a dedicated article going over the topic.
Many of the discussions that we have seen people having on social media about keeping a border collie in an apartment do seem to have the right idea but some of the information that they share is totally incorrect so our hope is that we will be able to clear things up for as many of our readers as possible.
With the majority of the questions that we see from the community about having a border collie in their apartment being based on one of three main sub-topics, we decided to cover them all in this article.
Our hope is that we will be able to provide the ultimate resource for any of our readers who do live in an apartment and want to add a border collie to their family.
Can You Keep A Border Collie In An Apartment?
Although it can be challenging, keeping a border collie in an apartment can be done provided you take the correct steps and put the time and effort in to make sure your border collie is both mentally and physically stimulated.
People are often aware that border collies require plenty of exercise but they often overlook the intelligence of the breed and that they also require an interactive, challenging environment.
The average border collie will usually require at least two, one hour long walks per day with it often being better to give your border collie a walk early in the morning before you leave for work to burn off some of its energy.
This can help to reduce the chances of any potentially destructive behavior throughout the day in your apartment while you are at work with the second walk often being once you get back from work.
Keeping a border collie mentally stimulated in an apartment is often the more difficult tasks as they really are an intelligent breed.
You can try some dog intelligence toys but there effectiveness is controversial so many people choose to take advantage of a dog sitter or a dog walking service during the day to have their dogs physically and mentally entertained.
Can Border Collies Be Left Alone In An Apartment?
A border collie can be left alone in an apartment but there is a higher than average chance of the border collie acting out with negative behavior such as chewing your home if you don’t offer adequate mental and physical stimulation for the dog.
Provided you offer your dog plenty of attention and walks when you are home this should not be an issue though and many people are able to leave their border collie alone in their apartment while they are at work for hours at a time.
Before you add a border collie to your home you really do have to take into account the amount of free time that you will have available per day.
As we touched on earlier in the article, a border collie will require at least two, one hour walks every day so this can take up a large amount of your free time that many people don’t realize a pet border collie will require from them.
There are also a number of things that you can do while out walking your dog to mentally stimulate them too letting you complete two tasks at once.
Due to some people often having to work an eight hour day while also having a one hour commute to and then from work, adding two hour long dog walking sessions each day is just not realistic.
This is why so many people are just taking advantage of a dog walking service to have someone else walk their dog for them during the day while they are out at work to make sure that their border collie is getting the mental and physical stimulation that it requires throughout the day.
Do Border Collies Need A Lot Of Room In An Apartment?
A border collie doesn’t actually need much room in its apartment provided that you are taking it for at least two long walks each day.
The main challenge with border collies is to keep them mentally stimulated so the size of the apartment that you keep them in is not as important as most people initially tend to think.
If you do live in a particularly small apartment then you can try to take care of a doggy day care service in your local area too as the majority of large towns and cities offer these services now for competitive rates.
This allows you to get your dog our of the house for most of the day with some services offering dog training and walking as standard too making it the perfect option for a border collie if you live in a small apartment.
One thing that we would like to point out about keeping a border collie in a smaller apartment is that if you notice that your border collie is chewing the furniture while you are at work, upgrading to a larger apartment may not actually be the answer.
Much of the time the problem will be due to a lack of mental stimulation for the dog rather than a lack of physical stimulation and a larger apartment is unlikely to be able to change this.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over keeping a border collie in an apartment to an end. Although it is definitely possible with many people keeping their pet border collie in an apartment, it is often more work than the bulk of people initially realize. Many people simply don’t have the spare time available for the required walks for a border collie in addition to their regular working day with some people not being able to pay a dog walker or doggy day care service to do them either so it will all come down to your own unique situation.
