they are amazingly smart, we never even had to train Patches, she just figured out everything on her own. We had a small herd of goats several years ago, and she just took right to helping herd them around without us having to teach her anything D
and they are amazingly gentle, she would even let the farm cats and wild rabbits sleep in her dog house (although not at the same time

) and if there wasn't enough room for all of them together she'd be the one to get out and sleep outside. my mom found her doing that a couple of times, even when it was snowing outside and she was covered in white D
okay I'm done now going on and on about border collies