rottie or collie?

[RoughCollies]

Unbiased answers please, I am going to training school this sept. and I need to decide which dog to take with me.
Both dogs are young, untrained, and eager.
rottie: One year old, 75 lbs, not aggressive, okay with other dogs and not great with kids (not mean just too wild), smart, rude - jumps, bites (only to play), and pulls, EXTREMELY wild.
collie: two years old, 60 lbs, no aggression, excellent with other dogs although maybe a little too excited, perfect with kids, smart, somewhat rude - jumps less, bites less, doesn't pull but does ankle bite.
The good thing about the rottie is that she needs work and that would help me with training and rotties are the breed that people would think to take.
The good thing about the collie is that she too needs work and she is my dog. The rott is my sisters. With my own dog, not only would it be less stressful than taking a dog out of its home and family for a while if the owner was with the dog, but I would also have a demo dog.

Maybe we could even have a poll on this one.

[Dax]

I would take the rottie. The reason is that rotti's have a bad reputation. That dog has to be better behaved than other dogs just to overcome that. By training him, you can make him an ambassador for his breed.

The collie should still be trained but if they aren't as well behaved - they aren't on anyone's ban list.

[RoughCollies]

well, that is actually another reason why I don't want to take the rottie. I can train the rottie when I get back and know what I am doing. I guess I have confidence issues or something because I am afraid that since I do not yet know what i am doing, it would be better to "practice" on a dog that I know will not have aggression problems. There is not an inch of aggression in my dog. But with the rottie, she is my sisters dog. I don't know her that well and I think it might be better if I learn what I'm doing and THEN train her.

[RoughCollies]

Thanks for the poll!

[Dax]

Class interaction will be good for the Rottie plus having the trainer watch "body" langueage (and make recommendations) will be useful.

Plus 1 solid hour (usually) of controlled environment interaction will help work on possible aggression.

How about both you & your sister going & taking both dogs?

[RoughCollies]

i wish we could, but it's a bit on the expensive side. Because it's a school for dog trainers, not the dogs being trained, only I can go. I am hoping that there is someone there who can't find a dog to bring. Then, my instructor told me I could take both dogs and let another person use the rottie. He's checking to see if there is anyone. But most likely there is not. So I have to make the decision.
The body language thing is a good point which I will take into consideration.

[RoughCollies]

sorry if I didn't explain the school good enough. I am going to be a Master Trainer. You can see what that means by going to www.nk9.com

[Sheltiemama]

Take the Rottie, what you learn by having him in class you can impliment with the not so needy collie at home. It'll help all of you at the same time.

[Dax]

Oh.. and if you take the rottie and move on to "attack" training for you to learn - he would be a better candidate than the collie.

[RoughCollies]

lol. one would think that. However, until you've seen Faith's bite, don't judge a collies attack. lol
She's one tough cookie! I think that the rottie sounds good but I do want a demo dog to find clients when I return. I hope i can take both and give one to another student. That would make it so much easier.