We've always had Chesapeake Retrievers and Mrs Suhks has been hinting around for a lap dog.
A small Border Collie might do the trick.
Forget a border collie as a lap dog.
They have to be one of the most active breeds.
We got one, a rescue, not knowing how active they are. Not good house dogs and we don’t have a fenced yard.
Managed to keep her somewhat happy with puzzles in the evenings and walks on weekends.
But when she got bored she’d chew the furniture. Common I’ve learned.
Oh, one more negative, they shed like mad.
I wouldn’t recommend a Border Collie unless you have a minimum of five acres, preferably fenced. They like to run themselves ragged, and then run some more.
Border Collies are smart, but they also have high energy. Probably be shoving a ball in your wife’s lap instead of sitting in it.
My dog as a kid was a Border Collie. I could bend your ear for hours with stories as to how smart that dog was.
She was born from a litter that the owner didn't want. He promptly drowned all her litter mates. Somehow, she got wind of this, and hid out under his front porch. He didn't even know she existed, for the first week of her life. When he figured out she was there, the story got out, and my Dad took the dog in, hardly two weeks old then, figuring she might be a useful working dog on our dairy farm. That she was, for her whole long life.
She loved riding in the car. The first time we were ever going to take her to the Vet was when she was about a year old. We were taking her into to get spade (fixed.) We figured we'd just jump in the car as usual, and she'd jump in with us, tail wagging as usual, and off we'd go. But she took one look at us, and headed for the hills (literally). It tooks us several hours to find her and order her into the car. To this day, I have no clue how she knew that she didn't want to go for a ride that day.
Each summer, we put the two year old heifers on a neighbors hillside pasture for the summer. Several other farmers did the same. At the end of the summer, we'd borrow a truck, and drive up to the pasture. The dog would go up in the wooded hills, upwards of a mile off, find our heifers (not the neighbors, she remembered which were ours) and bring them back and put them on the truck, for us to tie down and take home. By that point the heifers were as wild as young deer and could jump five foot fences in a single bound. She controlled them in part by nipping at their heels. Have you ever tried nipping the heels of a six hundred pound wild animal, strong enough to jump five feet in the air, while it's doing its level best to crush your skull, when you're twenty five pounds soaking wet? We just stood by the truck, rope in hand, while the dog did all the work.
I'd love to have another Border Collie. But I'd never do so unless I had a herd of sheep or cattle or something of similar challenge, and a minimum of ten or twenty acres of land that needed tending (keeping down the woodchucks, bringing the cows to the barn to milk, something.)
A small one would be good for a lap dog.
Ours is only a year but very light and doesn’t mind being picked up at all.
I dunno if a border would make a good lapdog. Our border/shepherd mix is wonderful, but the most hyper, neurotic dog I've ever known. It's so true that borders really need a job to keep them happy -- only now, at age 12, can our old guy actually lay still and relax sometimes. Our rottie, on the other hand, is a fabulous lapdog (but only for awfully strong laps).
Re: the article, I used to laugh at the idea of rotties being intelligent. But that was before my girl figured out how to navigate a blockade of kitchen chairs and small baby gates to reach my crying toddler nephew. She would not rest until she made sure he was okay (unfortunately the appearance of her big old snuffling nose in his face didn't help).