This should only happen when you're double-clicking an edge while in select mode. If you use the polySelectContext you'll notice that double-clicking does not select border edges. To select a single row of border edges use Select > Select Contiguous Edges.
Thats seems to be a silly way to look at it. That is what I would call a border. They way maya is looking at it makes the border tool worthless. Max dosnt check for 90% angles to determin if something is a loop, it bases it off quads/tris. Even if you made 2 of the edges of a quad exactly aligned it wouldn't "loop" through…