Border Collie rescue help needed .

1sue23

Can any one advise me please ,I own 3 dogs 2 of which are now elderly german shepherd is 13 going on 14 and an english springer aged 13 ,I also own a young springer aged 2 ,I have been offered a working Border Collie she is a trained sheep dog but is not working as she should, and a new home is being sort for her ,she is very gentle loves children and women but is afraid of men ,she has never been in a house and is nervous of many every day things even the telly ,sound of cars ,trains etc .
I am very experienced with dogs and have done agility etc with all of my dogs but have never owned a border collie ,how difficult will it be to socialise a dog that has never lived in a house and has only known life on a farm ,I do not work and so I do have plenty of time to spend with the dog ,at the moment I go to the farm and take her out daily, I also groom her ,I have got her walking to heel and she seems easy to train ,if a home can not be found for her and the rescue homes are full she faces being destroyed ,would I be doing the right thing by taking her on and how difficult could it be ?

foreign_correspondent

ooh talk to the person on here who has a border collie webpage and is invilved in rescue - MissH I think it is...

Never having lived in a house may not be too much of a problem, (I think my old dog Che has lived in a pen all her life before I got her, and she settled right in!) I would be more concerned about how she is with people and other dogs... especially as you already have three.

It sounds like she is good with you, which is a great start - I had a collie x terrier that was very scared of men, but it was manageable, and it was only till she knew them.

Could you walk her with your dog a few times, then take her home on a trial and see how she does?

ZootHornRollo

i have two collies. one we had from a pup the other we got from a rescue centre. we do agility with our two.

there is someone at our club who took on a ex-farm collie who was kept outside. she was rehomed at 3 yrs old as after two years training she started nipping the sheep. when introduced to other dogs her first reaction was to go on the attack. after a few months of hard work she is now able to be around other dogs but does not like them in her space. she won't stop pulling on the lead but she had barely ever seen a lead before being rehomed. she is very wary of people in hats but tends to back off rather than growl. i wear a flat cap and she now lets me go up to her no problem but that took about two months of me seeing her once or twice a week.

The adjustment to the house did not take long but the dog was already house trained.

you are obviously building a bond with the dog which will make things a lot easier as she will have trust in you. i'm sure you know that every dog is different and you just need to give it a go and see how things pan out.

MrsTinks

I have a collie cross and personally I think they are a great breed I would say (and I say this as someone who dearly love BCs!) I would not recommend a working collie for round kids...
Other than that... You have dogs already - and working breeds - so you understand the commitment involved in a working breed. Yes it will take some time to get her used to being a "pet" dog, but I think with collies there is only one way to find out for sure... If you can be around all day to supervise for some time to come then I would give it a try.
I've found collies are often skittish dogs in general - or maybe highly strung is a better description - but some do settle down in a home environment.
The important thing will be to make sure she has a "job" - if you're up for agility she will probably think christmas has come early! Or even flyball...
I would seriously consider "giving her a go"...

1sue23

She is very good with me and warmed to my granddaughter aged 7 ,she just relaxed and rested her head on her lap which was lovely to see ,she is a very gentle quite dog and does not seem to lively ,although I have not had her off her off her lead so not sure how this will go ,she seems to like some dogs so will try her with mine next week .
One thing I have noticed is she is fixated on her own reflection when I walk past the boats on the mooring she will stare at her own reflection and freeze and then growl at it ,to stop this I distract her with treats and switch her to walking on my right hand side so she cannot see herself which seems to work ,she will not play and is afraid of toys ,if I put the telly on on the boat she hides away ,so I have it on a low volume and very slowly she is coming round and will come out of hiding to sit near me .I think that with a lot of time and slowly does it she may relax enough to adapt to life ,outside kenneling is not a problem as this is all she has known and my own dogs live outside and always have.

1sue23

MrsTine wrote: »

I have a collie cross and personally I think they are a great breed I would say (and I say this as someone who dearly love BCs!) I would not recommend a working collie for round kids...
Other than that... You have dogs already - and working breeds - so you understand the commitment involved in a working breed. Yes it will take some time to get her used to being a "pet" dog, but I think with collies there is only one way to find out for sure... If you can be around all day to supervise for some time to come then I would give it a try.
I've found collies are often skittish dogs in general - or maybe highly strung is a better description - but some do settle down in a home environment.
The important thing will be to make sure she has a "job" - if you're up for agility she will probably think christmas has come early! Or even flyball...
I would seriously consider "giving her a go"... [/QUOTE

She is good with children and is used to children ,the children on the farm feed her and walk her ,under strict supervision she met my 7 year old granddaughter and it was great to see ,the most relaxed I have seen her greeted her very gently and just laid her head on her lap and gave her her paw ,men seem to worry her not aggressive just wants to hide and shakes but after meeting my husband a few times she will now approach him and offers her paw .

Paparika

http://www.dogpages.org.uk/

have you asked here?

1sue23

I have now got the collie dog living with me and have a lovely rescue centre who will take her next week ,so far so good she loves travel and is great in the car ,she loves children ,she is great with the cats ,walks well on a lead and her recall is good ,she is okay with other dogs when out only growls if they go for her first ,with my own dogs she is controllable but can get jealous so would be best as an only dog ,she was very scared of the telly but now copes with this on low volume .I have told the rescue I will keep her for the 2 weeks to get her used to household noises and get her used to the noises of the town which is vastly improved ,she is still very nervous of men but loves women and children .
If any one else can offer me any more advice on getting her used to family life it would be very helpful .
On a side note she has been great at rounding up my hens I did not have to chase them around the garden she got them back into the hen pens no problem.