Border Collie For me???

[Bubblezzz]

I am facing a big decision and would appreciate any help!!! :o

There is a 5 yr old Border Collie up for adoption that needs to be rehoused ASAP as his owners are leaving the country. We are seriously considering maybe fostering him (with view to adopt) if his owners are ok with it.

We have been thinking of adopting an older dog. (for those of you who may not know, bf & I have 2 babies - a 3+ yr old am cocker, Floppy and a 5+ mth old eng cocker, Cosmic). Cosmic lives with me and Floppy lives at my bf's. Everyone in my household works full-time, except my brother, who was a student. We timed Cosmic's arrival into our family such that someone would always be around most of the day for the first 2-3 months he is with us.

Now my brother is entering the army and would soon be away from home for extended periods. As such, Cosmic will have to get used to spending up to 8 hours alone most weekdays. He is still a little destructive when left alone at home, but is getting better. I can't bear the thought of penning Cosmic up for extended periods, so he has the run of the house, except the kitchen. We use a combination of grates and bitter spray to keep him away from things that are not his. We think that his destructive behaviour stems from a combination of plain boredom and seperation anxiety.

We have stuff to keep him occupied (buster cubes, filled Kongs) but he is extremely sociable and playful. We have toyed with the idea of getting him an older, 'rescued' companion. No, he won't just be USED as Cosmic's playtoy, although our hope and intention is that they'd get along like a house on fire and entertain themselves while we're gone. We would love many more dogs. :) BUT, will they BOTH start destroying the house? :o

I understand that BCs are incredibly intelligent and need to be kept busy. We live in a flat. Floppy and Cosmic are taken for walks (separately, of course) daily and we take them on doggie social outings to the parks, beach or dog run every weekend. Is this enough for a BC?

If we adopt this BC, what is the 'adaptation' period we should look at? He is currently an outside-only dog, so we are not sure how much he will pine for his family. If we took leave from work for 2 weeks between us, is this enough? Or paltry??

We don't even know much about BCs, I know that they are smart herding dogs, need human companionship, shed twice a year, need to be kept busy and can be barky. The owners don't seem to know much about the breed and can't tell us much.

Is even considering fostering a BC a stupid idea??? :o I've never even fostered a dog before, but I am willing to learn. I keep telling myself that I never knew cockers were so wonderful before Floppy, it was ALWAYS goldens before her, why not a BC? Am I being stupid?? Is this feasible? HELP!! :o :o

[Rowie-the-Pooh]

I wish I could help, but I don't know much about BC's. You need BORDER COLLIE LOVER from the HH forum. :wink:

Here's the link:

[url]www.hungryhoundbakery.com/forum[/url]

Post this there, and I'll ask BCL to help you! :D

[Rowie-the-Pooh]

Bubblezzz, you posted this twice! :lol:

I won't answer the second one so that you can delete it... :wink:

[Bubblezzz]

Thanks Rowie! :) I've posted my question there...

[primabella]

[color=indigo]BC's are very active and highly intelligent dogs. I can imagine that leaving a BC alone for more than 8 hours will lead it to destructive behavior. I'm sure they are great pets but I'm just "warning" you of their high amount of energy level. If no one is home to play with him, they will find somethign else to do to burn off their energy i.e tear up furniture, dig up your carpet and so on.

I wanted a BC for so long but when I found our how active and intellgient, it just scared me a litt.e :oops: People would keep writing stories on how their BC unlocked locks, jumped over 6ft fences and so on. If you do go for it, good luck. Heehee :D[/color]

[primabella]

[quote]I understand that BCs are incredibly intelligent and need to be kept busy. We live in a flat. Floppy and Cosmic are taken for walks (separately, of course) daily and we take them on doggie social outings to the parks, beach or dog run every weekend. Is this enough for a BC? [/quote]

[color=indigo]Oops. I must have missed this paragraph when I brought up my post. :oops: [/color]

[mouseatthebusstop]

FOSTERING MIGHT BE A GOOD IDEA :) GO AND MEET THE DOG SEE HOW YOU GET ON

[Nancy B]

Given your situation, I really don't think a Border Collie would be a good idea. BC's are very intelligent and very active. If you don't "occupy" them with a job, they'll find something to do and chances are you won't like it.

I've admired BC's running in agility but, much as I admire them, I can admit to myself that I could not keep one mentally and physically engaged. I do not work, have a fenced yard and am quite used to doing multiple training sessions a day with my Dobes. In my opinion, a BC needs more than that.

I like them but, I will never own one. Wouldn't be fair to the dog.

[courtnek]

I would foster him, just to see how they get on. I have a friend who owns three of them, and she works all day. They occupy each other for the most part.

you could get them tug toys to play with, and set up a light they can herd. She entertains hers by having a rotating light going, and when they feel like herding they herd the light. She also has an aquarium that they
spend hours watching the fish swim in. She also leaves the TV on animal planet all day. Seems to work, she doesnt have any major issues with hers, but she exercises them for two hours every night and alot of hoours on the weekends.

Fostering will tell you if this is a go or not.

[Barbiro]

I've never owned a Border Collie but an ex-boss of mine has two and he works 8 hours at day. The 2 of them have the run of the house and they appear to be well-adjusted and happy dogs. That's a tough decision to make though, just go with your gut feeling on that one.

[Bubblezzz]

Thank you for all the replies and advice. We've seen the BC and we are not taking him. :(

His name is Buzz and he is SO unlike a 'normal' BC!!! :o Firstly, he is quite a bit overweight and is a real mellow, laid-back (ie. LAZZZYYY!!! :oops: :oops: :oops: ) kinda fellow. :D He's missing teeth and he needs a MAJOR dentistry job - check-up, teeth cleaning etc. I asked if anyone's ever brushed his teeth... and the fosterers look at me like I was mad. :( His coat is kinda lacklustre, even though they said that he'd just been given a bath... I'm guessing that it could be due to diet.

Buzz is incredibly sweet, he's really s...l...o...w... and moves like a little bear!!! He took to us quite well and seemed to enjoy neck scratches. :P :D :roll: He didn't respond to ANY commands. :o Not even SIT. And he gets spooked when anyone moves too fast.

The situation is like this. His ex-owner adopted him from a rescue organization when he was about 2. They suspect that he'd been badly abused because he was in really bad shape and would always cringe whenever people got too near him... :cry: :cry: :( :( After a while, he warmed up and that owner took care of him for about 3 years. He had to leave the country pretty abruptly, so he left Buzz with a neighbour/friend, either to keep or to rehome. :( Ok, I have nothing against these people, they seem pretty decent, but they are the "Our dog is just that, a DOG, a pet" type, if you know what I mean. They pet him sometimes, provide all the basics, but that's that. :( He is an outdoors (all the time) dog. But they have a huge space with a sheltered side-porch that looks quite comfortable.

I don't know if his lethargy is due to his size, or the fact that no one has really paid him any real attention or tried to engage his mind or exercise him or that maybe it's to do with his abusive past. He is a very sweet dog and we think that he could probably get along great with Cosmic, being so mellow and all.

Actually, after reading up on BCs last night, we had already more or less decided that we weren't going to take him. He would be MINE mostly and honestly, I don't think I am ready or experienced enough to take on a BC. Our lifestyle and lack of space wouldn't be fair to such an active, intelligent breed. :-? But... we decided to visit him anyway, just in case nobody comes for him, we thought we could maybe foster him for a while and get aquainted with a BC.

Of course when we met Buzz, all the supposed BC traits are missing!!! :o :lol: His personality is really sweet, he's like a little sleepy panda bear... he keeps lying down, even when we took him for a walk. :)

But we learnt that his rehoming isn't that urgent after all. His fosterer has 2 goldens who apparently don't get along with Buzz, so he lent/gave/fostered (??? :o) Buzz with HIS next door neighbour. They seem to share the same attitude towards dogs. They say that if Buzz isn't adopted, they'd be happy to keep him. Buzz has been with them for a couple of weeks.

Buzz needs ALOT of work. I tried touching his nails and he wasn't comfortable with that at all. I don't think anyone cleans his ears either, because they are quite dirty. But the absolutely saddest thing to see is the state of his teeth. :(

We like Buzz, but I also know that we can't take him on. I feel like I'm completely chickening out. :( :oops: :( :( He needs too much that we can't give. Part of me is thinking, SO IT'S OKAY TO TAKE ON A DOG WHEN HE'S PERFECT, BUT WHEN WHEN HE HAS PROBLEMS... WHOO-HOO... :( ... and it doesn't feel good at all. :oops:

They say that they've received quite a number of calls for Buzz, but in the worst case scenario, where they keep him, Buzz will probably be subjected to his current life. After I mentioned the bad state of his teeth, they said that they'd take him to the vet if nobody takes him. He also has his vaccinations yearly, so it's not SO terrible. :(

I'm a chicken. :( :( :( :(

[Malamum]

I don't think you are a chicken at all. If it was right you would just know.

Doing something becuase you feel that you should or that you have to is never the right reason.

[Sanvean]

If you don't TRULY feel like you're up to this, I would leave him where he is. It isn't an ideal life, but it sounds like he's at least being treated well. If you still want another dog, there are many who are in more desperate situations, and one of them might be a better match.