And so to another unplanned failed foster. My trainer friend's friend asked us both for some advice back in spring regarding getting a companion for her sprollie, who is nervous of other dogs, especially bitches. We both said 'do NOT get a bitch; do NOT get a puppy, do NOT get a collie.' A few weeks later, she bought an 8 week old working lines border collie bitch. Sigh.
She had her for a couple of weeks before admitting neither of them were coping, so pup went to my friend's for 10 days while she decided what to do. Then back to her for a weekend to try again. And then, finally, to me, when after much discussion and not a little bit of persuasion, my friend was able to get her to realise that this pup was not a good idea and not a good match. By this point she was 11.5 weeks old and had not been socialised; had no name up until that last weekend; and had already shown signs of major resource guarding. So she came home and it all began; carefully orchestrated lead walking to slowly introduce her to the world, driving to the park (thank goodness, she had at least been gotten used to travelling by car) to let her socialise with dogs and people before that first crucial window closed.
We did try to find her a suitable home but couldn't; it was clear very quickly that she was at a crucial point, at which the slightest wrong move would create another nervous wreck: another Phoebe. She was scared of traffic, noise reactive, and nervous. We didn't find the right home for her, so here she stayed. She's a challenge, that much is for sure - I have had to work hard to curb her intense herding behaviour towards some of my other dogs, and her resource guarding was a big issue (she would guard absolutely anything from the nearest dog), but it is now all but gone.
She had her for a couple of weeks before admitting neither of them were coping, so pup went to my friend's for 10 days while she decided what to do. Then back to her for a weekend to try again. And then, finally, to me, when after much discussion and not a little bit of persuasion, my friend was able to get her to realise that this pup was not a good idea and not a good match. By this point she was 11.5 weeks old and had not been socialised; had no name up until that last weekend; and had already shown signs of major resource guarding. So she came home and it all began; carefully orchestrated lead walking to slowly introduce her to the world, driving to the park (thank goodness, she had at least been gotten used to travelling by car) to let her socialise with dogs and people before that first crucial window closed.
We did try to find her a suitable home but couldn't; it was clear very quickly that she was at a crucial point, at which the slightest wrong move would create another nervous wreck: another Phoebe. She was scared of traffic, noise reactive, and nervous. We didn't find the right home for her, so here she stayed. She's a challenge, that much is for sure - I have had to work hard to curb her intense herding behaviour towards some of my other dogs, and her resource guarding was a big issue (she would guard absolutely anything from the nearest dog), but it is now all but gone.