Shadow

*ADOPTED*

Background

Shadow is a 1-year old (born Jan. 10, 2020) active, medium to high-energy, purebred border collie. His present weight is 46 lbs; he is tall, lean and strong. He has already been in a couple of different homes, through no fault of his own. He came from a breeder to herd livestock and unfortunately, the person that purchased him was not prepared for life with a purebred border collie. Therefore, he will definitely need to be with someone experienced with the energy, work ethic and border collie quirks/traits.

Activity

Those long legs love to run. Besides walks, he has gotten used to having a ball to fetch (and recently learned to catch) and a soft frisbee thrown 2-3x a day for at least 15 minutes each time. We go on a hike almost daily for at least 1 hour. He does a lot of running on our hikes if he can be off leash and never seems to tire. He also loves to fetch sticks and his ball on a hike, the always working border collie for sure. He loves to stay active and being with someone that can provide that would be ideal.

Shadow has never destroyed anything in the house except an empty 1-liter plastic bottle. He got to it by mistake and thought it was a great toy… He has learned “leave it” when needed. He is also happy to entertain himself with his toys, especially with his Kong and LOVES anything that squeaks.

Schedule

His foster family takes him out to pee 1st thing in the morning then he has 2 cups of dry food. We then go back out for a walk and ball fetching. When we return to the house, he is happy to play with his toys and hang out. Usually, mid-day we go out for a hike. Sometimes he will have a doggie play date. There are a few dogs in the neighborhood that he plays extremely well with.

We also spend time fetching his rubber ball or cloth frisbee in the later afternoon. He gets fed another 1.5-2.0 cups of dry food around 6:00pm. We go for another walk after dinner. Plus, we go out one more time before going into his crate for the night. If he has had a busy day, he is content to curl up on a rug for a bit until his last walk before going into his crate for the evening. He likes to hangout where his foster parents are and often will come over just for some lovin’. He likes to put a paw on either side of a humans lap and bury his face down for petting and ear scratching. He is patient to be towel dried and to have his paws wiped if needed. We wipe his eyes off each morning. He is walked using an easy walk harness that is attached to a hands-free leash, which is useful when training or redirecting his attention as needed.

Training and Habits that Require Attention

Shadow is a car chaser. He walks looking for a car if being walked near a street. When he sees a car approaching, he will crouch down and often has tried to lunge and/or bark. He did attend a training session with another NEBCR volunteer/professional trainer (High Fidelity Dogs in Everett,MA).

Trainers notes: “Shadow had one session with a behavior specialist. He readily caught onto a disengage game from cars at a distance of about 30 feet. He readily took treats and could respond to a clicker. He is intense about cars but did really well in the short training session. The trainer was very optimistic that with continued positive training Shadows car lunging could be well-managed. The behavior specialist is located in Boston and is offering a no-cost training session with Shadows new owner either in-person or virtually.”

One of his adoption requirements will be to continue his positive reinforcement training.

His foster family has been working on distracting him when a car is approaching and his new family will need to continue this work with him after adoption. It is our hope that his new family will understand the consistency and discipline needed to help Shadow with this. When a border collie does this, it is NOT bad behavior, but one of their traits. So the proper training is important and for someone to understand what he is thinking with a passing car. This will be an ongoing situation, not a habit that can be broken, but rather a situation to assist him with.

He has barked at a group of bicycle riders passing him when we were out on a hike. His reaction has varied when a single biker or jogger passes. When he is off leash (only in a forest or on a long trail), he comes right back to check on me or if I whistle for him. He will sit and stare at a reflection on the ceiling and sometimes tries to catch a reflection from the sun coming in the window on the door. Sometimes he stares at the rug and whines if he can’t find the reflection. He will let out a bark when we tear off a piece of aluminum foil. He is house broken and has learned quite a few commands (list will all be shared with whoever adopts him). When Shadow rides in a car he is in a covered crate and will need to continue to travel this way, otherwise he gets to focused on the cars he sees and starts barking.

Recommendation

Shadow would do well with older children and folks that want to be outdoors. He should not live in a busy area. His best home would be in a rural area and a huge fully fenced yard is required. It would be in his best interest to go into a home with another dog, but he would be fine on his own as well as long as he got plenty of exercise. He has spent time in foster with an older dog and had been very good and respectful of this dog. When we head out to the outside he listens and stays and has never tried to sneak out or escape. He enjoys meeting most dogs, all ages, all sizes, male or female. He has been barked at by other un-neutered males and may bark back, but has never gotten aggressive. This may have been because he was not neutered at the time. He is his own greeting committee.

Shadow does not like being left alone and will whine. This may come from being moved around to several homes as a young pup.Or just because he loves to be with someone. He does settle down after we leave the house, and is quiet when we return. He does sleep in a crate at night, easily goes right in and is quiet until morning.

He is up to date on his shots, was recently neutered and micro-chipped. He cannot be in a home with cats as he wants to constantly chase them and best not to be with young children. He loves to be close to a human most of the time, it is his security.

Whoever brings Shadow into their home, will have a wonderful, energetic smart, sweet, loving dog that will need extensive daily exercise, but will love being with you after a hard day of work and play and provide many happy adventures.

Please do not inquire about a particular dog until you have an APPROVED application on file.