It's a very long story, but in short, we helped rescue a 7 month old Border Collie cross late this spring; cared for him and found a home for him on a sheep ranch. Sparky came to us totally untrained. Greg & Zach started training him, but he was not interested in the least to "sit" and "stay". He would jump up on everyone as soon as they came into the backyard. (I think Zach was saying "Down, down, down Sparky" in his sleep, for a while there). However, Zach did discover that the dog would sit if there was a cheese bribe involved.
It was hard to let Sparky go, but we knew for his sake and the sake of our backyard, he needed a LOT more room to run and jump and do all the things a Border Collie needs to do. Thankfully Jessica contacted us. She was looking to train a dog to herd her sheep. We drove Sparky out to the farm about an hour and a half out of the city to his new home.
We've kept in touch with Jessica from time to time to see how Sparky's doing. At first he was really thrilled to be with other dogs and loved making great discoveries like sheep poop in the grass. The other day, Jessica said in an email that Sparky is finally not chasing the sheep and goats unless he's asked to.
Which brings me to the photo on this post. This is a photograph of Sparky on the right and a pencil drawing that Zachary did of him on the left. I matted and framed it and now it's displayed on our "art gallery wall" in our livingroom next to the computer.
To see more adorable Border Collie hijinks, clink on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI7TN8q6ktk
5 comments:
I'm so glad he's doing well. Zach...wow!! This is fabulous!! Good job!
Dawn, I lost my border collie last year. I rescued her when she was about 6 months old, she was partly trained and trained very easily, except for two things. "Come" (she kept running out away from me... a clue!) and for almost 2 years her greeting to us was to leap up and nip our chins, then squat and pee on our feet. Poor thing had probably been tramatized, but once she believed we woulded just dump her off somewhere, she was wonderful. I so miss her, and can't imagine any other kind of dog, but I work full time now, and couldn't do a bcollie justice, so I will wait.
Arlene: Zach says "Thanks" for your comment :) (think he's pretty proud of this drawing).
Kim: Yes, Border Collies are amazing dogs, for sure. My son laughed when he read what you wrote because it sounded oh, so familiar.
I've never trained a BC, but we had a BC cross as a pet for many years - she was the best dog we ever had....once we got her out of the city.
Good job on the drawing, Zack!
What a fabulous drawing! Wow! So glad Sparky found a lovely forever home and that he is settling in!
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