Those of you looking for dogs, who may be in the California area…I have one I’d love to find a home for. 
He’s not mine, but I can get you hooked up.
Heh.
I am a foster mom for Border Collie rescue, although I never get puppies. I get older dogs, usually over a year old. Let me add to your rant:
For Gods sake people, check out the breed before you get one! Border Collies are active dogs, there are plenty of good breeds out there for folks who want a couch potato, but the BC ain’t one of them! Most of the dog surrendered to me are “just too destructive/active”. What the fuck did you think a BC locked up in house all day was going to do…read the paper? The breed was designed to be herding sheep for ten hours a day, the least you can do is take it for fucking a daily walk!
I’ve also found that most of my dogs are not good with children. It’s not that they’re mean, they just see them as sheep, and can get aggressive when their “herd” breaks up. I’ve had two of these. They both had extremely strong herding drives, and “bit” a neighborhood child. Which is to say, the kid left the yard, and the dog wasn’t happy about this turn of events, and attempted to drive the child back into the “herd”. They get in front of the child, and nip at the feet. This, of course, causes great dismay to the child, and much wailing ensues. The owner “just doesn’t know what got into him”. Morons.
Lastly: If you don’t want a dog, don’t get one! My current rescue, not a BC but a Karelian Bear Dog (apparently all black and white dogs must be BCs) had the shit beaten out of him. This I don’t get. No one is forced to have a dog. So why have one? Marty, the Bear Dog, was found wandering the streets, emaciated and filthy. He was only 40 pounds, and I’ve finally gotten him up to his ideal weight of 63 pounds. His teeth were terrible, he had mange, and over a hundred ticks. He was hand shy, had never had a dog treat and scared to death of the “come” command. That’s what happens when you call you dog and beat him when he comes to you. The sad part is, he has the nicest temperament of any dog I’ve fostered. This dog is as sweet as the day is long. He doesn’t harbor a grudge and he doesn’t have a mean bone in his body, although I can’t imagine why. It’s taken me almost a year to get him into adoptable shape. The trick I found, was M&Ms It’s the only treat I can him train to. He now knows “sit”, “lay”, “shake”, “off”, “whoa” and the hardest one “come” although he still prefers to come to his name. He’s my greatest success story. Now to find him a home!
Oh one more thing, when I ask you if you have any other animals, when I am placing a dog, the hamster and the bird count too!. I had one dog returned twice. The first person I asked said “nope, no other pets”, then Dan (the dog) was returned due to killing the hamster which had gotten loose in house. I was stunned, since when was a hamster not counted as a pet? So the next time I place him, I specifically asked about hamsters. Nope no other pets, no hamsters. Apparently the bird wasn’t a pet, and Dan was returned the following day for jumping on the bird’s cage. I almost slapped the woman! Now I take the dog to their house. It just works better that way.
BTW, this is not necessarily a rant aimed at people who have to surrender dogs. Sometimes things just don’t work out. At least the surrenders have done the responsible thing, and taken the dog to rescue, and not dumped or abused them.
sj, I hope you adopter works out! Good vibes go out to you, from one foster to another.
[Another hijack] I’ve also known people who’ve taken on horses with little or no experience of how to handle them. God almighty, people, horses are not over-grown dogs. We’re talking 1000 lb plus animal here.
Our last horse was given to us because his previous owner had decided that he was a dangerous killer. Had nothing to to with the fact that she was absolutely fucking clueless,of course! I got him sight unseen for the cost of shipping and he’s a love without a mean bone in his body.
However, MS I-know-everything-about-training-horses was fixing to ship him to the slaughter at the age of 5 simply because her ego couldn’t handle the fact that she was ignorant.[/hijack over]
Good luck with finding someone. All our pets are adopted and were abused… three cats and two dogs.
<hijack>Our German Shepard/chow/lab mix, was probably abused the worst. She had run away from the abuser (smart dog, very very smart dog) to a friend of my mother’s… and my mother saw her and insisted on taking her, since her friend didn’t have room for another dog. Tasha (the dog) was so scared of everything that moved, we had to clear out my mother’s hobby room, and put pillows on the floor for her, so she could sleep alone. Otherwise she wouldn’t sleep. :mad: x3 I am not a violent person, in any regard… but if I ever met the person who hurt her like they did I would probably make my best attempt to injure them as badly as possible. Just the thought of someone abusing another being like that disgusts me, and I’m glad she seems to have forgotten all about it. She’s now a bouncy full size dog, a bit overly attached to my mother, probably because she rescued her and such… but completely healthy and wonderful. My kitten Alex was neglected… Pamela, my brother’s feline, was adopted from the Humane Society, and we adopted Foof from a friend of the family who couldn’t handle another furball. Julie, our other dog, was also from the Humane Society. </hijack>
People like you all give me faith in humanity, thank you.
Oh, light strand, I love the BCs! I lost my collie rescue last year to cancer. She was the “anti-BC” though. Not a herd instinct at all…and was a total couch potato. She did however, go batty if the hubby and I were in seperate rooms. And once, just once, in 6 years “head butt” one of our neighbors that hopped a fence. She was so damned proud of herself. God, I miss her so much. She was just a beautiful girl who just loved everybody she met.
And yes, I hate people that don’t research the breed. Perhaps they saw the movie “Babe” and thought the dog would start talking…idiots.
light strand, um, chocolate is bad for dogs, isn’t it?
Guin, my mother had a dog who loved both chocolate and Coca-cola, and lived to be 19 years old. It’s a question of quantity; I doubt individual M&Ms are going to be much of an issue.
A full chocolate bar is bad for small/medium dog.
I don’t think a few M&Ms (assuming it is only a few) will bother a 60-70 lb dog very much.
Guin, Chocolate is only toxic for dog if eaten in massive amounts. For a dog to get sick on chocolate they would have to eat about 10% of their body weight. Since I don’t feed Marty about six pounds of chocolate in a sitting, he’s fine. All of my dogs have loved chocolate, but I’m very careful with it. Although I must say, I used to rescue Dalmatians, and I did have a dog who ate an entire bag of kisses foil and all. She was fine, but I was mighty annoyed.
sj, my BC does that too. And of course when I say “mine” it means not for adoption, although he is, of course, a rescue. He’s Mister tolerant. Hates people, loves other dogs. He finds a place equidistant between me and Mr. strand (when he’s not on active duty) and sleeps there. Usually this means he sits in the middle of the hall, as my office is on one end, and Mr. strand’s is on the other.
Did your BC pout? Bandit (my BC) is king of the mopers. When I leave without him, he takes the mope position. He won’t look at me, won’t give me a kiss goodbye, just lays down and pouts, for lack of a better word.
She never did pout. But she would jump into her chair and look out the window with a purely pathetic look on her face. And she would make sure to be there when she heard the car pull up to. Then one quick jump on you (as if to say, “Tag, you’re it” and pounce off for snacks. And she moo’d. Literally, she sounded like a cow. Whenever she’s see a dog walk by the window, moo’s like crazy and hide her face in your lap. To this day, though, I still am pulling out long hairs from her rump…sad and happy at the same time.
sj2, BCs are the Greatest Dogs on Earth. Unfortunately, they aren’t for everyone. There are a couple of BC couch potatoes, but that’s the beauty of rescue. I can tell you exactly what every one of my dogs is like. I know whether they’re nasty or nice, busy or boring. I love my rescues like they were my own. I’m sure being a foster, you know exactly what I mean. I’m sad/happy when they leave. Actually the hardest thing for me is not placing a dog. I still have not gotten the hang of telling someone, that I didn’t think they were appropriate for the dog, or vice versa.
Disney, and I’m not blaming them, they have to use some breed, has done a huge disservice to dogs. We got in a ton of Dalmatians after 101 Dalmatians (also not a kid-friendly breed) a bunch of BCs after Babe and more after Snow Dogs.
A friend of mine who got one of my Dalmatians (Cleo) is still picking her hair out of his furniture. Cleo shed those nasty little short white hairs that got into everything. She was put down due to cancer two years ago, and he still hasn’t recovered. It sucks.
Any word on the adopters?
What the hell? Karelian Bear Dogs don’t even look that much like Border Collies… I mean, one’s a Spitz and one’s a herding dog.
Goes to show auRa, that some people are idiots who didn’t bother to ID the breed…
Anyway, supposed to meet a potential adopter today. Wish us luck!
Nothing to pit-out about today. The baby found her place! I started a happy thread in MPSIMS. Here it is!
Thanks for all your support