Dicey aka See Spots RunSee Dicey. See Dicey smile. Isn't she adorable?
She's a border collie, though she is not what I would consider a working dog. She's too soft, though she has great food drive, pack drive, and really wants to do stuff. And she will, she's trained through all levels of rally, and one day I'll break down and spend the money to enter her somewhere.
Dicey will be a fun dog to trial, as long as I don't take it too seriously. She's our 'butterfly' dog, flitting here and there. She always has this smile on her face, and she's always up for a game. However, it's ALL a game to her, she has no real work ethic. If she makes it to her RE, we might just try obedience. Locally. :-) I'll not travel far with her, I want to stay where people know _me. As in, know I'm a decent trainer, and can be competitive. Our little butterfly dog won't do a lot for my rep as a trainer of working dogs, but I predict she'll be a helluva crowd pleaser! She's a lot of fun.
Dicey was dumped in a shelter at 14 months. The shelter called BC rescue, as she was melting in that environment. Luckily, my friend Shawna pulled her. I had just started fostering for BC rescue, and went to get her. After living with her for a week or two, we just couldn't imagine our home without her! Ah, rescue failure #1.
Many times, JQPublic wants a 'smart' dog, then they read *Cohen's book on the intelligence of dogs, and off they go in search of a border collie. This is one reason why BC rescue is always full. The typical pet home will be much, much happier with a not-so-smart dog. Smart dogs need to apply their minds and bodies to _something, and if you don't provide that something, they'll find an outlet all on their very own... and it's NEVER something their people will approve of.
I fostered one dog that landed in rescue because she was destructive. Award winning kinda destructive! When she was approximately 7 months old, her people bought a large sectional, all leather. Very expensive. In celebration of it's delivery, they went out to dinner. and left their working bred BC pup alone... with their lovely new sofa.
When they arrived home, they found a very happy, content dog. They also found a sofa that was ripped down to the springs, with bits of wood, leather, and stuffing all over the house. They decided that their pup was now an outside dog.
Two days later, the owners came home and found over $5,000.00 worth of damage to their landscaping and their underground sprinkler system. Let's just say that it was no longer underground. Their $250.00 pup was now an $8,000.00 pup. This is when BC rescue got the call to come and get her NOW.
more to come....
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3 comments:
I don't remember you ever mentioning Dicey, or maybe you did... she's so cute!!
:D
She is that! She's a joy to have around, 'cept when she's counter surfing.
what a story. I am so happy she found a place with you. I have always said dogs need to have jobs. I will probably be repeating this story to everyone over the next couple days. thanks for telling it! I still stay tuned.
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