Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas




All my fosters are placed and all through the house it's too quiet with only the five permanent dogs.

I was able to spring this lovely Catahoula puppy from local dog control for Christmas. Oh my, she's the best gift ever. She's so beautiful, but then I say that about every single one.

We'll name her Hollie Berry, she's a Christmas puppy after all!

The happiest of holidays to all who share love for these precious dogs.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

A young Tess



These are puppy pictures of Tess being a true border collie pup in wanting that cat to move. Even as an adult she'll lay and wait for the action to begin. As you can see her ears didn't stay up, she has what I call helicopter ears. She was certainly a cute pup!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Tess



Our Tess is 6 years old, we've had her since she was a pup. She rules the pack and all who enter. Not really but I'm sure she thinks so. This girl puts up with all the visiting dogs and the cats I sometimes foster. She keeps an eye on the laying hens, and "washes" every other dogs food dish after a meal. She could win an award for emptying her dish the fastest.

Tess and I have enjoyed taking freestyle classes. Freestyle is learning to move to music with your dog. If you haven't seen it there are a lot of online videos, check them out. It has become a popular dog sport and is very moving to watch.




Tess has been known to go for a drive to relieve her stress....

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Betty Betty





No, that's not a typo, her name is Betty Betty. She's just so special she needs two first names, or that's what I tell everyone. She's a petite little lady that would love nothing more than to herd sheep. Betty is one of our permanent pack, another "flunk" at fostering dog. One of a litter of 7 pups I fostered a couple of years ago Betty was shy and quiet generally hiding when visitors came. During play with a much heavier dog I think her right rear femur bone was cracked. After some good x-rays during her spay surgery we could clearly see the damage. Betty Betty had a FHO surgery which repaired the damage.

We flunked the first time



Bonzie is our first foster dog. Most foster dog parents "flunk" at least once. We agreed to foster Bonzie for local rescue, but after just minutes we knew we couldn't part with him. He's nine years old now. Bonzie is an awesome frisbee dog, doing flips and hanging in mid air. He loves to chase just about anything and as you can see he is very beautiful. Yes, he is a border collie. If you want to check out all the different colors and coats they come in visit the Border Collie Museum web page. You can spend hours at this sight exploring art work , music, history, and loads of pictures all relating to the wonderful breed of the border collie.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Eddie





Eddie is truly man's best friend. Easy going, loves to play catch, and likes a good nap. He's the dog that every other dog here wants to play with. He's become quite the couch hog and as you can see likes to keep an eye on the sheep in the farmers field.


Moe was Eddie's name when he came into rescue as an eight week old pup. His six siblings came along too. Oh I love puppies, cute little black and white eating machines with teeth! Eddie was placed in a great home in Portland they loved him very much. At the age of a year he was showing some discomfort. After extensive x-rays and estimates for hip replacement, his family felt it was best to bring him back.

I was thrilled to have Eddie return. His sister, Betty Betty, is one of my own dogs. (No, that's not a typo she is so special she has two first names.) As for Eddie's hip health he gets daily supplements and I watch his weight. He runs and plays with the pack, but not too much. I'm not actually seeking a home for Eddie, but I have offered him to applicants that might be willing to deal with his possible health issues.
Adopters sign an agreement stating that the dog they adopt must come back to me if they no longer want or can no longer care for. It doesn't happen often, but it insures life long safe care for them.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

A home for Sonny

If all goes as planned, Sonny will travel to his new home on Saturday. The local couple that want him work different shifts so Sonny will have company most of the day. He will have to adjust living with a 13 year old cat. We'll hope for an easy transition. It is fun to watch a dog learn to walk on vinyl flooring and to climb stairs for the first time. 

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Handsome Duke





Duke was captured in some new photos today too. Some dogs are afraid of the camera, some seem to pose on purpose. Duke is such a handsome dog. He and Teaka wore themselves out playing tonight. All the canines crash at about 9pm. It is a heartwarming sight to see eight mostly black and white doggies littered about the room sound asleep.

Katie



Who says this dog is not a border collie??? wink wink 
Katie is a smart charming Catahoula puppy that I just couldn't leave at the dog control kennels. I scooped her up on her release day. Katie's first big day was filled with a flea bath while spending the day at work with me. She charmed every canine and human in the place! 
Fate had a wonderful home in mind for Katie. One of our long time customers, Nancy, had recently lost a dog to old age, leaving a huge void in her world. She took Katie home for some play dates and fell deeply in love. So only after 10 days Katie went to her new forever home. One of the best parts of this placement is that I will get to watch this pup grow up. I also get regular opportunities to sit on the floor and give her lots of lovin'. 
As for the Catahoula breed check out this web sight for everything you would like to know about this old breed. I also contacted rescue for Catahoula. Visited with rescuers in New York and Montana. That was great fun, I can talk dogs forever. See http://www.donabney.com for Catahoula info.

Tuesday with Teaka



Today we took some more pictures of Teaka. She's slipped out of her collar while on a walk with Louis, she ran right back to the house to wait at the door for him. What a good girl, even though  she growled at the neighbor man a little. We'll keep trying to convince her that men aren't that bad.

A chained dog


Sonny is in Corvallis and has spent most of his life on the end of a chain. A nearby good samaritan has been responsible for most of his feeding and all of his vet care. The owners of this dog should never be allowed to own an animal. They repeatedly ignored other animals in their care, leaving them without water or proper care when ill. So the samaritan stepped in and gave the care needed. Those who take good care of their animals find this hard to believe, but those doing the help see it far too often. We using flyers, craigslist, and will use petfinder to seek a new comfortable home for Sonny to live out his years. Wish us luck soon.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Teaka



Just look at this pretty little female. Teaka joined the pack on Thursday last week. She finds peace and quiet under the couch when she's exhausted after some serious play time.

I put her in the yard and let the other dogs out to meet her. She fit right in. It doesn't always happen that way. When I bring a new foster dog home I place them in the yard with the resident dogs inside. Then one or two at a time I bring out dogs to meet the new one. My own dogs get along well so it's rarely a problem. When I think it might be I use a long line/leash so I can keep the new dog from any harm.

Teaka is from a local shelter. She was placed as a puppy from the same shelter, after 6 months the owner felt he couldn't afford to care for her any longer so returned her. She wasn't responding well living in the shelter kennel. Teaka would respond to people viewing her thru the chain link door with a low growl. That behavior would never get her into a forever home. So to my house she came. She's making great progress in learning that big scary men aren't really that scary. And those big men have lots of goodies in their pockets. 

Teaka will be one of our favorites for sure. Her coat is so very soft and she gives kisses too. 
In a couple more days I'll post her on our petfinder. com page. As much as I'd like to keep her to love for myself, the goal is to let other deserving humans share her life.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Duke's intro



If all foster dogs were as easy to have around as Duke I could have a hundred of them. He's quiet, obedient and loves to cuddle. He can amuse himself or play border collie tag with the pack. Duke's been here since August, that's a longer stay than usual. I'd guess his lack of interest from the public is due to not being classically BC marked. In other words not enough white. He's mainly happy to be where I am. In fact I just watched an hour of TV with him sound asleep on my lap. Thankfully he doesn't snore. Oh, I guess he has done a couple things I'd rather he hadn't done. Such as sneaking a cube of butter off the counter, I'm sure he thought he needed that to keep his coat so shiny. And he hogs the couch.....

How we got here


During a phone call recently an applicant asked how/why we do this "foster thing." It started innocently enough. I had a sheltie growing up so had shelties as an adult too. As my last sheltie, Missy, began her decline due to old age I chose to add a new dog to the family. I let friends know I wanted another dog. A co-workers husband was doing on site veterinary work for his degree at a clinic in Eugene. He called her with news of a border collie that had broken a back leg. If I wasn't willing to take the dog they would put it to sleep as the owner didn't want to pay to fix the leg. So without even an introduction Bud became my first border collie. He is pictured above. Bud is now 10 years old and still going strong. 

We thought fostering would be a way to help a dog at a time. By not keeping them we could eventually help many. Granted we fell in love and kept our first attempt at fostering as most do. It was good to "flunk" at this.
So the pack increases and decreases. I hope you will enjoy our endeavors as much as we do.

My husband, Louis, works as a railroad engineer. Photography, his hobby, is helpful in getting good photos for web posting. I work as a buyer for a pet supply store in Corvallis. Luckily I can get my work done in 3 or 4 days, leaving me lots of dog time.

Welcome to Shedd Border Collie Rescue

My goal for this blog is to allow interested  dog lovers the opportunity to follow  the border collies while they are fostered here at Shedd Rescue. Also to enjoy the experience of living with a pack of these wonderful dogs.