Happy Tails Page 11

Back to Happy Tails Index


	Tish (Jinx) "We have had a lot of trial and errors but both of us are learning alot. She is just great and is making lots of friends (dogs and people). We has been through some obedience classes and now we are going to a pre-agility class. Of course she learns quickly being a BC, but she is such a social butterfly I think she just loves to go to classes. She loves to swim, go for our nightly walks, and play with her basketball among other things. The jolly ball in her picture is one of her favorite things too. She will be a year old this month but I swear she is still growing." 0402

	Starr was another rescue from the City of Chicago. Boy did her foster get a quick lesson about BC/Husky mixes. It took quite a while to find the right home, but it was well worth the wait. 0402

	Nellie was turned into a shelter because she was too active for her 80 year old owner. Nellie is a Border Collie/Sheltie mix who is just as sweet as she can be. Nellie now resides in a country paradise with a sheltie brother named Boots and a loving mom and dad. Their parrot still rules the roost though! She's quickly becoming Daddy's girl. Nellie has recently joined the Michigan Disc Dog Club, watch for her tearing up the lawns! 10/05/2005 Nellie still plays Frisbee twice a day along with another rescue dog Samantha (Sam). Nellie is well trained and a wonderful dog as are the other two. Nellie is especially good at the command "fetch Frisbee", which means she runs around the yard and woods looking for Frisbees that Sam has dropped when she was tired of playing. I get my exercise by throwing two Frisbees over and over. (We have used up approximately 50 Frisbees since Nellie joined the family). We also hit tennis balls for Nellie to catch in midair. (Hint, use an old tennis racket to hit the balls for your border collie to run down and catch) By the way, Mr. Boots was a dog kept crated constantly by a breeder for his first year of life when we rescued him. Since we have had Nellie and Sam, Boots has come out of his shell and learned about playing with other dogs and toys. That's all on the family except Murphy (parrot). He's still his noisy grumpy self. 0502

	Cody 0502

(No Photo)	Joy

	Sir Indy : "A few evenings ago... Indy was very happy to see us, wagging his tail and going back and forth between us. After awhile, Phia left the kitchen and I went downstairs. Indy laid down on the kitchen floor and continued to wag his tail even though we weren't there; we could hear the thump, thump, thump against the floor. We took that as the best expression of contentment that he could give. When Indy and I ride in the pickup, we usually listen to tapes. He likes music and I think he's settled on Chet Atkins as his favorite artist. <> We're just learning that when you own a Border Collie, you're automatically accepted by all the other BC owners in the area. As a result, Indy has been invited to join other BCs in an evening parade on July 16 which will be part of the sesquicentennial celebration of the founding of the town of Omena located on the other side of the peninsula from us... Phia and I had to have a heart to heart talk with Indy after his third AWOL. His defense was that he just has a strong sense to explore but we didn't buy that story. We suspect that's why he turned up as a stray in Kentucky... Amazing dog! " 0502 05/27/07 It was five years ago yesterday that we left Sheila's home with Indy for the journey to his new adventure in northern Michigan. I just wanted to let you know that Indy is thriving and continuing to find new ways to gain more and more of our affection.

	Baby Girl , wandering around western Illinois, ended up in the back yard of some college students. Baby Girl was a wild girl! It took a while to find a home that could keep up with her endless energy and antics. She now has a great home with her BC brother Rex and two kitties. Looks like she has a little water park in her new backyard also! 0602

	Kimmy was brought into a local shelter as a stray, terrified and unhappy little girl. She clung to a GLBCR volunteer's legs, Patty was on hand and, well... Kimmy was saved. She now enjoys life so much, she's a star. Kimmy spends her days hiking & fishing with her BC brother Turk and is training for flyball, which she thinks is the coolest. Kimmy loves everyone and everything (except for turtles). She lives with Turk, her Sheltie sister Phoebe, her Aussie pal Ben, and Rottie cousin Ollie, and they love her to death. 0602

	Shadow (Tag) " is doing well, he's been with us for 9 months now, seems like forever. He came to us last fall (October), our pool was closed so he just assumed that we had this hole covered with something. It was quite a surprise to him when we uncovered the pool in May. It has turned out to be his favorite place. While the pool sweep cleans the pool (we named the sweep "Snoopy" as we had no pet at the time), he herds it. Each time it tries to climb the wall of the pool Shadow runs over to where it is and makes sure it heads back down into the water. He will herd for hours at a time. As long as Snoopy is running quietly along the bottom, Shadow is content to lay down under the patio table. But as soon as Snoopy starts his climb he's off again. When the pool is full of his human sheep, Shadow herds them also, making sure they all stay in the water. We also have two yellow rubber ducks in the water, one a thermometer, the other just a rubber duck. When things get to hectic for Shadow, he reached into the water and takes out the ducks so that's two less things for him to keep an eye on. When we are playing basketball in the pool he acts as a point guard, however we have had to penalize him for goal tending (jumping in front of the basket preventing the ball from going in) he knocks the ball with his nose then takes off chasing it around the pool. The ball is only about 4" in diameter and soft so with a little work he can get it in his jaw. When this happens he's off to the table and he puts the ball away. He seems confused between basketball and "keep a way"; he prefers "keep a way".

Ellie vs the hedgehog	Ellie has settled in wonderfully. Foster Name: Ellie Adoption Name: Ellie Adoption Date: June, 2002 History: Ellie was turned in the Humane Society when her owners were going through a divorce. She was deemed "too shy" to be adopted out and would have been euthanized if not for a GLBCR volunteer who worked in the shelter. Now her adopter is also a GLBCR volunteer, and the dog who was "too shy" now acts as an ambassador on home visits. I lost my fifteen-year-old Sheltie mix this past spring, and Newton and I were just lost without her. I wasn't sure I was ready for another dog, but Newton really needed one. Ellie was just the thing to keep him from turning into a 135 pound throw rug. We both love her to pieces -- though it would have been nice if Ursula had told me where the "Ellie Off" switch is... ' Do you want to play ball? Do you want to play ball now? We could play ball now! How about now? How about Frisbee? I can get the Frisbee! Here, here, take the Frisbee! Throw it! Throw it! How about the Budda? Let's play tug! Oh, wait, here's a different ball - do you want to play with THIS ball? ' 2/20/05 Ellie is simply the best dog in the world, and I am so thankful I was allowed to adopt her. When I am working with prospective adopters, I always tell them that Ellie was not the dog I applied to adopt, and was skeptical when a GLBCR volunteer suggested I adopt her instead. But the minute she got out of the car, I knew she was mine, and now take her with me when I do home visits. If I had a dollar for every time a prospective adopter asked if she was available, we could cut down on our fundraising. But Ellie will never be available: she is my girl. 0602