You must complete an adoption application with WBCR before we will consider you for one of our Border Collies (under the “adoption” link). One of our volunteers will check your references, and then another will come to your home to meet you & your family in person before the board will vote on your application. If you are approved, we will arrange a time for you to meet the dog(s) you are interested in. If you decide he/she is perfect for you and the board agrees, we will schedule a day for you to pick up your Border Collie, sign adoption paperwork, and pay the $250 minimum adoption donation. This whole process may take a month or more, as all WBCR members are volunteers and we’re commited to making a perfect match for our border collies. Thanks for your patience!
Please contact Lynn for more information on Anjie
Watch some videos: Video #1, Video #2, Video #3, Video #4
March 6
Since we’ve secured the bottom of our fencing (and the snow banks help, too), Anjie has not escaped since October! Take this as a sign that she is able to bond well… but her forever home should always keep in mind that Anjie will always go where her nose takes her. Check out the picture of her with her nose way down in the snow trying to catch some scent!
On February 2nd, Anjie accompanied me to the Great Lakes Pet Expo. She was excited, and a bit jumpy at first, but she quickly learned to keep all 4 feet on the ground, and the people would still come to her for pets and hugs. When the crowds approached her, she would often lie on her back so anyone passing by could give her a quick belly rub, thus resulting in extremely long belly rubs. ☺ My husband walked her in the rescue parade, and he made her look extremely cute and by picking her up and snuggling with her while showing her to the audience.
A fellow rescue member discovered that Anjie would make a great running partner. While I was manning the booth at the pet expo, she took her outside for “relief” and some exercise. The rescue member is a regular runner, and she thought Anjie did great running along side of her.
If I lie down on the couch for a few minutes, I will often invite Anjie on the couch with me. She curls up right against me the whole time, which always feels comforting (probably for both of us). Besides cuddling, another thing Anjie likes to do in the house is to search for food or treats. This girl loves to use her nose! This social cutie will make someone extremely happy!
November 21
Since my last post, something clicked with Anjie, and she hasn’t had any attempted escapes (although I still would not trust her being loose). She’s actually happy to come back into the house, and that seems to have trumped her urge for adventure! I have a feeling that the more she settles in, the more she’s going to want to hang around you.
Anjie got to work some sheep on another farm recently. The initial instructor said that Anjie needed a strong handler, so I had this instructor work her. Anjie looked great and was very responsive to the handling. This instructor did agree that Anjie needs a strong handler if someone plans to herd with her.
While she never showed any signs of a grip, Anjie is very pushy about herding her way… but after being corrected, she went out nice and wide for a few seconds, until she tried to cut in again. Anyway, this instructor was really winded after working Anjie. I looked at her and cheerily said, “She’s EIGHT years old!” She responded, “She doesn’t work like an 8 year old, that’s for sure!”
Everyone at this farm thought she was much younger than 8 years old (Anjie turned 8 on November 1st). And her teeth look great, so I would bet that a vet would guess her to be younger if they based their guess on that. She’s a spunky one, in a very loving way!
October 14
Anjie is becoming more and more cuddly these days. We’ve started to invite her up on the couch as long as she knows she has to get off the second we tell her to (and yes, we test her on this at times, and she always passes with flying colors). Her response to commands has also greatly improved. She lies down while I’m getting the dogs’ food ready, she shakes paw with the “other paw,” she sits on command during a walk, and she now has an excellent recall when she’s in the house or in the fenced-in yard.
However, Anjie did escape again after she moved some fairly large, heavy, flat rocks and then really squeezed underneath the loosened chicken wire (she must be Super Dog, because the opening is really small, and she always comes out without a scratch). Unfortunately, if she escapes, her recall is 0%. It doesn’t help that we have a tempting park at the end of our street. We’ve learned that she’s easy to catch if we take the car and open the door. Then she jumps right in. The trick is keeping her in our sight, and this fast girl doesn’t make that easy. If I stay by her side outside, and call her to me when I see her planning her next adventure, she’s fine.
With Anjie’s high prey drive, I took her to Lure Coursing Fanatics in Sommers, WI. She chased the lure one lap. During the second lap, she realized that the lure was fake, and she went into the Queen Anne’s Lace to do some real crittering. I’ve seen a lot of dogs try lure coursing, but I’ve never seen one do that. She’s a smart one!
Each walk is preceded by a car ride, so there’s a good amount of preparation that goes into our daily walks. Anjie gets so excited that she howls, yes howls, almost every time. For being a girl, she has a really low howl – we laugh every time! She initially pulls on walks, but with the proper leash handling (jerking the leash every time she pulls it tight), she walks on a loose leash. My arm is down by my side for a nice, leisurely walk.
If we ever go on the floor at home, within seconds, Anjie snuggles right up into us. She makes my physical therapy exercises a lot more fun to do, that’s for sure! Anjie is a goldmine. She loves all people and gets along well with all dogs. She might get along with cats; she’s never been around them. You won’t find a better companion!
August 8
The difference between “Inside Anjie” and Outside Anjie” is astounding! “Inside Anjie” is the sweetest little cuddler, and she looks like the cutest little thing when playing, napping, or looking out the window. “Outside Anjie” is always looking for adventure! She squeezed through a tiny gap below our gate, and she was out like a shot. Someone 2 blocks away called me (thankfully), gave Anjie some water, and kept her there until I could run over there. The family that was holding her for me fell in love with her. I heard the daughter ask her mom if they could adopt Anjie, but they already have a dog. It was adorable, and I’m so lucky to have such nice neighbors. ☺
Anjie experienced the fully fenced-in dog park at Minooka Park in Waukesha (see the fun photos posted on this page). She was great meeting the other dogs, and everything was beautifully appropriate. After she finished greeting the dogs, she said “See Ya’!” and ran the perimeter of the park at full speed several times. She pretended to not know her name, and that resulted in me running after her until I caught her. How did I catch her? She stopped to do some crittering, of course! I highly recommend that Anjie’s forever family work with her on her recall. One example would be to practice calling her when on a long line in several different settings.
In the backyard, Anjie got to try an agility jump and a mini A-Frame. It didn’t take her long to figure out what I wanted her to do with these obstacles. While she’s probably not a natural at the sport, she took to it pretty well. Of course, we only worked with the obstacles for about 15 minutes, so it’s hard to tell. If she gets the chance to go through agility foundation classes, she may end up doing well. I have a feeling she would do very well with lure coursing, but we haven’t had a chance to try that yet.
Anjie is great in the car, and we take her on frequent car rides, like to my parents’ house. My folks like to give all the dogs a special dog treat when we’re there for dinner. Since Anjie’s not food aggressive, my mom can hand each dog the treat at the same time, and the dogs can go into their own comfort zone spaces. If one dog finishes early, he/she does not bug the other dog. This is what really makes Anjie an easy foster dog. She has respect for my dogs, and she has respect for me & my husband.
When Anjie first meets new people, she’s hyper and wants to jump up. This excitement wears off quickly, and then she just wants you to pet her, hug her, and snuggle. You will find that she rolls onto her back within about 5-10 seconds of you petting her! Her cutest trait is when she sleeps on her back with one front leg sticking straight up into the air!
July 2
Anjie tried her paw on sheep last week, and she’s got the instinct! At first, it took her a little bit to figure it out as you can see in this video; but she quickly figured it out and had some nice, wide circles, as you can see in this other video. You can also see at the end of the video that Anjie was so excited to work, that she didn’t want to stop!
Anjie loves to spend time outside. She would stay out there almost all day if we’d let her. Most of the time, she’s in the same corner of our retaining wall, just waiting for a chipmunk to come out. I wonder if she was outside a lot previously, and maybe that’s why some of her hair is lightly colored (from sun bleaching). Anyway, we make Anjie come in the house, and she will settle down, play with my dog, or just play with dog toys with us (or even by herself). We’ve seen her empty out almost the entire dog toy box on several occasions. She’s just too adorable!
June 15
Anjie continues to be a dream to foster. She never gets into scuffles with the other dogs, she’s always happy to see us, she loves to interact with both people & dogs, and she loves to run & play. I gave her a bath, and she did very well. The sound of the hair dryer was no problem. Speaking of sounds, we also tested her with the food processor, and she just went on living as if nothing was happening. My husband’s band practices in her basement, and that didn’t bother her, either. In fact, she excitedly ran down the stairs to greet them. Within seconds, she was getting tummy rubs.
I took Anjie to the vet, and the tartar on her back teeth has much improved just from chewing on some Nylabones and rawhides. We also think she stepped on a bee and got stung. She had to wear a “glamorous” cone for a few days so she wouldn’t chew on her foot. That cone never got her down. She looked hilarious prancing around with the cone bobbing up and down as she bounced around the yard! She healed-up in time for a play date with some Husky friends. They have a much, much bigger yard than we have, and she ran and ran, and was happy as could be! Below are some videos of her playing and running.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyGgq1AIPTw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnP5oEbIPYg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni6ZUI9G1Hw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKii99qdZ8s
Anjie loves to be outside. We have a lot of chipmunks, and she will go to the corner of our retaining wall to watch for chipmunks for long periods of time. When she’s so focused on that, she doesn’t come when I call. Then I have to give a firmer “Here” or “Go House” command to get her to come inside willingly. On our walks, Anjie will even try to chase after birds. This girl remains active in crittering, so she would need to be on leash, tied-up, or fenced-in.
This sweet girl acts so much younger than 7 years old. When people see her, we have them guess her age, and the guesses are always younger by a few years or so. Wherever she is, she brings joy, laughter, and smiles. Adopting her would be like winning the jackpot!
May 30
This happy-go-lucky, prancing (yes, prancing), Border Collie is 7 years old, but she doesn’t seem to act her age. Her previous owners were told she is pure, but if not, she’s a very close mix. She would go for several walks a day if you’d let her, but she will also nap peacefully if we’re doing busywork at home. Anjie gets along well with anyone and anything, and yet she’s not a push-over. There’s a lot of personality to this dog! If fact, when she happily greets people, she bounces up & down on her hind legs and smiles with her teeth. If you look carefully, you can see it. It’s too funny!
Anjie came into rescue this past Sunday. She’s completely potty trained and crate trained. She also knows a good chunk of commands/tricks. Her current owners could no longer give her the exercise and time she needed due to work, school, kids moving out of the house, etc. They reported seeing signs of anxiety, but the anxiety seemed much improved on days that she got some exercise. We’ve been giving her nice long walks every day, so we haven’t seen much anxiety. She even got through her first thunderstorm here with much success. Anjie doesn’t like storms, but she wasn’t panting or pacing like she did at her previous home in recent months. As long as Anjie gets her daily exercise, we’re hopeful that she will not get anxious. It also helps that we’re home a good part of the day with her. She will do anything to be with people.
When indoors, looking out the front window is one of Anjie’s favorite things to do at our house. She doesn’t seem to retrieve tennis balls, but she likes to play tug. She even plays tug with other dogs very nicely. Speaking of other dogs, when outdoors, Anjie will play games of chase with my Samoyed, and today she even wrestled with him. In addition to being playful, she also leaps off the top step leading out of the house to the driveway as if she thinks she will spread wings and fly! If I leave the basement door open, Anjie will go up and down the stairs throughout the day. Aside from her back teeth showing bad tartar, this silly pooch seems to be in great health. My husband says that she sometimes acts a little puppy-ish.
We haven’t had her very long, but I would recommend that Anjie should go to a home with a fenced-in yard and or a really reliable tie-out. Like most other Border Collies, Anjie has a very, very high prey drive. If she sees a critter, a deer, or even a nearby bird, calling her name won’t do any good, because by that time, she has turned you off, and dialed-in to catching this wonderful thing in sight. On walks, she will pull if you let her (I give some leash-pops, and then she will walk well for awhile). If she sees a critter on a walk, Anjie will stand on her back legs to get a better view. She must have a strong back end, because she stands on those back legs quite a bit. At this point, I say not to ever take her on walks off leash. She will probably chase things several blocks and forget about you until the critter has been gone awhile.
Yesterday, Anjie found a hole that the rabbits chewed at the bottom of our fence. When the neighbor was mowing the lawn, Anjie wanted to chase the lawn mower, and she tried to squeeze through the little hole. Needless to say, within minutes, we repaired the hole. The next few times we let her outside, she went right for that spot. When Anjie saw that she couldn’t squeeze through, she happily ran over to us for petting. She may be a bit of an escape artist to try and get what she wants, so her forever home will have to be extra careful about this.
This beautiful girl is a cuddly lap dog. She also loves to have her belly rubbed. Even if she doesn’t know you, Anjie will always greet you as if you’re a long, lost friend that showed-up out of the blue. When you look into her eyes, all you can see is pure joy and love, and you can’t help but smile & hug her!
