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I'm curious if anyone has successfully trained their BC to be a therapy dog. I feel like I am constantly searching for purpose in my training with my 14 mo. old BC. I've dabbled in agility, I take her out somewhat regularly for sheepdog class as well as basic obedience. I search for purpose both for her and for me. Seeing her learn about herding is like watching a fish jump in a lake, but I personally don't have much intention or inspiration around livestock. I do, however, have experience in medicine. Has anyone had luck or stories to share about training their BC to be a therapy dog? How early did you start? What was the dogs temperament before you started and how did it change? Were you successful? I ultimately want to find something that allows us to work together and be inspired together. I'm happy throwing the ball for her forever, but I know she and I will want more.

 

Thanks!

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I'm also rather interested in this, as I intend to train Aed as a therapy dog once he is older if his attention span for people gets better. If you haven't yet seen this, you might find useful:

http://www.tdi-dog.org/HowToJoin.aspx?Page=New+TDI+Test

There are variations on the test depending on the organization. As far as I know the TDI is about as difficult as it gets.

 

Not exactly what you were talking about, but my six month old currently does humane education work with our SPCA, which involves going into schools, workshops, etc. His testing for that was based more on temperament and less obedience, since he is a puppy. I don't know about other SPCA's or Humane Societies but here if a puppy is young enough they only have to undergo very minimal testing to be involved in that kind of work (Aed was somewhere in between so he got about half a test). They tested on things like startle response, handling, forgiveness, willingness to interact with strange people and objects, mouthiness, stuff like that. He is well suited because of his friendliness and fearlessness. He likes everyone and is never really startled. He is used to kids and rough handling, but we've had to work on the fact that he becomes indignant and mouthy if a stranger behaves rudely (i.e. pinning him on his back). He is also right now much too high energy to be a therapy dog, although it works with kids, and he settles down beside me if he has to.

 

Anyways, that's all of my experience so far. I'm afraid it's mostly a "before" without an "after" yet. I will be following this thread with interest, though!

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I trained a golden and a miniature dachshund to be therapy dogs and am raising a BC now. Some of the traits you look for are a love of people and a generally calm, unflappable temperament. Some dogs love people but can't handle the environment of the hospital and there are other avenues for them such as nursing homes, or even at schools or libraries as "reading dogs". If the dog enjoys children then that area can be a good option - no weird equipment or unusual smells, sounds, etc.

 

You can start training at any age. The link to the test is a good resource because it will let you know exactly what skills you and your dog needs to have. In a nutshell, basic obedience such as walking nicely on a loose leash, a sit/down and stay. Leaving/walking past food on the floor and refusing it from a stranger can be one of the more difficult tasks. Being able to handle being separated from you and having their ears, tail, etc. handled by a stranger. A willingness to approach and visit people and no aggressive or extremely fearful response to a wheel chair, walker, loud noises such as a dropped pan, etc.

 

Another thing which may seem odd to mention but is that you, the handler, enjoy meeting and visiting with strangers. I discovered after awhile that visiting at the hospital wasn't really my thing. I did enjoy reading dogs at the elementary school though.

 

Best wishes for finding an activity that both you and your pup enjoy!

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I've been doing therapy work with Bodhi, a border collie I adopted 7 years ago last August. He was probably about 1.5-2 years old when I adopted him, maybe a month or less after he was picked up as a stray and half starved.

 

Bodhi started working as a therapy dog about 6 months after I adopted him. He needed some time to finish recovering and to regain his confidence. When I met him he was still pretty wary of people, but I could see that he wanted to trust. I took a chance and he's been one of the best dogs ever, though I suspect he came from a color breeder. The only time he was ever on sheep he didn't seem to know what do do with them, although it wasn't all that long after I adopted him, so no way to know for sure.

 

Anyway, he's always been a pretty laid back dog, especially for a border collie. But he takes his job very seriously. He's very excited to get to whatever facility we're going to, but the minute we walk through the door his energy level just goes way down and he's exceptionally appropriate to whatever we're doing, whether it's visiting nursing homes, going to elementary schools or libraries for kids to read to, or doing de-stress events at universities.

 

He was a very easy dog to train. I'd started taking classes with a local trainer, but quit a couple weeks in because I'd evolved in my own training outlook towards more positive methods and fewer corrections, which she was still using. So I trained him myself. There's really no need to take any specialized "therapy dog" classes unless there's something you feel you need to work on that specifically concerns issues that might arise in a visit. Even then, it doesn't need to be a therapy specific class.

 

People ask me all the time what it takes to make a good therapy dog. The first and most important thing is the temperament of the dog. They have to be outgoing, and confident. They have to be able to handle unexpected things, situations, people handling them in ways that aren't always appropriate or comfortable for a dog. These are all things that can be trained or conditioned to a point, but the basic temperament has to be there in the first place.

 

Bodhi is a mama's boy, and he does still have some insecurities, especially if I'm out of sight. But there's really no reason a therapy dog needs to be out of sight, and he trusts that I won't let anything bad happen to him.

 

I adopted another young dog -- 6 months old and at the time I thought she was a border collie. Turned out to be a lurcher -- in hopes that she'd be another therapy dog for me. She's 3 y.o. now and still not therapy dog material. She loves all peple, especially children, but she has poor impulse control (not jumping up on people is a struggle for her). The big thing, though, is that she became dog reactive. Even if we never meet another dog on a visit, she'd never pass the test because meeting another dog is a must in every test I'm aware of.

 

So, I'd say 80% temperament, 20% training. It's basic training; CGC level is entirely adequate. As I said, some dogs may need some confidence building, others not. Too much of a fraidy dog won't cut it. Neither will a dog who can't settle down, doesn't have an off switch. Some people I know make sure their dogs are well exercised before going to a visit. Not a bad idea for many border collies.

 

Be sure to do some research before choosing a certifying organization. There are some differences. I belonged to TDI for 6 years before switching to Paws for Friendship this year. I hated TDI's sometimes inane rules and constant threats of dismembership. I have absolutely no idea how they're one of the best known groups. Must be some good PR work. I'm now a chapter coordinator for Paws for Friendship and most of my friends have also jumped the TDI ship and joined Paws for Friendship. Don't consider Pet Partners (fka Delta Society) if you feed any raw food. They have a ban on raw fed dogs.

 

I'm more than happy to share experience if there's anything anyone wants to know about therapy work in general or what I know about the specific organizations. It's been a very big part of my life for almost 7 years now, and personally very rewarding for me.

 

And for the dog? Well, we all know border collies need a job to do, and Bodhi takes this job very seriously. :wub:

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I'm planning on getting Kenzi certified and setting up some visits with her during 2015. She has the perfect temperament for it - pretty unflappable, loves meeting new people and wants to be everyone's best friend. I've just been waiting for her to mature and loose some puppy like exuberance first.

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I'm not aware of any of the certifying organizations that will certify a dog under a year old.

 

IIRC, Kenzi's older than a year, though, right?

 

Just something for anyone considering this to be aware of.

 

Oh, btw, since the original question was whether anyone had successfully trained their BC to be a therapy dog, the answer is definitely yes. As well as my own dog, I personally know another therapy border collie, and when TDI published their awards I would always notice at least a few border collies among them. There's at least one picture of a border collie on their website now. :D

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Being a therapy dog, does not require any specific training that a well mannered dog should already have, sit, stay, leave, come, walk nicely on a leash, be good with strangers. My old lady GSDx passed her TDI with no additional training and she was not that well trained by my current standards, what she did have was the perfect personality, unflappable, loved people, when we went on visits she behaved as if I was giving her the best outing possible. None of my border collies have had the right mix of characteristics, I think they would all have passed the TDI test, but none would have been great therapy dogs. For example Rievualx is very gentle and tolerates all odd stranger behaviour but doesn't really like the interaction, Brody adored people and would have loved visiting nursing homes, but if he was grabbed hard he could be snappy, so I would never have risked it.

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Both Celt and Megan were TDI certified. While Megan had an excellent personality for a therapy dog (outgoing, confident, attentive, obedient, loving physical contact, positively child-loving, eager to perform her basic obedience tricks, and enjoying dress-up for holiday and seasonal visits), Celt was not good therapy dog material and only barely passed his certification. He lacked confidence, sociability, interest in children, interest in physical contact, and was absolutely anxious about silver-haired women. But he was obedient, well-socialized and used to going everywhere with me, not nippy at all, and easy for me to read - and I felt he could do anything in my naivete.

 

While Megan was a star on our visits (we went almost exclusively to a rehab facility), Celt never ceased to amaze me with how well he did, making connections to residents that I'd never have expected and adapting to new and strange situations with aplomb. And he certified just as he turned a year old.

 

The other dogs on the rounds of the monthly visit to the rehab were often "typical" therapy dogs - Goldens, a Greyhound, other "townie"dogs, but my two "farm" dogs were always well-received and well-behaved.

 

If I was on something other than my phone, I'd love to tell some stories...

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I'm not going to look at therapy dog training specifically, but could anyone recommend what sort of age I could begin to consider taking a polite bc to visit infirm relatives?

I know it will depend a lot on basics manner training and the goofiness of the dog, but part of my life once I learn to drive will be visiting my other half's parents. His father is physically capable, but his mother is extremely withdrawn physically and mentally. It would do them both the world of good to have a little extra love in the house, but I'm afraid of what could go wrong.

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And, perhaps what tipped the balance for Celt, was that he had a great deal of trust in me. By himself and his own nature, he was not a dog to be considered well-suited to be a therapy dog, but it worked and he did very well because he had confidence in me when he lacked confidence in himself.

 

It was a change in my situation, not any lack on the dogs' part, that brought an end to this most rewarding and enjoyable endeavor.

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I'm not aware of any of the certifying organizations that will certify a dog under a year old.

 

IIRC, Kenzi's older than a year, though, right?

 

 

Just a little - she turned 6 earlier this month :D I also trained/certified my first Border Collie as a therapy dog several years ago. It was through a local well established group and they used TDI test standards. Missy was great in one on one situations. We did a read to the dog program and some nursing home visits.
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Thank you all for your responses! This is encouraging. Brix is a very sociable little pup. When we have her at family functions she does "lap rounds" where she goes up to everyone and puts her face in their lap and awaits pets. It's very sweet and I could see that being very useful in a therapy dog. She also displays a much more controlled behavior around my girlfriend's very elderly grandmother. She loves Brix, but she's so old she can't handle a dog jumping up. Brix always seems to greet her much more calmly than others, which is actually what gave me the idea in the first place.

 

She does have her 1 year old BC tendencies though. She's very reactive and this is my top goal this year is to slowly work her to the point where she's not needing to be "in the fray" all the time. She can be fast asleep in the back room in her crate and I can shuffle my feet just a little at the other end of the house and she'll come running to investigate. I'm sure she's just looking for the next game of ball, but she does show some reactivity toward other animals (one cat and one dog in particular) but never toward humans. Some timidness, but that is getting better.

 

I am reading through the TDI testing and man...I think there is a bit to work on. I think it's all doable, but she does have some cruxes that we work on constantly, mainly walking nice on leash, reliable recall and situational reactivity. You can see some of my previous posts to get a sense for these challenges.

 

The other, perhaps minor concern, is that she does not like being bathed. She's find with me handling her paws, but she doesn't like me checking her coat for mats and certainly hates the bath and the towel-off after a run in the rain. I'm still figuring the best way to reprogram that for her, but I'll save that for a different post. I just read that TDs need to be ok with a stranger examining their coat, nails and ears. Bah!

 

So much to work on. But I think this is a great pursuit.

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Both Celt and Megan were TDI certified. While Megan had an excellent personality for a therapy dog (outgoing, confident, attentive, obedient, loving physical contact, positively child-loving, eager to perform her basic obedience tricks, and enjoying dress-up for holiday and seasonal visits), Celt was not good therapy dog material and only barely passed his certification. He lacked confidence, sociability, interest in children, interest in physical contact, and was absolutely anxious about silver-haired women. But he was obedient, well-socialized and used to going everywhere with me, not nippy at all, and easy for me to read - and I felt he could do anything in my naivete.

 

While Megan was a star on our visits (we went almost exclusively to a rehab facility), Celt never ceased to amaze me with how well he did, making connections to residents that I'd never have expected and adapting to new and strange situations with aplomb. And he certified just as he turned a year old.

 

The other dogs on the rounds of the monthly visit to the rehab were often "typical" therapy dogs - Goldens, a Greyhound, other "townie"dogs, but my two "farm" dogs were always well-received and well-behaved.

 

If I was on something other than my phone, I'd love to tell some stories...

 

When you get to a computer, Sue, please do share those stories!!

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I'm not going to look at therapy dog training specifically, but could anyone recommend what sort of age I could begin to consider taking a polite bc to visit infirm relatives?

 

Obviously it's going to depend on the individual dog, but I think there's a good reason that the certifying agencies don't evaluate dogs under a year old.

 

By then their temperaments should be more set, the dogs steadier and basic training more reliable.

 

But you have to know your dog. As I said, the 6 month old pup I thought was going to be perfect for therapy work was pretty unsuitable by a year old and still is at 3. A friend's nearly 3 y.o. (at the time of the eval) English Shepherd failed his evaluation recently because he just couldn't settle down and focus. She has 2 other therapy ESes, so she knows what's involved and has experience, so she was prepared for his not making the grade. Both of us are still hoping that more time and maturity -- and work! -- will make a difference, but we both know that they may never become therapy dogs.

 

So age isn't as important as temperament. If you're not going to have her formally evaluated, only you can decide if she's mature enough. Visiting with relatives probably won't be as stressful for the dog as visiting a series of strangers in a nursing home, but would probably be of longer duration. If you think she can handle it, give it a try, but it would probably be a good idea to have a plan in place to either leave or be able to put her in the car while you finish your visit if she gets too rambunctious.

 

Good luck with this. It's very rewarding and you may find yourself wanting to certify her and volunteer in situations where' it's really needed. There are far too few therapy dogs around to fill the need.

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I am reading through the TDI testing and man...I think there is a bit to work on. I think it's all doable, but she does have some cruxes that we work on constantly, mainly walking nice on leash, reliable recall and situational reactivity. You can see some of my previous posts to get a sense for these challenges.

 

TDI's testing is more stringent than some, and I suspect they loose some potentially great dogs because of it. One of the many things I value about Paws for Friendship is their more relaxed attitude, focusing more on the importance of sharing your well mannered though maybe not perfectly trained dogs with people who'll benefit from the interaction. They can be a little cutsie for my tastes, but I prefer that to a rigid set of rules and exclusions.

 

Obviously walking nicely on a leash is important. Recall not so much, since therapy dogs should be on a leash almost all of the time.

 

Reactivity is definitely something you'll have to work on, though. People can be easily -- and unreasonably, if they don't really understand dogs -- frightened by a dog who's acting out. Many people in nursing homes and hospitals are frail and understandably more tentative than they may have been in their younger years. And in libraries young children may be easily frightened and their parents may also be overly cautious of dogs they don't know.

 

And you never know when you might meet up with another dog unexpectedly. Many nursing homes will allow patients' families to bring pet dogs in to visit their loved ones, and you never know how they are with other dogs. For a while there was a guy who'd bring his little rug rat of a dog in to visit his wife, and he'd often pop out the door with the dog if he'd see us walk by, or just be coming around the corner as he was leaving. He insisted that his little dog just wanted to be friends with Bodhi as he was hanging off Bodhi's lip growling viciously (the dog was not playing. Thank doG he only had tiny teeth.). Bodhi could easily have killed that little dog if he'd been less tolerant.

 

I've taken a break from it but am getting ready to start working with Tansy again on desensitization and counter conditioning for her dog reactivity. Really, it's just the basic stuff we've talked about here in different threads and the willingness to be consistent and put a lot of time into it.

 

And you're absolutely right; it's a very worthwhile pursuit. It's been every bit as good for me as it has been for anyone else or my dog.

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I really wish I understood what to do when I can't post below the quote.

 

Anyway, I forgot to address this. This is another perk to border collies' self cleaning coats. I rarely bathe Bodhi. He sheds any dirt or mud when it dries so I give him a good brushing and we're good to go. I might wipe off his feet if he needs it, but that's all. People always ask me how often I bathe him because he always looks and smells so clean. It may be partly because I feed him raw, which keeps his coat healthy, too.

 

So I wouldn't worry too much about desensitizing her to bathing. Handling, yes. The handling sort of approximates the kinds of unusual handling that a dog may get from non-dog people, especially kids. I've got some kids in our elementary school reading program who vigorously pet Bodhi against the way his fur grows. And one has a nervous habit of twisting bits of his fur. It's not exactly like checking for mats, but if your dog doesn't like that kind of handling then she probably won't appreciate things like this. Again, I'd approach it with basis desensitization and counter-conditioning. Tansy was extremely reactive to handling when I first got her (went totally cujo on me the first time I tried to brush her. What a trip that was!), but now I can do just about anything to her without issue, except for more than 2 toenails at a time.

 

And toddlers are notorious for wanting to touch ears, feet, noses and even eyeballs. :rolleyes:

 

The other, perhaps minor concern, is that she does not like being bathed. She's find with me handling her paws, but she doesn't like me checking her coat for mats and certainly hates the bath and the towel-off after a run in the rain. I'm still figuring the best way to reprogram that for her, but I'll save that for a different post. I just read that TDs need to be ok with a stranger examining their coat, nails and ears.

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I'm an evaluator for one of the big Canadian organisations. We evaluate first for adult work and then if the dog has worked entirely satisfactorily weekly for at least one year, we will re-evaluate for child therapy work, separate, longer test involving running, squealing, food-clutching kiddies. Up here it's not a thing, this training to be a therapy dog. That's because the premise is that the best dog to use is one who comes to the stressors naturally - less to wonder about as time goes on. So we do them raw, as it were and I look for comfort amongst stress, ability to recover from a scare, cowering, fear, aversion, forwardness, curiosity, sniffing, cheeriness, owner bond, dog-dog interaction on leash during unexpected encounters. These are either inherent or they're not - you want inherent because that's a safer animal. I have about a 50% decline rate. At least half of that is handler incompetence. By me, a couple of good basic puppy, then young adult classes, is more than enough to give me a good team. (Although some of those owners could go back to relearn leash and dog sense skills, geez).

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Obviously it's going to depend on the individual dog, but I think there's a good reason that the certifying agencies don't evaluate dogs under a year old.

 

By then their temperaments should be more set, the dogs steadier and basic training more reliable.

Thank you for your reply! :)

I'm hoping we will end up with a steady dog. We'll be doing every socialisation opportunity available - puppy classes, neighbourhood brats, etc. I've even got a local mum on board with us taking puppy to the school gate of her son's class of kids with autism (they start later in the day to the rest of the school, so there's kids but not hordes of them).

 

I'll have to show wiggly puppy to the OHs parents when it first comes home, but I fear those needle teeth and scrabbly paws could really harm someone frail. I'll wait as long as it takes for calm before another meeting.

 

Much as I'd dearly love to do animal therapy (I actually think one cat would be perfect temperament-wise if he wasn't a 14lb slab of muscle), I don't think that I have enough experience with dogs to be prepared and safe. Perhaps in a few years. :)

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When I'm letting non dog savvy people meet my dog, I have him turn his butt to them since he automatically offers a paw and I don't want anybody scratched. This also helped us through the piranha stage.

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It sounds like you're doing all the right things, Bogwoppit. Just be prepared for the possibility that things can change in a pup even when you do everything right.

 

I adopted Tansy at 6 months old. Thought she was a border collie pup, although she had some wonky ears. But who hasn't seen a 6 month old border collie pup with wonky ears? (She turned out to be a lurcher, though I still suspect she's part border collie, and maybe saluki.) She was great in a park full of people, including kids, and other dogs when I met her at an all-breed rescue reunion. I worked on socialization from day one, and she started going to our local therapy group's library events with Bodhi & me for training. Things started out fine. She was excitable, but we were working on it. Then she started getting excited about seeing the other dogs and vocalizing, and we worked on that. But it got worse so I stopped taking her to the events when she started becoming reactive and snarky by about 10 months old. At three years old, she's still dog reactive.

 

So this is why they don't certify puppies. At 6 months old she was perfect. By 10 months she wouldn't have passed anyone's eval. Too much can change in those early months, even when people are doing the right things.

 

Definitely do all the socialization you can. I think Tansy's just an example of a dog who's just not cut out to be a therapy dog, though she's still amazing with people, especially kids, and the smaller the better. I've taken a bit of a break from the desensitization and counter-conditioning, but I think I'm ready to start back up again. Wish us luck.

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I've taken a break from it but am getting ready to start working with Tansy again on desensitization and counter conditioning for her dog reactivity. Really, it's just the basic stuff we've talked about here in different threads and the willingness to be consistent and put a lot of time into it.

 

This is something I'm really interested in hearing about. My pup has so many self rewarding activities that she reacts to and I want to find a way to get her to listen to me more. When we are out and about, especially when there is something she wants, she will virtually never look up at me. I know this is sign of her either not respecting me, or being confused by me. The Control Unleashed book tells to do the "whiplash" game, but that hasn't really taken yet.

 

The other issue, which is the one that gets her into trouble is rushing up at things. She rushes up to things that she's curious about, mainly other animals. She's gotten into trouble with our very grumpy cat because she reacts very aggressively when this happens, which causes Brix to then react. She also got into a fight with my sister's Jack Russell because she won't stop rushing up at her, and if you know JRTs you know they don't tolerate that kind of behavior so it escalates into a fight. No good. How have you addressed this?

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I really wish I understood what to do when I can't post below the quote.

 

Anyway, I forgot to address this. This is another perk to border collies' self cleaning coats. I rarely bathe Bodhi. He sheds any dirt or mud when it dries so I give him a good brushing and we're good to go. I might wipe off his feet if he needs it, but that's all. People always ask me how often I bathe him because he always looks and smells so clean. It may be partly because I feed him raw, which keeps his coat healthy, too.

 

So I wouldn't worry too much about desensitizing her to bathing. Handling, yes. The handling sort of approximates the kinds of unusual handling that a dog may get from non-dog people, especially kids. I've got some kids in our elementary school reading program who vigorously pet Bodhi against the way his fur grows. And one has a nervous habit of twisting bits of his fur. It's not exactly like checking for mats, but if your dog doesn't like that kind of handling then she probably won't appreciate things like this. Again, I'd approach it with basis desensitization and counter-conditioning. Tansy was extremely reactive to handling when I first got her (went totally cujo on me the first time I tried to brush her. What a trip that was!), but now I can do just about anything to her without issue, except for more than 2 toenails at a time.

 

And toddlers are notorious for wanting to touch ears, feet, noses and even eyeballs. :rolleyes:

 

Her self cleaning coat is astounding sometimes! I think I just need to be more diligent about having the clicker and treats handy when the brush or scissors come out. Correct?

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Hi, I'm a first-timer here and haven't been involved in the BC culture until very recently. I'm interested in doing dog-therapy work, and would like to do it with a Border Collie; so for an introduction, here's why:

I'm a vet with spinal cord injury of 49 yrs ago, still ambulatory, but I spend significant time at the VA spinal cord injury center. I took my former friend Puppy Dog with me - she had Assistance dog status - when I went for in-patient checkups, and she always gave a boost to other SCI patients as well as the staff - nurses, etc. Puppy Dog came by her name honestly since as a pup everyone would say: "Oh, I want to see the Puppy, Come here Puppy Dog! " and it stuck. She acquired other names as our lives went along; 'Super-Tail', 'Pumpkin', 'Princess Muddy-Paws' and so on.

 

She died this last September 12th; went out to her sunny spot, lay down, and checked out. She was old, 13, and had been getting slower.

 

The joy she brought to others' lives as well as my own was impressive, and that's what I hope to continue when I find another canine friend. I believe the intelligence, language skills, and plain sensitivity to humans of this breed are some key elements. That's what I hope to work with, and I agree with many that this is a matter of positive direction. I realize some dogs are hard-headed - (self-directed??) - and they may not be the best for this job, or may simply need more direction and/or better bonding, some are too meek or fearful, etc. etc.

 

But I was so impressed with The Pup's abilities - there's something there that goes way beyond, say, the desire to herd or understand commands - I hope to develop that extra quality in another dog; it also goes beyond the grand yellow comfort-blanket Golden Retrievers who are indeed wonderful in bringing heart's ease to so many, young and old. I've seen that too.

 

As others on this thread have said, "I could tell you stories," umm, try and stop me? <g>

But for now, glad to meet you all, you're an impressive group!

fract'!l

 

 

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Welcome! A number of folks here have trained our Border Collies for therapy dog work and a few for assistance dogs.

 

What I will say is that if you get a pup, make sure you meet the parents, particularly the mother, to assess personality (also make sure you've read the "Read this first" at the top of the content page to understand the board's philosophy with regards to responsible breeding. But do remember that no matter how sound a breeding seems, a pup is still a bit of a gamble as nothing is guaranteed.

 

One other alternative is to seek a youngster, young dog, or adult dog from a reputable rescue. Rescues foster dogs, evaluate them, have them vetted and neutered, and are usually much more economical than purchasing and raising a pup to the same age. And, you are able to adopt more of a "known quantity" when you get a young adult or adult - and you provide a home for a dog that needs you as much as you need him/her.

 

Just a few thoughts! Very best wishes!

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TNX Sue,

I have been looking at the local rescue and shelter web pages, and visited a couple as you suggest. Time will tell; I'm not super-picky, but know what I'm looking and hoping for. Meanwhile I get to work a bit with a few of them and that's also a pleasure for both them and me.

Take care, fract!l

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