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BC/Aussie Mix, Vancouver BC CANADA


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FERGUS, 9 months old, herding blend (border collie, australian shepherd and australian cattle dog), neutered male.

FERGUS is a high energy adolescent who is looking for a human companion who can keep up with him and engage his body and his brain. He is a busy guy who likes new challenges and learns quickly. He lacks the intensity of many border collies and has a little more "bounce" in him, but he is still drivey and energetic. He would appeal more to an Australian Shepherd fan than a border collie one, we feel. Fergus was sadly given up when his owner had to leave the country quite suddenly.

Fergus is generally a well behaved dog, but he does have some issues with impulse control and needs ongoing work on learning when to respond to something and when to check his impulses. He is mainly a social dog, but can be guardy / protective of his home and property and needs to learn to let his human take care of visitors, and not take matters into his own paws. Out and about he is friendly with most people, but from time to time will take exception to a random stranger - there does not appear to be any pattern to his dislikes (both men and women have been targets), and many of those strangers have since become his friends, but his handler should practice management in social situations. Fergus is a "react first, think about consequences later" kind of dog (again, impulse control) and his bark and lunge can be scary for other people. He needs to learn to let his human take the lead and to retreat when something worries him.

Fergus has learned some important skills, like waiting politely at the door for his turn to go out, and to look to his human for guidance. He is getting better all the time, and will continue to improve with patience, and consistency.

Fergus is NOT good with children. His foster home is working on teaching Fergus to ignore children and seeing success, but on the whole he is not trustworthy with children or teenagers. ******He is absolutely not available to a home with children, no exceptions will be made.******** His new home will have to be aware on an ongoing basis of his antipathy to kids, and always be prepared to intervene or remove Fergus from the situation. As Fergus has encountered many children whilst in his foster home, he has learned to mainly leave them alone and ignore them, so provided a child does not approach him quickly, he is content to live and let live.

Fergus is good with most other dogs; like many herding dogs, he can be snarky at initial greeting but when given space and the opportunity to be friendly in his own time, he is very dog social. He lives with several other dogs currently and gets on well with them. He is learning to take turns at fetch time and and not try to get every ball thrown. He plays a bit rough with the small dogs, but backs off when they tell him he's being too hard on them. He is a crash-bang kind of player though, and would frustrate a more sensitive dog. He was initially quite bad with the cats in his foster home but has learned to leave them alone and could live with a confident cat. He will chase the ducks and chickens from time to time, but is easily distracted from that naughtiness, and prefers to play fetch. He will leave the horses alone entirely. His favourite canine playmate is a 100lb mastiff mix, and they have a grand time together.

Fergus is not a good dog for a first time border collie owner. He is best suited to someone familiar with the breed and who has the confidence to give him good direction, as Fergus is the type of dog who will step in if he thinks he can do a better job than his handler. He would benefit from a positive reinforcement trainer, but not a permissive one because a well timed and fair correction goes a long way with these smartiepants.

Fergus is crate trained at night, but is loud and fussy about being crated in the day; his foster home is working on that. He is trustworthy left loose in the house for several hours provided he has been physically exercised beforehand, otherwise he may get bored and get into trouble. He can be a fussy eater. He is housebroken and will let you know when he needs to go outside; if you ignore his request though, he will pee in the house.

Fergus likes the sound of his own voice and can be a nuisance barker - he learned along the way that this gets him attention. In foster care, he is learning that it gets him negative attention, like social isolation, and is starting to self correct when he starts barking. Smart guy!

Fergus likes routine and has quickly learned that outside time is for playing, inside is for quiet time. He is a good housedog when he has been exercised sufficiently, and enjoys cuddling on the sofa to watch a movie with his human. He would benefit from more brain exercise as he has received extensive physical exercise to the point that it is not always sufficient to calm him down as he is quite an athlete. He would make a nice agility dog as he is long, lean and athletic, and can clear a 5 foot fence with ease from a standstill.

If you are interested in adopting Fergus, and feel you have the skills and experience to manage him and help shore up his "weak" points, please _email us_ at bcrescue@shaw.ca. Fergus is neutered, vaccinated, microchipped and ready for a forever, committed home that can give him everything he needs.

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