Rich1317

Yes I an extremely happy! About 9 years ago I took in a 6 month old golden retriever that was owned by people that didn't think it thru. He was stuck in a crate 12 hours a day while they worked and was too energetic when they got home. I met them as I was servicing their community, they were taking him to the pound the next day. I took him home on the spot. That dog had the most fantastic life after that. Nothing but land to roam and a creek to swim in plus always going fishing and hiking with me. I'd like to think this is the "doggy gods" way of karma by finding a place like that for Millie

I have GREAT news! I was at the vet last Friday for one of my other dogs and told her about Millie. Her face lit up and she called in a vet tech that has been there for 20 years. She loves border collies and had one pass a few months ago and she's looking for another to keep her current one company. This lady also lives 10 minutes from me. What a spread! 15 fenced acres, 2 ponds and nice kennels. Her neice does 4-H with the dogs. Her husband is retired and always out on the grounds with the dogs in tow. I took Millie there over the weekend and first thing she did was go for a swim. After that she met the other dog and I swear they frolicked all 15 acres. The family loved Millie and the tech even had a tear when I said they could have Millie. The whole situation is perfect for her between the property, the other dog and someone going to be with her daily for huge chunks of the day. I was sad giving her up but I'm also real real happy for her. She's going to like it so much better there. Thanks to all for the suggestions and help. Just wanted to let all those who were interested know Millie found what i think to be a great home and is close by....and I have an open invite to visit anytime

Thanks to everyone for all the advice and help. I've decide to go ahead and place her with Mid Atlantic BC rescue. My only reason for this is all the positive things I've heard about the via this site and other avenues. It really put my mind at ease. Thank you everyone once again for the help and kind words.

Holy cow I never thought of that! Thank you for the input and kind words. I spoke with Sarah at mid Atlantic rescue and they don't do courtesy listings mainly due to liability but she did offer to take Millie as she has room. I was strongly considering it and after reading this I think it might be best. They have much better resources for screening I believe than myself plus in the meantime Millie will get the attention she needs. Thanks to all, if I decide to give her to Sarah I'll post my decision.

Thanks for the recommendation for Mid Atlantic Rescue. I never thought of contacting them and will be sure to do it. My previous 3 pups were from working dogs and they worked out fine. I was kind of convinced to take the frisbee pup and noticed the personality difference at once. Won't make that mistake again . She's the first dog I've ever had to place which makes me very uneasy. Thanks for backing up My description J! I didn't realize you had a chance to meet Millie when she was in training. What a small world!

Hi, I have a 14 month old female spayed Border Collie that I would like to find a home for. I have a business and a great need for herding dogs. I currently have 4 border collies and Millie was supposed to be next in line. Unfortunally herding is not in her future. To confirm this, I took her to a well known trainer 4 hours away who kept her for 6 weeks and ended up agreeing with me. The trainer who is much much better than me said Millie is "not a team player" when it comes to herding and very hard headed. In the trainers eyes, there are 3 types of border collies, the show dogs, agility and fly ball and the herding/working dogs. Her opinion is that Millie would thrive as an agility dog. I do know Millies mother was a champ Frisbee dog so I believe its in her genes. Millie has basic obedience but still has that puppy excitement. She gets along fantastic with my other dogs and made friends fast at the trainers so other dogs are not a problem. I have a 2 year old son and she is fine with him. I have them together when I have millie on a leash only though as millie still likes to jump when she gets excited and I don't want her knocking into my son. I've never been worried about biting and have never seen aggression out of her. If Millie is worked with every day and exercised I think she would be a fantastic dog. Me keeping her here as a pet though would not be fair to her as I do not have time for anything but herding/training and our business. If I kept her, all she would be is a yard dog which wouldn't be fair. Millie is an excellent indoor dog however the past few months she's been living in our indoor/outdoor kennels and thrives. This is my first time trying to adopt out a dog and I feel awful. I do know I will only give her to an experienced owner who has the room and time for her. I also want to make sure she'll have a shot at an activity such as agility, Frisbee, flyball or something. She needs attention and exercise for sure. I paid $700 for her as a pup and have almost that much in her in training and am giving her away for free to the right home. If interested, please email me with your background and return email and information on your current situation and I'll get back to you asap. Thanks for the time and for looking Rich

Hi everyone, I have been working with border collies that were mostly already trained for about 10 years. I own a goose control company now and 3 years ago trained my own pup on ducks. He came out pretty good for my first, some quarks but good enough that I bought another to train. This time though instead of just ducks in a 50' pen, I actually am going to be able to fence in an acre on my new property and get some sheep in March! My dog is 9 months old now that and pesters my other dogs be herding them constantly. I have access to 8 sheep that are 1.5 years old in a pasture near my house. They have never seen a dog before so I wanted to make sure they'd cooperate before bringing my pup (Millie) to see them. I took my best dog Joe over there the other day to see how they'd react. I bought Joe at 4 years of age and he was already an open class champ so he knows his thing. Joe is now 8 and has only worked geese the last 4 years. Well I took him to see the sheep and the sheep barely budged. Joe looked confused. I flanked him around and again the sheep really didn't move. This was my first time in this situation so I was as confused as the dog. He flanked, got to my 12, stopped and we all just stood there. I tried moving around etc but it was awful. I was surprised his interest was as low as it was but I think the sheep had a lot to do with it. When I actually got the sheep to move, then Joe picked up the pace but again, once the sheep grouped up, they just all stood their ground. The next day I took a quicker dog I have, glen, over there. Glen works fast so I figured that would stir things up. Like Joe, he was also a sheep herder before I converted him over. Same result, sheep could care less. At one point when I called Glen back to me, one of them started chasing him when his back was turned! Now my questions is, is this because these sheep weren't dog broke? We're my dogs just not aggressive/intense enough? Its hard to believe a former open class champ to be that disinterested. I thought for sure the sheep would go nuts as soon as the dog stepped onto the field. They are katahdin sheep and treated like pets, is this the reason? They are the same kind I was going to buy but I don't know now, the ones I just attempted to work would be useless to me. Any advice on getting the sheep to cooperate or what I should do? I really don't like Millie not having anything to at least try since shes almost 10 months, showing herding instinct but doesn't really get a chance to do anything yet. March seems forever away! Any input is much appreciated, thanks!

Thanks for the info! I'm in Maryland and we don't have any predators although an hour to the west and north there are a few bears and coyotes so in the future I may have to worry about that problem. I didn't think of the sheep going sour. I planned on working them a few days a week. My father lives a half hour away and recently got 8 sheep to keep his pastures trim. Would it work of rotating my 4 with his every few weeks? There's not a tree on my property although this spring we plan on planting a bunch. I was going to just put up a run in shed for the sheep for shelter from weather and sun. So would having hilly areas actually be better for working, even if they're kinda steep? Supplementing them with food isn't a problem for me and I know I'd have to do that no matter what from Oct-march I'm sure. Thanks for the insight, gave me some things to think about that I didn't before.

Hi all, I've been working with border collies for 13 years, including the last 9 for goose control. I've worked ducks more times than I can count and when I first started out, goats. I finally bought a house with a few acres and am so excited that I can fence off an area and get some sheep to work my dogs in our slow times and give them what they love to do. I do have a few questions, I plan on having 4 hair sheep as I've heard they are easier to maintain. What size field should I plan on fencing? what dimensions should I aim for? One option I have on the property is a perfect rectangle. The other option is more pentagonish with a hill that has about an 8' drop over about a 40' area. That spot also would have a section about 75' long that goes along a road which makes me nervous. My other question is how high of a fence? I want to keep in any sheep that might get spooked and make a jump. I won't be starting any of this until the spring but I plan on getting a barn in Sept and the placement of that is dependent on where I fence for the sheep. Thanks for any help!