Out of Many, One

One week after the sadness of the passing of seven of the August 8 pups, one remains. Little Riggs is not out of danger, in fact, to complicate his health issues, he now has a sore on his tummy, but our vet remains cautiously optimistic. Every day that Riggs continues to fight is another point in the survival column.

Riggs is now in foster where he hangs out with the big dogs...

and here he is resting after a rough day at the office, receiving fluids and running tests.

Foster Update: Toby

ED Note: I am going to start adding other tidbits to the blog. Some fun, some serious, and maybe some sad. Regardless, I hope you all enjoy. Feedback welcome.

We'll begin with a foster home update on Toby.

Hi Sarah,

Toby is doing great and having a wonderful time as you can see in this picture. It's very upsetting to think that some "behaviorist" called him a dangerous dog! He comes running in from the yard when I call him and wants nothing more than to be loved - except maybe to play with Ember. Those two are a WILD pair! I had a friend stop by to visit and his only reaction was a slight shyness when she first came in, but before long he was crawling on her lap.

We're working on grooming and getting more mats out. He also took right to clicker training and sits and does a hand touch. I think he'll do anything for food.
He's certainly a sweet little guy!

Chris

Meet Sheila!

Meet Sheila.

Sheila had a rough start. An on-purpose breeding of a pure bred border collie and a pure bred cattle dog, her human family abandoned her entire dog family when they moved away, leaving all of the dogs in a box kennel.

Fortunately neighbors saw what happened, fed the dog family and helped to move them all into rescue. Sheila came to MABCR and is now in a foster home with a foster dog family.

Sheila is shy, but is getting better. She has come to the farm for Yappy Hour and played with the other dogs, and greeted people when asked.

She thinks running is grand.

She also loves the way the sun shines on her coat and makes her red glow.

Mostly she loves hanging out with her foster family waiting for treats!

Sheila would really like to find her forever home. Can you help? 

Foster Update: The Miller Pack

Dear West,

We read about your new dog on dogdaysatmabcr.com. My mom says it is veryimportant to learn to share. Maybe you can make that dog play a fun gamewith you if you teach it to.

You should also play with another, crummy toy,to make that new dog think it is really special. That way, he may want theother toy more than he wants your ball. It has worked for me, so I am passing this along to you.

My mom tells me that teaching a dog not to be bad is hard. She says I am still learning this, but I think I am already perfect. When we all go into the back yard so that Bonnie can play ball with mom, I want to bark at thetop of my lungs the whole time. Mom says I should not behave like a Mad Man,and that my lungs are entirely too big for a small dog. I try and try, but running with Bonnie (who is very sexy and cool) without barking is veryhard. Still, it is better than being left inside when the big dogs go out.

Good luck with your new dog. I could come help you bark at him if you like.

Bing the Papillion

Foster Update: The Miller Pack

Aunt Sarah,

Mom says that you sent her that new dog that came today, and she says that he is going to be living with us. She said he was a good dog and did not bark at all in the car on the way home from seeing you. He met the cat tonight, and he is mostly very curious, but not being naughty to the cat.

I am not very happy with this new dog. He keeps touching my soccer ball, and I don't want anyone to touch my soccer ball but Brit. She loves me so she can play with my soccer ball. But this new dog keeps trying to take all my balls away. BAD new dog!!! He also barks at me when he is in the crate. I don't like that at all. That is a bad dog!!! We will try to teach him to be a good dog. If he is not, then we will not play with him at all.

Signed

West Miller

Adoption Update: Lila

Hi Ann & Pete,

Lila has been with us for about 24 hours and I wanted to let you know how great she is doing.

After exploring all the nooks and crannies of our house for the first hour, she settled in nicely.

She met the kids a few hours after I got her home and settled and she’s been GREAT with them. She is just amazing! The kids absolutely adore her! They have been taking her out to play in the yard every hour or two! When she is in the house, she stays close to one of us to receive lots of love and affection. She slept in her crate last night in our bedroom from midnight until 7:00 am when we woke up to take her outside.

Attached is a picture of her last night in front of our Christmas tree.

I cannot express my gratitude to you and to MABCR. We are truly blessed.

Lynne

Well, if Victory Farm wasn’t rockin’ and rollin’ before, it is now. Denise Sayer arrived late Saturday afternoon with what can only be described as a carload of homeless Border Collies. The transport consisted of six dogs: three adults and three puppies that came in from Tennessee and Kentucky. I think she set some sort of an MABCR record for most dogs on one transport. Come to think of it, Denise also may hold a total transport mileage record as well. We didn’t have time to debate records, though. There was too much to do.

Sarah, Alina, and I were about halfway through the process of moving kennels to get ready for the onslaught when the dogs arrived. We paused to admire them, popped them into temporary crates, and replaced them with puppy Sam who was going back to the Soderstrom household for fostering so Denise could start the drive home. Shortly after she left, we got the third kennel set up. Now there are kennels up near the barn (instead of in the back lane), where they’ll be easier to keep clean. We added dog houses and settled in the new transports. (One other event of note on Saturday: Laird came down to clean kennels. He also added new wheels to both the front and back gates. Thank you Laird!)

All the new dogs seem lovely, despite being a bit nervous, but that’s true of the vast majority of rescues that find their way to Victory Farm. We’ve placed quite a few dogs in recent weeks, Rowan, Cassie, Jed and Zeke to name a few, but as this latest batch indicates, there are many more homeless BCs out there that need our help. These are just the latest lucky recipients of available space at Victory Farm.

The goal now is to place these dogs so we can help more homeless ones. There are many ways you can help us. If you can foster a dog and help get it ready for its forever home, please let Sarah know. This is a great way to help get dogs placed, because they go into their new homes with basic house manners. We have at least 10 puppies at Victory Farm now that would benefit from fostering, and may great adult dogs as well. As a foster parent, you get to help choose the home your dog goes to. Plus you get to make the adoption and get the very real satisfaction of seeing a family meet and fall in love with their new best friend.

You can also join the small group of volunteers that run applications and do home visits to find the forever homes that they will go to. Again, e-mail Sarah if you’d like to start helping with the application process. Or, come to Victory Farm for a day to help clean kennels and play with the dogs—all (dogs and humans) benefit from socialization and are desperate to spend time with people.

There are still more ways to help. We always need gently used, washable blankets as well as bath towels, fleece blankets, detergent for laundry and dishes and can use gift cards to buy supplies for the dogs. Gift cards for “big box” stores like Petsmart, Lowes, and Target are easiest for us to use, since the shopping opportunities here on the Eastern Shore aren’t that great.



Finally, we can use gifts of money. $250 pays for the expenses to vet and feed one dog while it is in rescue. $200 pays the electric bill for the month or fills the propane tank, $100 feeds, shelters and vets a dog for one month, $50 buys a bag of dog food.


I hope you all enjoy the snapshots I took of the new “class” of Tennessee BCs. Watch the Petfinder list for Sarah’s better pictures to appear of the individual dogs!


Barbara Ellis
MABCR Storekeeper and volunteer



P.S. Please do not forget that purchases from the MABCR Store also supposrt our rescue dogs!

MABCR Foster Team Memebers needed

With the economy in the tank and people losing their jobs and their homes, MABCR is more in need than ever. Sadly, the dog is the first thing to go when people are in a panic. I estimate that the requests for intake have doubled in the past few months and increasingly the reasons have little to do with training issues and more to do with an inability to care for the dog for housing or financial reasons.

Because of this, MABCR is in great need of quality foster homes. Being a foster for a dog is the most wonderful part of rescue as the foster is the last step that dog takes before it walks into his forever home. A foster home is a temporary way station for a dog, the place where he learns what real love is and how to be a great dog in his new and permanent home. Fostering makes our dogs more adoptable, and fostering helps dogs to get into their new homes faster.

If you have room in your heart to love another dog on a short term basis, please consider fostering a dog for MABCR. The dog that you foster will be loosely matched to your home and your abilities so you will not be overwhelmed with a dog you cannot handle. The dog you foster will come to you fully vetted, and if you choose, we send along food as well. Dogs stay in foster from a few weeks to a few months, and you become an integral part in the success of that dog’s placement into a new and permanent home.

Please contact me privately if you would like to become part of the MABCR Foster Team.

Thanks.

Sarah

Sarah Ruckelshaus
Executive Director
Mid-Atlantic Border Collie Rescue
slr@mabcr.org
www.mabcr.org
A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves.- Lawrence G. Lovasik

now the Terrorists..er Puppies

I had forgotten how much fun getting up at 6am Mon - Sun was and want to thank them greatly for the refresher course.
No they are a delight and endlessly entertaining. They are pretty much house broken except for the occasional mis-communication ending in an accident. Both if in the ex-pen or crate will bark and cry if they have to potty. They are little tornadoes flying through the house and steal every toy in sight dragging it back to the "Troll Hole" aka the ex-pen for further inspection.
They have discovered cats and I am totally amazed at how tolerant Chaos is with the frequent face washings she gets from Lila, letting the pup know enough is enough with a gentle clawless tap on the head. The other two cats prefer distancing themselves Spike simply hisses in disgust, and C.C. heads for the hills or meows (whines).
They have a natural sit when they come up to you and have discovered the joys of chicken on doing so. Outside in the field they will follow as you walk off leash and are pretty good on leash. L is the more athletic and daring she figured the stairs going up and down on her own, B is a little more tentative and took some convincing that YES you can do it.
They now happily stamped up and down on their own. L is definitely the leader and will initiate wrestling sessions, despite her smaller size usually coming out on top although B gives as well as he gets They have in the the style of 99.9% of puppies, yet to meet a stranger. They already dash happily through a tunnel at full length in the back yard.