| BETTY JEAN is a 1-year old purebred Border Collie. She is a tri color, with a semi rough coat. Her tail is short because after she was born; her mom nipped it off while cleaning her up according to the breeder. She is a large female, weighing almost 40 pounds. A tall, athletic, and very striking girl. Betty has quite a story for her young age. She was sold to an octogenarian. Not the best placement for a pup out of working lines. Betty quickly spent much of her day alone in the back yard entertaining herself. She was sent out for training and during that time, her foot was broken across all the small bones of her toes. A bad break for a youngster and worse for a high drive pup to recuperate from. She was passed from home- to- home as each became exasperated with her level of difficulty to keep calm & quiet. Each home did the best they could by Betty. She is not an easy BC by any means. The vet kept her tranquilized all the time and she has built quite a tolerance to Acepromazine now :( When she came to me, she incessantly barked at the sky. Flags flapping, planes, birds, any movement – you name it. It is tragic when dogs of this intelligence are left to their own devices without proper release of their energy and brains. Of course we still had recoup time, surgery to remove pins and more recoup time. That was very trying. Now she is released from vet care and the foot has regained muscle tone. She will limp when she has run a long time, though we still see improvement. Not guaranteed she will recover 100% from limping when tired. Betty still obsesses, though not at the sky so much anymore. She has taken up chasing the shadows of the other fosters. This is a problem because at some point they just get sick and tired of it and will retaliate. Being able to have a large yard to run has helped tremendously, though I think she will always obsess unless she is given work and a lot of it. She is my energizer bunny....going and going and going. This girl needs the highest activity home available. A sport home if one is willing to understand her injury and work her up to competitive level, or a working home willing to train her for sheep/cattle work. Betty is not strictly only companion dog material in any way, shape or form. She needs an adopter very familiar with the breed, willing to redirect her obsessive nature. Betty has good house manners, though still very puppy. Chew toys are a must to keep around. S he adores sound and TOUGH squeekys are her favorite. Forget the latex ones as she will tear them up. Her favorites are squeaky tennis balls. She does have ball drive and that helps redirect her. Being sound motivated, she will bark when she hears others barking. She does very nicely with the small dogs and amazingly, does well with the cats. She is housebroken, plus understands the doggie door. She is also crate trained and travels best in a crate. Betty will reward the right person with love and affection. I understand she comes with a lot of baggage and I am in no hurry to place her. Her adopter has many criterions to fulfill. Betty has had such a hard start at life; she deserves the rest to be as perfect as possible to help her become a great canine citizen. This girl needs an expert level Border collie adopter. |
