WHY
DOESN'T TDBCR ADOPT DOGS TO HOMES WITH INFANTS OR YOUNG CHILDREN?
Please
read The
Kid Myth
We
get emails all the time from people who swear they know that border
collies are "great family dogs."
They
swear they have the time for an extremely high energy herding
dog with a baby in the house.
They
"KNOW" that a puppy raised with kids will turn out to
be excellent with kids.
They
accuse us of being ignorant, prejudiced and too rigid in our adoption
policies. They swear at us, threaten us and try very hard to ruin
our day.
What
they don't see is what we see. More than half of TDBCR's dogs
are in rescue beause they were suffering from neglect when the
new baby arrived; they were stressed and anxious when their role
as "the baby" was usurped by the arrival if a human
baby; they threatened, snapped or dangerously bit the family child.
Border
collies are not ideal family pets. When we place dogs, we want
them to be good will ambassadors for rescue - to do that, they
need to go into environments where they will be safe - especially
from themselves. With a few exceptions, border collies and
small children often do not mix.
When
you see on our website "no small children" or "we
do not adopt to homes with children under 10 years of age"
consider that we are looking out for the dog's best interests,
your best interests and your child's best interests. If you like
your kids, and we assume you do, consider a dog that APPROPRIATE
for your family.
Emails
from people with young families who surrender their dogs to TDBCR
I
have a 10 1/2 year old border collie named ********. He has been
a great dog but is getting old and is oftentimes seems to be very
stiff, so I imagine he is sore with this.
What I have found is that he is now "cranky" around
small children and when they try to get "into his space",
he will growl and has sometimes "nipped" at the
air which frightens the child and us. However this morning he
did actually bite a 2 year old girl who go too close and it
did break her skin.
We are obviously very concerned and as we have nine small grandchildren
who live with us in the summer and often on weekends throughout
the year, this has become a big issue as of this morning. My husband
and I feel that we will now need to find ****** a new home.
-----------------
This
is the most difficult email I have ever written. I am mom to a
loveable 2 year old purebred registered border collie named *******
. He has the sweetest nature and is a wonderful companion. He
has quirks, but is an all around wonderful member of our family.
Several months after bringing him home as an 8 week old puppy
I unexpectedly became pregnant with twins. Up until now he had
adjusted very well, especially considering the twins were colicky
and he had to put up with 5 months of screaming babies. As
the babies are becoming more mobile, he has been showing increasing
signs of stress. They adore him and unfortunately he often
gets trapped between the two of them, which is not a happy situation
for him. He has not shown any signs of aggression towards them,
but in his urgency to escape he will scramble and jump over them.
One of my daughters got a large scratch on the back of her neck
due to this, and thankfully this is the only injury we have had
so far because we do our best to monitor their interactions at
all times. They are now learning to walk and the situation can
only get worse.
--------------------------
We
need to find a new home for our dog. He is 2 years and 2 months
old.He ia a beautiful red/brown tri-colour dog.
We are expecting our fourth child in August and poor *****
is not getting the attention he needs. He barks incessantly
and breaks our fence to escape.
I have beat myself up over this, but he is not happy and would
do better with another family. We want him to have a happy life.
--------------------------
Hi
there,
I'm
the owner of ********* a border/australian cross. We've had *********
since he was six weeks old. ********* is 6 months old now and
has been neutered and in very good health, very smart and fully
trained in all the basics. He is very well socialized with other
dogs. The problem we've been dealing with from the beginning is
my great fear that he is going to bite my son (6 years old)
and other children. This was confirmed by the vet a couple
of months ago. Nevertheless, we have continued on with *********
with the hope we could fix this issue...that he'd grow out of
it. Unfortunately, it seems to be getting worse not better. He
has come very close on a number of occasions to biting (each
time my son goes to pat him he growls and snaps unless it
is outside and involves throwing the ball) and doesn't seem to
be improving after lots of training, leadership and love. For
*********'s sake, I think he is best in a home with no kids. This
is a very tough decision for us but we have definitely made up
our minds. We love ********* and having a dog in our lives, but
I do not want to see the day that ********* bites and does damage
to our child (or others) and ultimately to himself.
---------------
I have a beautiful male pure bred bc. He
is 2 1/2 years old. A very playful, wonderful dog that we can
no longer keep. "*******" has been in our family since
he was 6 weeks and we love him dearly. ****** has bitten our
daugher ripping her face open from her nose clear through her
upper lip. She is only 5. He has had a few problems with nipping
when he is excited when playing . He has never done this before.
It is a very hard decision to give this boy away.
---------------
We
currently have ***** in care who is an approx. 18mth old border
collie. He looks to be a purebred and has been neutered by -----.
He was given revolution and vaccines. ***** has been with ---------
for just about 2 weeks and has been fine in his foster home until
he bit and punctured a 6 year old child's hand through the
yard fence. The child was sticking his hand through the fencing
into the dog's yard. The foster home has not had any issues with
this young dog before this incident and thinks he is a wonderful,
intelligent dog. Unfortunately because of this incident we are
unable to keep ***** in care and are unable to adopt him out knowing
that he has bitten and punctured skin.
-------------
I'm
not sure if you would consider fostering our border collie (cross).
We have had ****** since he was about 6 months old. He was originally
abandoned and we adopted him. We have had him as our family pet
for going on 8 years now. Recently we were told by our doctor
that our 3 year old is allergic to him. Her reactions can get
severe. We are also noticing that our 6 month old is exibiting
some of the same symptoms as our three year old originally did.
He's a good dog but is starting to show signs of stress since
our youngest was born (biting his back side raw, a bit of separation
anxiety). This is a very hard email / request to write but
our children's health has now come to this. We have already spread
the word via family and friends to find him a new home but with
no luck.
----------------
I live in Langley BC, and my neighbors have
an Austrailian Shephard Border Collie cross, "*****".
They have had a couple of incidents where ***** has instinctively
went into herding mode and his nipped a couple of children.
They are unable to keep ***** due to the number of children in
the neighborhood and are looking for a home for him.
-----------------------------
We
need a good home for *****, our 5 year old Border Collie (PB,
no papers) spayed female.I received her as a 1 1/2 year old from
a family in the lower mainland that couldn't 'handle' her. My
life situation has changed from being a single female, living
on 5 acres, and having lots of free time for long hikes and playing
fetch to being married, a mom of a 7 month old, and living on
3 acres, next to my in-laws. ****** has made the transition fairly
well, immediately guarding the new home to the point of not even
allowing my husband in the house for the first two weeks (now
she adores him), but unfortunately still not accepting my father-in-law
(whom she has nipped on 3 occasions). We had a dog trainer come
in to consult, and she confirmed my concerns regarding the baby:
her nervous temperament is such that we simply can't trust
her around the baby or strangers (especially men).
-------------------------
Hello,
I have a Border Collie/RetrieverX and we really need to find him
a new place to live right away. He is a very sweet dog who loves
attention and needs lots of exercise. The reason we need to find
him a new home is that he snapped at our 1 year old (left a
small nick on forehead-not serious) but we obviously cannot
trust him around the baby.
---------------------------------
We
were given the name of your rescue through -------. I have an
8 year old Border Collie/Aussie Shepherd cross (*********) who
is growling and snapping at our 15 month old baby. ********
has lunged at our baby on a few occasions and I have had
to either keep her outside or in another room when the baby is
down on the floor.
It
breaks my heart to have to give up ***** as I have had her since
she was 8 weeks old. We have spoken to various animal trainers,
vets and animal experts that have all agreed that she will not
get better with the baby at this stage. She is jealous and has
always been number one in my life.
-------------------
I
was hoping you might be able to help me. I don't know if you remember
me but I contacted you about a year ago, I was looking for a border
collie. Anyway, I found one at the SPCA and he is a fabulous dog!
The problem is he spontaneously bites people and other dogs.
I've had him a year, he was 3 when I got him.
I love him to bits but his biting is stressful and I do have 2
children. I've done holistic flower remidies, positive reinforcement
training, socialization, I feed him raw food, you name it.
The bottom line is I am running out of options and I'm starting
to think, if I can't stop this, I may have to have him put down.
-------------------------------
We
are looking for a home for our Border collie cross
******
is a Border collie cross; is about 7 years old now and very healthy.
was originally a rescue from the SPCA. has a full and complete
vaccination record. is very good natured and has not exhibited
aggressive behavior to anyone.
And
the most adorable thing you will ever see.
We have two new additions to our family my son (2) and my daughter
(8 months)
And
unfortunately we haven’t been able to give***** the social
time she really needs.
--------------------
My
problem is that he has become fear aggressive – and
it is getting worse. This started with what we thought were regular
BC fears e.g. vacuum cleaners, the humming bird feeder, or newly
planted flowers!. However, this soon spread to some strangers.
Children especially. We have enrolled him in a “reactive
dog” class but now things have got hugely out of hand. My
confidence with him and his confidence in me are at an all time
low. Currently, off leash he is fine but will bark at some folks
who do not know that their job it to throw the ball for him. This
is generally manageable but there is real risk here when non dog
people get frightened by him.
