Kevin & Shi Posted August 28, 2012 Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 Hello all! I wasn’t sure if there was a specific forum to introduce oneself (or even if that’s the norm here), but this looks like as good a place as any! I’m Kevin, and that hairy red lump under my desk is Shi. We live in the tiny village of Grafton, Ontario Canada, and we work in the town of Cobourg. Shi is 7 months old, and he’s been with me since he was 2 month old. It’s been an action-packed 5 months! I haven’t had a dog since I was a child and dinosaurs roamed the earth, but I always knew that at some point in time my life would become less hectic and I’d have all kinds of time to devote to raising a Border Collie. Dream on - it ain’t ever gonna happen. So, I started looking to see if there might be a way I could incorporate a dog into my daily life, and the more I researched it, the more feasible it became. I started interviewing rescue Border Collies about a year and a half ago, and quickly realized that it wasn’t going to be easy to find the right dog for me. After half a dozen interviews (and 2 bites!), I decided that I would at least consider a pup that I could train myself - so the search began for a small, black and white, female Border Collie. Since I didn’t want to buy from a backyard breeder or a pet store, there weren’t many to choose from, and I even turned down the chance to pick from 3 lovely little black and white female pups from a local breeder because none of them seemed to be quite what I was looking for. One early morning in March I was visiting a local organic farm, and happened to meet a lady with a pudgy little red and white Border Collie pup. Obviously I started playing with him, and the conversation eventually came around to my search for a dog, and she mentioned that her pup’s brother might still be available. As it turns out, the litter was from a sheep farm just north of our house, and I knew the owners quite well. They’ve had Jock (a great big, handsome red and white male) for several years, and he pretty much ran things on his own when there were only 500 sheep on the farm, but when they expanded the herd to over 1,000 they brought in Sheeda (a sleek little black and white female) to help him out. As Jock was getting older, and they wanted to preserve the line, they bred the pair and Sheeda had a litter of 6 pups. One of the pups was born with an overbite and couldn’t be used for breeding, and that’s the little guy that was left. I “borrowed” the pup for a couple of days, and then had him for a “sleep-over” before agreeing to take him for a week to see how things went. Obviously things went well, and he’s still with me. So how do I keep a growing Border Collie happy and entertained while I’m working? He comes with me. Yep, every morning we get up early and walk 5 kilometres – well, I walk 5 kilometres, he’s off-lead for most of it, and does a lot of “toing and froing” along the way. We come home, have breakfast and then head to the office. (Shi loves riding in the passenger seat of my pick-up truck!) I’m the President of the local Chamber of Commerce, and was fortunate enough to have a “Pet Friendly Workplace Policy” approved by my Board of Directors – we’re the first Chamber of Commerce in Canada to have an official policy in place! Shi naps under my desk until early afternoon, then we go for a walk downtown so he can meet people and dogs and get used to traffic and noise. He naps and visits with everyone in the office until 4:30 or so, and then we head to a local dog park for about an hour on the way home. Evenings are spent training, playing and cuddling. I had Shi neutered at 6 months, and we have an appointment in September with a canine orthodontist to get his overbite fixed up. His lower canines are actually piercing his upper palate, so we’re having them shortened and capped. Don’t even ask what that’s going to cost me! So, that in a nutshell is who Kevin and Shi are. I’m looking forward to meeting other BC owners and learning from their experiences, and sharing some of our successes along the way. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notorious Posted August 28, 2012 Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 Welcome to the forums and awesome dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildFlower Posted August 28, 2012 Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 What a great story! Welcome to the boards! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiga's_mom Posted August 28, 2012 Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 Welcome! And might I say, Look At Those Ears!! Eeee! He's pretty darn cute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falon's Mom Posted August 28, 2012 Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 Welcome to the boards!! I also have to agree, what a CUTE pup you got there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcv-border Posted August 28, 2012 Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 Thanks for the intro and the photo! Shi will grow into a great-looking dog. (Yes, the ears are awesome!) Good Luck and Have Fun, Jovi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSmitty Posted August 28, 2012 Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 Welcome to you both! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted August 28, 2012 Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 Welcome! He's adorable. J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frisbeegirl Posted August 28, 2012 Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 Welcome Kevin & Shi, My BC and I also walk about 5 miles every morning offleash. Lucky pup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisK Posted August 29, 2012 Report Share Posted August 29, 2012 Welcome! Shi is very handsome You'll learn plenty on the boards...lots of knowledgeable people who are happy to share I take my Flint to work as well...only 2 times a week - mostly for my sanity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynthia P Posted August 29, 2012 Report Share Posted August 29, 2012 That must be Hawks brother. Good luck with him, I know Hawk is a very big boy and Shi looks just like him. You might want to come out and watch some of the herding trials this fall. Check out www.ontariobordercollieclub.com for the locations. Our trial is in Indian River, just outside of Peterborough, ON on Thanksgiving weekend. Cynthia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin & Shi Posted August 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2012 That must be Hawks brother. Good luck with him, I know Hawk is a very big boy and Shi looks just like him. You might want to come out and watch some of the herding trials this fall. Check out www.ontariobordercollieclub.com for the locations. Our trial is in Indian River, just outside of Peterborough, ON on Thanksgiving weekend. Cynthia Yep! Shi is Hawk's big brother - at least Shi was a little bit bigger the last time they were together! In fact, it was Hawk (and Jane!) that I met at the organic farm and who told me about Shi! Shi and Hawk really do look alike - when they were together as pups, the only way you could tell them apart was the white "splotch" on Shi's side. They took a Puppy Obedience Class together, along with brother Shep and sister Niamh. Cuteness overload! Jane's invited me to take Shi down and introduce him to the sheep, but I've been reluctant to do anything that might encourage his herding instinct. He's been very well socialized with people in and out of the office all day, and he's terrific with children so far - but nipping at heels could put an end to his days in the office. We are looking into St. John Ambulance Therapy dog Training, and heaven knows he'd be a natural at Dock jumping - my boy LOVES the water! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin & Shi Posted August 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2012 Thanks all for the warm welcome! That picture is from earlier this summer, and yes, he grew "one part at a time", starting with his ears! I'm delighted to report that not only does he have TWO ears now (the space between his ears grew bigger!) but the rest of him has ALMOST caught up - although a strong head-wind can still tip him over! Here's a shot from last week - on his 7 month birthday: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachdogz Posted September 2, 2012 Report Share Posted September 2, 2012 Thanks all for the warm welcome! That picture is from earlier this summer, and yes, he grew "one part at a time", starting with his ears! I'm delighted to report that not only does he have TWO ears now (the space between his ears grew bigger!) but the rest of him has ALMOST caught up - although a strong head-wind can still tip him over! Here's a shot from last week - on his 7 month birthday: How cool to see his puppy pic and the current one...what a handsome boy! Welcome!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcnewe2 Posted September 2, 2012 Report Share Posted September 2, 2012 Welcome! He is a very handsome boy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin & Shi Posted September 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2012 Careful, or I'll post the cute-overload puppy pics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D'Elle Posted September 2, 2012 Report Share Posted September 2, 2012 Warm welcome to the boards, Kevin and Shi! He sure is a major cutie. What a great story you have already.............sure to grow into a much greater one with time. Best of luck and hope you enjoy the experience of these boards. I have found them fun, educational, and actually rather addictive (kind of like border collies!) D'Elle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthfieldNick Posted September 2, 2012 Report Share Posted September 2, 2012 Both of my full-time working dogs (stock work. I raise sheep) would never even THINK of nipping a person's heels. Stock and people are not the same, the dogs are smart enough to know the difference. My older dog came preprogrammed to love everybody, especially kids. My young dog needed some training to learn acceptable behavior around kids & non-dog people. Just as "herding" other dogs, cats, etc should never be tolerated, neither should "herding" or nipping people. I want to steal your pup... I have a thing for red dogs with pointy ears Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.