Belle Border Collie DofB 22.11.17 Haywards Heath

Dogs that have found their forever home
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xxlynne
Posts: 11858
Joined: Sun 01 Jun 2014 09:01

Belle Border Collie DofB 22.11.17 Haywards Heath

Post by xxlynne »

Current Status: Homed
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Belle's Story: Belle was found living stray under a railway tunnel and unclaimed within a council pound. Rescue Remedies offered a Rescue place saving her life. Belle is now neutered, chipped, and fully vaccinated. Belle is in boarding kennels but was in foster in West Mosely for 18 months as an only pet whilst awaiting her new family.
• Integral nerves found living in woods in a flood pipe under a motorway was finally caught
• Gradually losing nerves and puppy bladder that came with her once settled.
• Single dog likes to ignore dogs
• Learning to trust ?Young pup from Ireland ?hasn’t coped with expectations
Muzzled in public due to a stranger stretching out to stroke she gave a collie nip

If you are interested in rehoming one of our dogs, please complete our ONLINE HOMING QUESTIONNAIRE. It is always the first step in our rehoming process. Upon application, you must be ready to take in your new dog within seven days. For more detailed information, please see our Homing Process.

Please support our work and help our long stay dogs: Our minimum adoption donation is £200. This supports our continuing rescue work and is non-refundable. We exist solely due to the goodwill and donations of our supporters and volunteers. Our dogs need supportive families who will offer them patience, time and tolerance whilst they settle in their new homes. Our Rescue offers all our dogs back-up for life.

Please note: Dog laws have changed, with zero public tolerance and prejudice against bull breeds and terriers. Our Rescue asks new owners to keep their dog on a lead in public spaces and manage and support its encounters with new dogs and people, so as not to place the dog's life at risk. Destruction and Control Orders are commonplace nowadays.
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Belle's progress through our Rescue is below.
We work with our dogs, who often reveal a different picture and positive skills as they build trust.
Original Referral information: 18.03.20: Good morning Lynne,

On behalf of Another District Council we are currently holding a Border Collie in kennels that was found last week in West Sussex. Seven days have now passed and we can legally offer her to you for rehoming should you have the capacity and interest.

We have named her Belle, she is 2 1/2 years old and in good health. When found she was in a field and was using a tunnel under a railway line as a shelter. She was scared of all people at first but a handful of biscuits and she was your friend. Here are some images and videos of Belle in the vets kennels where I collected her and an image of her now in kennels. She is chipped and the registered keeper on the chip last knew her in March 2018. It is alleged he was returned to a 'charity' nearby but this has so far been untraceable.

She was heavily fear barking at me as I was unfamiliar to her. I sat next to the kennel for 15 mins, feeding treats through the small holes in the door, and she was soon fussing me. She's just scared of strangers. When I took her to the kennels she hid under my legs when the staff came out. I went from danger to protection in minutes!

As described, she was found in a field near a village, using a foot tunnel as cover.

The staff at Belle's kennels advise me that she is a typical collie, ball means life, very happy and well.

Please let me know if you can help Belle out of kennels and into a new home. Thank you and of course, keep safe.

Mike Dog Warden.
Karen25
Posts: 251
Joined: Fri 03 May 2019 11:12

Re: Belle Border Collie DofB 2017 Gatwick Kenns

Post by Karen25 »

Walked this beautiful girl today. She was a little nervous but nothing that a treat couldn’t get round. She is gentle and trusting considering what she has been through. She enjoyed her walk but we stayed fairly local. Such an easy walk and appreciates her surrounding ,sniffing all the new smells. So much love to give the person who gives her ,her forever home. Heart fill with love.gif]
minimum

Re: Belle Border Collie DofB 22.11.17 Gatwick Kenns

Post by minimum »

Hello!

Due to these strange times we find ourselves in, myself and my mother (Teresa) have taken on Belle as a foster. We are both home all day now, so we thought we could give a four legged friend a break from kennels!

First meeting

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We met Belle on Sunday, and had a little walk before she got in the car with us. She was initially very, very nervous and would continually circle back to us whilst on the lead, and would often jump on us whilst walking. However she seemed to trust us with the lead, so we decided to give it a shot! She was very calm in the car, and let me belt her in with no issues. I initially sat in the back with her to check on her, but after a stop in Pets at home, I moved to the front, and she continued her calm demeanour and relaxed in the back.

We went for a long walk in the Godstone countryside on Sunday afternoon, as a Collie she wants to sniff everything, so will stop occasionally, but moves along quickly with little encouragement. We encountered a few other dogs and people, and for the most part she wasn't overly interested. She was definitely more interested in sniffing the plant. We later passed a garden that had dogs tied up who were barking at her, and she did after being barked at for a while begin to bark back, but again, with encouragement she quickly moved on. Although she did seem a little unnerved by the barking.

Walk in Godstone

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Arriving home we did a guided walk around the house, making clear the boundaries, and showing her, her bed and her bowl etc. Once off the lead, she had a sniff around, but mostly respected the boundaries we'd set!

As a collie she's very keen to make sure she can see all members of the pack are seen at all times, and she is very whiney when she can't. So if yo leave the go upstairs/leave the room/go to the toilet, she can be heard all around the house whining. However at the end of a great first day, she snuggled up on the sofa with us, would nudge you hard with her nose if you stopped stroking her!

Fell asleep on me

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Belle has just been spayed, so we've been putting her in little onesies at night to ensure she doesn't pick at her wounds, as she is likely to when she thinks you're not looking.

We were warned by Lynne that Belle has been urinating when people were entering her kennel. The first morning saw her urinating as she sat when my mother got up to take her out, and then she did the same again when I came down as well. This appears to be submissive urinating rather than not being house broken as during the day and on walks she does her business as normal, so we hope to train her out of this by giving her some stability!

Social distancing by the river

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All in all a good start, but Belle is very nervous bean, so we hope to bring her out of her shell a bit!

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sweetpea
Posts: 3301
Joined: Fri 14 Aug 2015 20:58

Re: Belle Border Collie DofB 22.11.17 West Molesey Foster

Post by sweetpea »

That last photo is beautiful. ....what has happened to this baby .... Kiss of love.gif
Thank you for fostering her ...hopefully her submissive peeing should stop once she knows that she is safe ... (this is why i love dogs more than humans)
Shay_1

Re: Belle Border Collie DofB 22.11.17 West Molesey Foster

Post by Shay_1 »

Oh Belle, what a beauty you are....
Cant wait to actually meet you, the last photo of her asleep is too cute!!!

Hope your not with us too long thumbs.gif
xx
minimum

Re: Belle Border Collie DofB 22.11.17 West Molesey Foster

Post by minimum »

Hello all,

Hope lockdown life is treating you all well! Belle certainly loves it; humans around to keep her entertained constantly. She is a high maintenance dog (this is coming from two Collie novices though) and is eager for constant stimulation.

The last few weeks have been very good, but not without challenges. The submissive urination has mostly stopped; however still happens occasionally. For example when we came home from doing some food shopping (this is only the second time she has been left alone in the house), she seemed startled by our appearance and wee'd a little. Or when I was conducting a zoom call and wanted to bring Belle into the room for her to say hello (news has travelled fast in our little circle about us fostering the prettiest Collie ever), she seemed confused about what was going on and as a result, panicked and once again wee'd. However we have done our reading, and know that this should hopefully be a habit that goes with time and constant encouragement.

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Belle is very lucky having more than one person in the house, meaning she does get two very long walks a day. Belle is eager to explore and wants to stop and sniff EVERYTHING. This sometimes becomes tricky, as she will just stop in front of you, and you have to be paying constant attention otherwise you will end up falling over her (as me and my mother have come close to many a time).

If there is anyone playing with a football, Belle goes into full deer stalker mode and attempts to get close to the ball (she is usually 5+ metres away but acts as though she could pounce instantly). However with work every time we go out, we're able to distract her more easily and continue with her walk. Also I should note, that this rarely happens with people playing with tennis balls, it seems the bigger the ball, the more she wants it (rugby and basketballs seem to the main object of desire!)

Meeting others, both dogs and humans has been tricky. Partially because of these times we find ourselves in, we can't get too close as she's not on a long lead. She seems generally very cautious/nervous when meeting other dogs (where we walk there are always many, many off lead dogs), and sometimes can get a bit snarly/barky. However, we are really working on talking to her and calming before she potentially comes up close with a dog, and the constant reassurance means she is getting better and better on just having a sniff and a wee play. She is, for better or worse, definitely better with dogs than other humans it seems so far. It seems that at least once on our walks she starts barking at random passers by; these are normally always people without dogs and we're unsure as to why this is happening. She is often not close up close to these people (this morning it was a woman in her 70s who was at least 10 metres away). The flip side is that earlier this week, we bumped into neighbours on our walk (of course keeping a good distance away!) and she was particularly barky and snappy with them, however we bumped into the same neighbours again yesterday, and she showed them oodles of affection and didn't seem nervous at all. We predict that she is just being defensive over us, and doesn't trust easily.

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Pre bed whining has now completely stopped, but if go to toilet/upstairs/go in the garden she is not happy. Typical Collie, she needs to see all members of her pack at all times!

I feel I may have put several 'negatives' up, but I think it's just important to stress that she is not a dog to take on if you aren't able to devote a lot of time to her. However she is learning new things every day (she's mastered the dog flap, and will drop the ball on command!) and she is joy to have in the house. We are enjoying having her as much as she seems to like being here, especially in these exceptional circumstances.

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sweetpea
Posts: 3301
Joined: Fri 14 Aug 2015 20:58

Re: Belle Border Collie DofB 22.11.17 Walton upon Thames

Post by sweetpea »

Lovely update ...i would say that the weeing isnt a habit but a fear reaction which will go in time and with positive reinforcement and not taking any notice when she does wee ....she sounds like she has come from working stock ....she certainly looks much happier in these latest photos you can see she looks much more relaxed ....thank you for keeping her safe in foster bravo1.gif positivo1.gif
Luella
Posts: 512
Joined: Wed 20 May 2015 19:00

Re: Belle Border Collie DofB 22.11.17 West Molesey Foster

Post by Luella »

Any news on how Belle is doing?
minimum

Re: Belle Border Collie DofB 22.11.17 West Molesey Foster

Post by minimum »

Hello,

Apologies for a not putting an update sooner, when all the days start blending in to one you don't realise how long it's been!

Belle is a complete joy, but my goodness she is a lot of work sometimes. Submissive urinating has all but stopped, and has only happened a couple of times since the last update, hoorah!

When we go walking, she is definitely getting better, but things are still tricky. Generally she doesn't pull too much on the lead, and just enjoys sniffing everything (and I mean everything). However she is still very interested when she sees someone with a football, however is much, much better at at being distracted and walking on past. When she sees other dogs, sometimes she is eager to say hello and other times she's not bothered. I try and give her a treat pre going past if she seems eager to say hello, as it boosts her confidence a little and it seems result in a positive interaction. There is always lots of "oooh good girl" to reassure when we're meeting other dogs which helps as well. Sometimes meetings don't go well, she gets a little snappy with other dogs; it's never enough to cause concern. However it's tricky as of course we're unable to socialise with anyone as we can't meet anyone on a regular basis, so we're doing our best in the circumstances!

She is occasionally very barky with other people, there is obviously something that she can see or smell, that causes her to distrust certain people, but sometimes we will be nowhere near and she is barking at people. I would love to try and say it's because a hood, or glasses, or gender, but there seems to be no common denominator! She also is very barky at the postman/anyone at the door. We try and calm her by instructing her to her bed, and she will usually stay there and quietly, but it's a slow process.

Belle is a smart cookie and you can set your watch by her. She knows when it's time for a walk and time for dinner, and will start whining if you're running late. If she sees putting on extra clothes, she knows you're gonna leave the house and gets herself ready; even if it's just a trip to the supermarket that she's not invited to. She is also sometimes reluctant to do as she is told if she knows you don't have treats to hand; she's smart and doesn't like to do something if there's not something in it for her!

In the evenings, Belle swaps between the two of us to cuddle up to and likes it best when we're sat close and she can sneak in between us for double pats.

Belle is a joy, but a handful to say the least!

Hiding in a bush

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Being sneaky and sitting on the stairs even though she's not allowed upstairs...

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Posing with a tennis ball on a walk

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Being bribed with a treat to stay still for a picture in Bushy Park

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All puffed out after chasing a tennis ball

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Having a lil snoozle on my legs

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minimum

Re: Belle Border Collie DofB 22.11.17 West Molesey Foster

Post by minimum »

I forgot to add re. barking at people; she doesn't like being surprised. If people seem to come out of nowhere, she always reacts with a lot of barking.
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