Border Collie Rescue Background

 

In 1997, Border Collie Rescue (BCR) grew out of the need to find adoptive homes for the ever-increasing number of unwanted Border Collies (BC).  Since then BCR had to re-home approximately 3200 BC’s in Gauteng alone.  (Roughly 400 per year and increasing)  Volunteers strive to ensure that all Border Collies needing homes find permanent placement and that owners are capable of dealing with the challenges and demands of living with these immensely active and intelligent dogs. 
While a good, trained working dog is worth his weight in gold; many that come into our care have not been trained.  The saying, "you cannot teach an old dog new tricks…"has been proven wrong in our re-homing; some of our dogs have moved on to work livestock on small farms, others are competing successfully in obedience and agility.

 

Some of our main objectives are to:

 

Educate the public about the Border Collie (BC).
Find adoptive homes for unwanted BC’s.
Provide rehabilitation for abused BC’s.
Provide foster homes for abandoned BC’s.
Raise funds to cover the operating costs of BCR i.e. sterilization, advertising, kenneling fees, transport, telephone and other veterinary expenses.

 

BCR registered as a nonprofit organization in 1999.  BCR is currently busy with a number of projects, like our sponsor-a-dog program, which we hope would raise funds to help BCR to continue successfully. 

BCR is also an invaluable service for many Border Collie owners who, through no fault of their own, can no longer care for their trusted friend.

 

Visit our website at www.bordercollierescue.co.za.

 

Bank:   Standard Bank Branch:   Randburg A/C no:   226 387 399 Account:   Border Collie Rescue

Irene Thompson   082-412-9969 Karen Grey   011 452 7769 Julie Morris   011 395 2259 PO Box 636 Muldersdrift 1747  NPO no. 006 620 NPO www.bordercollierescue.co.za

 

 

 

 

Why Border Collies are put up for adoption

 

A major reason is because a Border Collie who is not exercised mentally and physically will most likely turn to his environment for some “action”.  This could include some of the following behaviour:  Running paths in your landscaped garden.  Modifying your irrigation system.  Helping your pool cleaner out the pool.  Chewing.  Digging.  Swimming.  Excessive barking.  Howling.  Start herding anything that moves, e.g. playing children, cats, cars and the lawnmower.  Chase children, biting them if they won’t stop or move in a certain direction.  Throw toys at you nonstop.  Jump on people.  Become escape artists, if they decide there is something more interesting on the other side.  Some even display neurotic behaviour. 
So the list goes on...

 

By far the largest percentage of dogs are turned in because they are “hyper” and far too difficult to handle.  Most people are either not willing, prepared or able to put in the large amount of time it takes to adequately exercise a Border Collie.

 

Sadly, a lot of the people who are giving up their Border Collies were never adequately informed about the breed’s needs.  We hear the following statements quite often:  We saw a Border Collie playing on the beach, it seemed a good idea at the time to acquire such an intelligent animal.  My friends got a Border Collie and it was behaving so nicely.  I got is as a gift.  My neighbours were relocating so I offered to take it over.  I bought the Border Collie for my teenage son, now he does not have time to exercise the dog.  We have a baby in the house and the dog nips the child when it runs around.

 

Broken relationships, emigration and new tenancy agreements are also reasons why perfectly healthy Border Collies find their way into Border Collie Rescue’s care.

 

Border Collie Rescue’s concern is for the welfare of the dog in particular and the breed in general.  Nothing is worse than a “boomerang” dog, particularly in rescue.  Poor and hasty choices, along with nondiscriminatory matching policies are the biggest cause of returned or abandoned dogs.

 

The severity of the unwanted Border Collie is manifested by the fact that we had to re-home approximately 3200 Border Collies in Gauteng over the last 12 years.

 

 

 

 

 

Biscuit is a 2yr male and as you can see he loves his ball! He is a little wary round smaller children so we think he’d probably be better with teenagers. He has lived with a labrador his entire life but it may take him a few weeks to warm up to your animals, likes to be king of his castle so again would be better with only other female dogs. He is used to a large garden that he can play ball in, He loves just running around and doing his own thing. He is a free spirit and because of this hardly comes to people. When he does want affection he will come to you and then he is very loving, his owner has to move and cannot take Biscuit with them.       Joko is around 6yrs old. He was very confused as to what had happened to his world but has settled in nicely now. He is a pleasant natured old soul, might be a little wary of very young children but fine with older children.       Lucky is a 10 yr male and he's great with cats, kids and other dogs. Like a lot of older dogs (and me!) he can be a bit stiff if he overdoes it on the exercise so no marathon walks please. His owner has had to move and very sadly couldn't take him along. He's a really friendly boy who needs to lose a few kilo's, has been spoiled rotten as all self respecting collies are, he just wants a loving retirement home and a nice warm pillow to sleep on.		Ciska is a lovely looking and nice natured female, she’s about 6yrs and could do with losing a few kilos! She is good with other dogs, her owner is emigrating and can’t take her along with him.     Shorty is so named because although he looks like a  Border Collie his little legs are corgi sized. He is around 5years old and has lived a miserable life, this has left him a little cautious of humans, especially men, until he decides on his terms that you aren’t going to hurt him and only then will he allow to you give him a love, he’s never sure if the attention he is getting is going to be good or bad. Shorty is going to need a family who is willing to work hard to regain his trust and give him the space he needs to do so, he won’t do well being “molly coddled” and needs a lot of time and treats and bribes to restore his faith in humanity. We would rather he didn’t go to a home with children as they all think he is “munchkin” cute and want to cuddle him but at the moment he finds cuddles quite scary. Shorty is progressing really well and has discovered the delights of football just in time for the world cup! So much so we are considering changing his name to Beckham!
		Butch and Timmy have to find a home together, Butch is a 2yr female collie cross lab and Timmy is a 2yr cross collie cross elephant! He is a huge dog, was adopted as a collie cross pup but just kept growing. Butch and Timmy are both well socialised and are great with other dogs, cats and children although Timmy the gentle giant can be a little wary of new children as some miserable ones used to tease him at the gate, they love to play and retrieve, like car rides and swimming and are both house trained. They are used to sleeping inside and really, really enjoy their walks!       We have seven Border Collie possible cross Pointer pups, there are 4 male and 3 female available, all around 8 weeks old and ready to go and cause havoc in their new homes, all puppies chew/dig/have accidents so please, if you are prepared for puppy socializing and house training and training a new pup then give us a call!