Mercy

Mercy came to our rescue with her siblings who were owner surrendered to a shelter. We were told her parents were Bordercollie and Bordercollie/Austrailian Shepherd mix. However, we have not done a DNA test on her. She was born with a bob tail. She is the smallest of her siblings. She has a clean bill of health with exception to being underweight. 

Mercy is sweet, smart and full of personality. She adjusted well to this foster home with two senior dogs. She picked up on her routine and schedule quickly. She responded to command training on her first day. She is practicing “go busy”. “sit”, “settle”, “place”, “stay” and “here”. She is learning to be tolerant of the leash. 

Mercy is full of energy when she first wakes up from the night and naps. After she has had some activity of training, mental stimulation and play with the resident dogs, she is able to settle and entertain herself or just sit and watch everybody. She takes several naps during the day. She also loves cuddles in the evening but you can pick her up and give her love anytime.  She is crate trained for nighttime sleeping and naps. She sleeps through the night usually going to bed between 9-930p and wakes between 430-530a. 

She loves her toys and the snuffle mat. She is eager to train early in her waking times but becomes disinterested when she is tired.  She is food and praise motivated. She is learning fetch. She plays chase and wrestle with one of the resident dogs. These are controlled with limited time because Mercy can play so hard that she gets a bit excited/out of control/spastic which is too much for my senior dog. She also responds to dog’s correction and learned quickly that one of the resident dogs needs space. She rides well in a car and does well at the vet. 

Mercy is still learning that the outside world is safe for her. At times she likes to go on a short walk to sniff everything and other times she wants to come back in quickly. She startles at many things like high winds in a tree, fire hydrants, a different color leaf/bark on the ground, a mailbox, a car, and the lake water waves. They are just new experiences for her and she needs time to adjust which she is doing quickly!

Mercy would do well in a home with another young or middle-aged dog or in a home where she is an only dog but has opportunity to interact and play with other dogs. She would do well in a home with older children as she does nip heels and sometimes attempts to herd humans. She is also still trying to learn not to jump on humans. She will need additional training as all puppies do.  She does need a fence right now because she has the zoomies outside and does not know the boundaries nor identifies unsafe situations. She can easily slip through a aluminum fence at this age due to her size and I am imagining she can climb a wire fence if she wants. Once she deems the outside world a safe place she would probably love outdoor adventures like hiking, etc. She would do well with nosework. She most likely would do well with agility but it is difficult to gauge her interest at this age. 

If you would like to see Mercy’s experience since becoming a foster, you can check out the highlight reel on our Instagram page @ cbcrescue titled “The Rescue of 3”. There are videos of her playing and her training thus far.