Tobie
Adopted
Tobie has been adopted!
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Adopted: Tobie has found his forever home. We wish him the very best life possible.
Tobie is a Border Collie golden retriever mix (in the foster mom’s opinion). He was born in December 2018, making him just over a year old. He is neutered, HW neg., and up to date on vaccinations. He has beautiful, soft fur that is black and white and some golden color on his head and legs. He has cute, white markings with black polka dots. He has huge feet that all have white markings. His head is blocky like a retriever with soft, floppy ears. He has a really adorable head tilt that he uses often and a funny toothy looking grin when he sits. He weighs about 55 lbs.
Tobie is completely potty trained and will cry at the door to go out. He jumps right in the car and is really excited, but does well in a car. He has behaved well around all the dogs he has been introduced to. His foster home has two dogs and no cats. Cooper, a nearly 14 year old border-aussie and Sky a 10 month old, deaf border collie. He seems to know the difference in how to interact with an older dog versus a puppy. He takes his turn when the dogs are given a treat and/or getting food. He is extremely food motivated but not aggressive. He has not growled or bit in an aggressive manner towards any of us or our dogs. He does not scratch or paw at the door to get in, and he is good about not jumping up on you and listening to get down. He does not counter surf or trash dig. He goes right in his kennel at night, sleeps all night, and does not make any racket to be let out. He did well with a bath in the tub. He does not dig holes. He has a deep, low bark that he uses when he sees squirrels and other animals at night. He has not barked when he hears the doorbell or knocking on the door. He is a big love bug and likes to cuddle. He will crawl right in your lap for some lovin.
The reason more than likely he has been in and out of the shelter:
He does not know the difference between rough play with another dog and with a person. He does two things with his teeth that we are working on. He puts his teeth on you when he gets excited, like on your hand or wrist. It’s not even nipping, it is just enough to get your attention but not necessarily hurt. The other thing he does is the same thing with his teeth but on your ankles. He has only done this a couple times to us, but the shelter said a family with very young children tested him out and chose not to adopt him because he was herding the kids in this manner.
The good news: he has only been in his foster home for 1 week, and we are already seeing a huge improvement with this behavior. He is very trainable. For example, last week he would try to take the towel that I was using to wipe his muddy paws. Today, he is lifting each paw up to me to be wiped. He acted like he had never heard the name Tobie before, now he comes when called. His greeting manners have improved greatly in just one week. He has almost learned how to fetch and bring the ball back. He will sit on command and has almost learned to lay.
We think Tobie will do well in a home with older children or someone who is able to work with him on his rough play otherwise he might be too much for a home with babies/toddlers. He needs plenty of room to run and still acts like a puppy in lots of ways. However, his energy level is noticeably lower than our BC puppy. He can cut it off and just chill easily.