Nelson

[psmith]

3/19/10

Nelson has a brand new buddy! Gabby, a female Border Collie I am fostering has just been given a “reprieve” from her quarantine in the tackroom and is now living inside and playing with all the other dogs. Nelson has always been the fastest dog here, but Gabby is giving this big boy a run for his money. They played non-stop today for almost an hour doing zoomies in the yard and jumping the koi pond. I do not think I have ever seen Nelson so happy! Gabby is very bossy and does not take any guff from Nelson and he absolutely adores her. Nelson is my constant travel companion and is now able to go inside other people’s home when I go visiting. He still doesn’t want new people to pet him, but he is going up to them with more confidence to check them out. At this time, Nelson is on an “Adoption Hold”.

[psmith]

I will be taking Nelson to his new home on Saturday. He will have two sisters (one of which is a North Star Alumni (and my foster dog) and I am sure he will love having girls to boss him around. Hopefully this will be a good match for this sweet boy. He has waited a long time for a family of his own.

[Toni]

Nelson has settled into his new life and I cannot believe how well he has done. He has two doggie sisters to boss him around and he is enjoying every minute of it. His new owners Paula and Beth have a lot of experience with shy dogs, and were the ones who adopted my prior foster dog Ivy. Nelson was my most fearful foster, but Ivy was my second most fearful. When they stepped up and offered to take Nelson I knew it would be the perfect home for him. Paula and Beth live a quiet life on a beautiful farm and are active in dog training and have had special needs dogs in the past. What they have accomplished with Ivy is phenomenal and I know they will give Nelson all the time he needs to come out of his shell also.

I became very attached to Nelson and was prepared for him to live with me as long as it took to help him over his fears. But when this wonderful opportunity opened up for him I knew immediately this was his perfect home. I cannot thank Paula and Beth enough for taking Nelson and accepting him for the dog he is. They realize he may never be able to overcome his past totally, but they love him and are committed to give him the very best life possible.

Thank you Paula and Beth for giving this wonderful boy the forever home he deserves!

Here are some beautiful photos of Nelson, Ivy and Allison living the good life.....

Nelson was adopted by Paula and Beth on May 1, 2010

[Toni]

And more photos....

[PaulaH]

We thought it was time for an update on Nelson! Nelson came to the farm initially as a foster dog for us when Toni's house and world got busier that it usually is...and that's saying something! He quickly bonded with our bc girls and promptly became a foster failure when we decided the best place for him would be here. Nelson loves the farm and as we live a fairly quiet lifestyle, he can relax here. He has learned to play ball and races along beside Allie running for the shear joy of running. He has gained confidence but continues to be very shy of strangers or new situations and is still dependent upon his FurMom. We have let him grow at his own pace and his personality has blossomed in the last several months. He is such a big, goofy guy and when he "lets his hair down" is like a puppy. He has an abundance of toys and love here and has found his forever home.

[beth panwitz]

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[Toni]

When I received the phone call from Paula on her way home from Nelson's first herding trial, I could hardly believe what I was hearing! What Paula has done for this boy is amazing and I wanted to share this happy news with everyone! I asked Paula if she would do a write up so we could post it for all to see. I wanted everyone to be able to see how far these rescue dogs can go when given the chance. Be sure to click on the link at the very bottom to see the YouTube video of his run.

On September 13th and 14th of 2014, I had the opportunity to be involved in another leg of the wonderful journey of Nelson, a rescued border collie from North Star Border Collie Rescue.
Nelson came into rescue terrified of everything and everyone after having been dumped at a shelter without even a name. He spent six months under the gentle care of Toni Burnham, his first foster mom and was making good progress, but family circumstances necessitated he be moved so he came to Indiana to live with us.

We already had Ivy, another North Star alum, who had fear and shyness issues of her own so we were aware of the time and patience it takes to help some of these dogs trust and recover. We gave Nelson plenty of time and space and he blossomed here on the farm where he could run and play and learn from his foster sisters. Pretty soon it became obvious he had become a permanent member of our pack and I thought that as long as he didn’t get pushed or challenged he would live out a good life where he would be safe so we officially adopted him on May 1, 2010.

But fate had different plans for us. Ivy had made huge strides in her confidence and was competing in agility and rally trials and I began to wonder if Nelson could overcome even more of his fears and be able to play some type of doggie game and have fun. We managed to get through a basic family dog manners class and even tried a beginning agility class but it soon became evident that the pressure was distressing him and he didn’t enjoy the outings. He had always displayed a fascination with shadowing our Border Collie/Aussie girl, Allie, so on a whim I asked Allie’s herding instructor what she thought about doing an instinct test on Nelson. Her response was “sure, after all he’s a Border Collie so what do you have to lose?” We later laughed because what she really thought was “if he gets away we’ll never catch him!”

Two years later and as they say, “the rest is history”. Nelson stepped into the small pen where beginners start and went right to work. He progressed by leaps and bounds and we began to see improvements of even greater importance outside the arena. His confidence began to grow and he began to allow friends and even strangers to approach and pet him. He didn’t cower at the slightest sound or run and hide as often whenever he got scared. We attended four seminars with Tenley Dexter, a nationally recognized clinician, and Nelson continued to make strides in his training. In late July, my instructor moved us to the largest arena and casually mentioned we should start working towards the fall trial coming up in September. Gulp.

I’d volunteered and worked several of the trials and had hoped Nelson might someday be able to trial in a class but I don’t think I ever really believed. So, the weekend of the September 13th, 2014 we took a leap and opened the gate to the sheep arena to try our hand at trialing in an ASCA Stockdog trial. My goal was to survive and not embarrass my dog, because I had never trialed in herding either, but my dog took great care of us both and proved his past was not going to define his future. We trialed eight times that weekend, twice in started sheep and twice in started ducks each day and qualified in every class! He won his first sheep class on Saturday morning and earned high praise from that judge who was very surprised and pleased to find out from my instructor that Nelson was a rescue. Before the weekend was over, we had completed our Started Titles on Sheep and Ducks, won three ribbons for High Scoring Other Breed Dog and won the High Combined Other Breed Dog ribbon and buckle.

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The folks in herding talk of the “journey” of taking a dog through the training to herd. I’m hopeful our journey has just begun and am humbled to be able to be a part of this. My goal is to compete in the open and advanced levels on sheep and ducks with the help of our wonderful friend and instructor, Ferreh Hiatt. Either way, Nelson has done rescue dogs proud and becomes another example of what they can accomplish if given a second chance. So stay tuned for more updates, but rest assured, no matter if we ever trial again, we’ll keep training and doing the most important thing, having fun!

Here is a link to Nelson's herding trial video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzZcynTOMbw&list=UUB76tAzJsUTMPmGp3k-bN9A