Nelson

[Toni]

Nelson arrived at his foster home on Saturday, November 14,2009. He was pulled from a shelter in southern Indiana to save him from euthanasia. He was an owner surrender to the shelter-however no history came with him, not even a name. Nelson is a very handsome purebred border collie. He is a very tall lanky boy with classic markings and a beautiful soft full coat. He is extremely thin right now and probably 10-15 pounds underweight. He is a very soft sensitive border collie. We do not know if he had much human contact in his previous home as in the presence of people he wants to melt into the background and become "wallpaper". However he is very sweet and does not have a mean bone in his body-he just would like to find that back door to escape through. He is being treated to some well deserved peace and quiet in his foster home. Nelson went in today to get neutered and fully vetted with his vaccinations. He will need to be in foster care a minimum of 2 weeks before he can be adopted. For more information on Nelson please email his foster mom at burnham@chartermi.net

Nelson is being fostered in southwestern lower Michigan. Nelson is up-to-date with routine shots, house trained and spayed/neutered.

[Toni]

1/4/10
Nelson Nelson is not yet ready for adoption. This sweet boy has had a very rough start in life and is extremely fearful. It will take time for him to gain confidence and learn the world doesnt have to be such a scary place. He has finally accepted his foster mom, but so far no one else. He will remain in his foster home for however long it takes to come out of his shell.

[Toni]

1/15/10
Nelson is becoming more playful and enjoys the company of other dogs. He has started playing more with toys, and even though he will not bring them back to me - he will flip them in the air and try to catch them himself. He and my own dog, Skeeter, love to chase each other all over the yard. It is good to see Nelson being so happy, like he doesnt have a care in the world. Now if I can get him to feel half that comfortable around people.

Nelson is not ready for adoption at this time.

[Toni]

1/24/10
Nelson is showing more herding tendencies lately, especially with the five puppies I had here recently. He did very well with them and seemed quite tolerant. It was cute though, with all the puppies running in different directions at once, Nelson kept very busy trying to keep them together. He is still very nervous around my husband, but hopefully now that I am back down to a manageable number of foster dogs, I can try taking him more places. I am planning a trip to my moms house where it is very quiet, to see how he handles going into another home. He is much better going for rides now, so I will slowly start introducing him to more new things.

[Toni]

2/7/10
Nelson has slowly been gaining confidence and surprised me the other day when we had company stop by and he actually ventured into the kitchen to come and sit by me. He had to walk past my friend and her husband to get to me, and although I could tell he was worried.he still did it on his own. Once near me, he sat touching my leg and kept an eye on everyone but did not dart away. This lasted maybe ten minutes or so, which was a huge breakthrough for him. I am so proud of how far he has come and will keep working to make sure he has more positive experiences with new people.

[Toni]

2/14/10
Nelson is still working on his fear issues. However, I did take him with me when I visited my sister to see how he would handle it. He did surprisingly well and walked into the house with me without trying to escape or run away. Once inside we all sat on the floor and paid no attention to Nelson as he checked everything out. Within a very short time he was cautiously going within a few inches of my sister which was a huge step for him. After a while, he settled down between us on the floor and actually fell asleep. Although my sister was never able to pet him, it is still a big improvement from when he would scurry off to hide in another room. He still has a long way to go but we are definitely beginning to see progress.

[Toni]

2/23/10

Nelson went to his first training class tonight. It is a very small clicker training class and I took him along to just observe. He jumped out of my truck on his own and walked right into class accompanied by his puppy foster sister Sophie. Nelson sat or laid next to me the entire time and seemed very interested in what was going on. Although he did not want to approach any of the humans in the class, he did take treats from me and was very curious of the other dogs. I was very proud of how well he did and plan to take him to more classes in hopes I will be able to keep his attention on me to possibly learn some tricks or commands. He made quite an impression when I walked him in, as he is very tall, leggy and handsome. I was glad to see he was interested in what was going on around him, instead of shutting down and trying to be invisible as he had in the past. Hopefully this is a turning point for him and things will continue to improve.

[Toni]

Nelson playing with Kya....

[Toni]

2/27/10
Nelson and I have started working on his leash manners. He is pretty good about not pulling, unless something happens to startle him. He will then try to dart away and when he feels the end of the leash, will flatten to the floor and wait. He does well here, but now I want to take him out a bit more and walk with him in the vicinity of other people. I will only go as close as he feels comfortable for now, but he seems to be gaining a little more confidence so we will try doing a little more. Yesterday at the bank drive-thru, our favorite teller came out to say hello. Nelson actually took a cookie from her hand, but did not hang around for any pets. He was very interested in her though, and that is a good step for him.

[Toni]