01/15/08

Zephyr has been in rescue since late December. He was surrendered by his family for behaviors common in border collies. The family had tried to "tame" his border collie ways through negative training methods which left this sensitive boy apprehensive and shy.

We are seeing the border collie within emerging. Zephyr is responding with zest with positive clicker training, and encouragement to "think", not wait to be told. Zephyr already has an arsenal of tricks and bounds back to you with great enthusiasm when recalled.

He is still shy in new situations, but recovers quickly. So far Zephyr has been somewhat neutral with other dogs, but does seem interested and speaks dog very fluently. We think he will bond and do well with other dogs, and eventually learn how to play and run with them, he is lightening fast!!

Zephyr is currently working on his agility skills and has the ability. He loves the disc, and soccer balls, and will retrieve them and literally spit them out at you feet waiting for the next throw or kick.

Zephyr is housebroken and crate trained, he loves his crate and goes there often to chew on a goodie or take a nap.

We think Zephyr could go to a variety of homes. With training, he has the potential to be a great performance dog. He is also happy just "being a dog", going on walks, playing ball or disc. His surrender papers said he was a high energy dog, but we haven't seen any indication of that. Medium is what we have experienced here, content to hang around, ready to go when asked.