My First Baby

Little backstory here... my parents have small ranch and have used Border Collies as working dogs but also companion animals. So I knew as soon as a I got attached to this little black fluff ball in a litter about two years ago, that I would be keeping her FOREVER.

So in comes Ruby. This dog has been one of the greatest decisions of my entire life for multiple reasons. At the same time I kept Ruby, my boyfriend decided to get a puppy as well, so in comes Gus. They are both pictured above, Ruby is the black and Gus is the red. Both are now two years old and just as silly as ever.

I decided to keep Ruby my second year of graduate school, I was living in Colorado going to CSU. This immediately helped me make friends, get outside and ultimately made me much happier. Now, when I was dog sitting Gus, things got wild but it was all fun and games. I can say I definitely did NOT get my deposit back on my apartment.

When I decided to keep a Border Collie, I knew what I was getting myself into because I had grown up with that type of dog. I knew she'd need a lot of exercise and mental stimulation or else she would start developing bad behaviors. Yes, Ruby and Gus both have a very high drive to work or herd animals. Also, Border Collies tend to have very challenging personalities which I soon found out that Ruby is what we call a reactive dog. Trust me, I did everything with her as a puppy and as she was getting older. She was well socialized with dogs and people. I took her to dog parks, daycare, puppy play dates, events downtown, I mean everything I could think of.

When she was about six months old, that is when Christmas break came up and so I took ruby home for the month and we both lived in Kansas. This is when things shifted with her personality. She began barking at other dogs and people. She would bark at anyone that came over, new dogs she met, anything that moved basically. So I dealt with this for about a year, mostly because I didn't have the time or money to get help. I was finishing my thesis, moving, buying a house, just life happened. It become very frustrating. I thought she was the ONLY dog that had this problem. Not to mention, Gus was perfect and had none of these issues at that time. Austin could take Gus anywhere and he loved all people, dogs, kids. (He is intact still, so he does have some aggression other intact males but its due to the fact of all the testosterone in him.)

This last summer I decided it was a good time to get help. I had decided I could not handle Ruby getting worse and possibly having the barking turning into biting. Now this was very hard me to do. I thought because I grew up with Border Collies my entire life that I knew how to fix this and I must have just had a rogue dog. BUT, the more educated I became, the more I realized I didn't know how to help my dog. I decided to start reading about reactive dogs and I came in contact with a "dog school" and met Julie. Julie has been an absolute saint and savior for my dog and I. She worked with Ruby and I all summer and I can now say I still have a reactive dog but I am much more equipped in handling the situation. Is my dog still going to bark at you or your dog when I see you? Great chance, but I can now say after a few months of working, the barks only last about a minute instead of ten.

This will forever be something that I have to continue to work on with my dog. But hopefully the take away message is that DO NOT GIVE UP. There is nothing wrong with asking for help, even if you think you're an expert like I did. Dogs are dogs, they aren't people (even though ruby is close). We have to be forgiving and positively teach them the right way. Every dog deserves a chance. Sometimes the most difficult dogs bring you the most happiness and love, I know mine does.

**UPDATE: We have recently purchased goats to help start teaching our dogs to work/herd. We are super excited to teach our dogs to do their jobs, what they are born to do. Also, Ruby and I have started doing a few agility classes.