Timmy
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Timmy Has Been Adopted!
Hi my name is Timmy, and I am a deeply sweet and adorable, 1 year-old, neutered male Border Collie mix! I was originally found stray but then landed in a city shelter, where the people were very nice but I had to stay in a cage almost all the time, and that was really hard. I was very stressed and sad and was chasing my tail around in circles all day long. The staff saw that the stress of the shelter was harming me, so they transferred me to Cayuga Dog Rescue. I have been in a terrific CDR foster home for a while now and am a changed man for it!
Let me tell you all about me! I'm incredibly sweet and curious. I'm loving and affectionate and silly and incredibly friendly (once I feel safe with you), and I have a great sense of humor and crack my foster parents up all the time. I'm handsome and athletic and agile and my fur is so soft and I run so fast it's amazing! I do all these cute things with my paws (I cross them and strike all kinds of adorable poses), and love to thwap you with them to get you to play with me! I do silly pouncy things when I'm exploring outdoors, and am attentive and love the birds and the wind and the snow! I love soft things like beds and couches and dogbeds and flop down on them in the cutest way possible. I'm also very smart, but as I am a Border Collie mix, that probably goes without saying!
I am also very, very shy, especially with strangers. If I don't know you, I will feel scared and try to make myself invisible. It makes me feel much better if strangers ignore me (eye contact is scary for me), and after a while, I'll find the courage to sneak over and sniff you a little bit (and then run away). If you stay still (don't reach out toward me...that's scary too!), I'll start to feel safer, and by the end of the evening, I might give you a shy smile and invite you to pet me. It took me a week or two to feel safe with my new foster family but now I LOVE THEM (and they love me a lot too)!! We are best buddies and they say it is incredibly rewarding to see my playful affectionate self finally emerge! We play and run and snuggle and do all kinds of fun, sweet things together. I warm up and come around beautifully once I get to know you, but it does take some time and patience.
We are halfway through a basic obedience training class in which I am being so brave and am doing so well! I am learning things like sit and watch and wait and come and walk around i circles and touch your hand with my nose! I love learning and love getting yummy treats!
There are a couple of sweet, confident dogs in my foster home and being around them brings me great comfort. My foster parents went away for a few days and a super nice couple babysat me in their home, but they had no other dogs and I hid in the corner and was scared the whole time. I really need to go to a home where there is another nice, playful dog or my adjustment is going to be harder and slower, and the rescue folks don't want to put me in a situation that will make it harder.
Plus I am really great with other dogs--I love playing with them! I love it when they will chase around with me and play wrestle and tumble. My foster parents say it is so amazing to watch me because I just look so darned happy when I'm running around in a fenced yard with other dogs. I am young, so it's important for me to have some good ol' fun wrestling dog-dog playtime sometimes! I'm also living with some nice cats and they are interesting when they run around and play (I want to join in!), and i have an amazing play relationship with one of them (we wrestle just like puppies!).
Here are some other things about me! I sleep quietly on a dog bed at night. Sometimes it takes me a little while to figure out that it is time to sleep, but once I am down, I usually sleep all night. I get up early sometimes but I can fall back to sleep after I go out to pee. When I hear my humans wake up, I jump up on their bed (I'm allowed to do that here) and I make very handsome poses where I cross my paws and then I play a little with the other dogs to say good morning! I am a wonderful walker...I never pull on the leash! I like to sniff the long grass and then get silly and pounce on whatever might be there and then run away in fake terror. At first I was very scared of water and puddles, so I had to jump WAY over them (see photo of my jumping skills!). Now I don't mind getting my feet a little wet.
When it's mealtime, I know how to run right into my crate and clean my bowl. Then I wait quietly to be let out. I love going for walks now (I was scared at first) and hikes and would probably make a good jogging companion. I also love learning things as It builds up my confidence and makes me feel safer, socontinued learning and training will be important for me in my new home. I would love positive training classes (aversive training would be extremely detrimental to me), and I’m sure I would be terrific at agility and treiball and any other doggy sport! I’m usually well mannered in the house, but if I am left on my own for long periods, I (like most any young dog) can “find things with which to entertain myself” and that’s usually not a good thing!
I'm about 99% housebroken... I know it is uncivilized to go to the bathroom inside so I try my best to only go outside. I have occasionally had an accident if my tummy was all funny (turns out eating palm tree plants and horse poop is NOT a good thing to do) or if it's been a while and no one has noticed my pacing around the room, but if my tummy is ok and I'm taken out regularly, then all is good!
I sound like a pretty nice dog, don't I? If you are willing to be patient with me while I warm up to you, and give me interesting things to do, it will be so worth it! My hugs are awesome, and when I crawl into your lap for petting your heart is sure to melt, especially when you remember how scared I was when we first met. I am so hoping to find a person or a family to love, who will love me too. My life before now was pretty sad and lonely and scary, and I am crossing all of my paws that the rescue folks are right--that from here on out it is going to be safe and loving and fun and sweet.
If you want to apply for Timmy, please fill out an online adoption application and live close to Ithaca , Syracuse, Binghamton, or Elmira. We do home visits on every applicant, and can't do home visits where we don't have local volunteers.
