TSR deals with many different types of personalities entering our rescue program. We'd like to think that all the shelties which come to us are perfectly behaved, fully vetted and immediately available for adoption. Unfortunately, this quite often is not the case.

This year alone, TSR has taken in some tough cases where the care and treatment was beyond what our regular veterinarian was able to provide. Sadly, most organizations would consider these shelties not suitable for adoption. TSR volunteers are learning through self-study as well as through working with behaviorists and dog trainers to hopefully help these shelties become adoptable pets. Among those that have assisted us in this endeavor, we should mention the invaluable contributions of Mark Allemang. He has donated at least 400 hours’ worth of training time to TSR for help with our special needs dogs.

The following is a list of dogs that have benefited from this time and devotion to TSR:

Stanley
Stanley suffers from separation anxiety. He was surrendered to TSR because his owner had fallen on hard times and she had to move to an apartment where Stanley couldn't get the proper exercise he needed. Lacking that structure, he became restless and destructive. With Mark’s help and other resources we have available, we found and purchased special toys to help him with his separation anxiety. These toys are designed to occupy his time when his foster mom has to run errands.

Ollie
Ollie has a fear-based anxiety. He came from a shelter in the mountains after he'd been surrendered because his elderly owner was ill and could no longer care for him and his brother, Oscar. The first sign of trouble at that shelter was when he bit one of the workers resulting him to spend time in quarantine. Eventually, the shelter contacted TSR and we took him in.

Ollie's entrance into TSR's program was not good and he quickly became labeled as an unadoptable dog. The TSR board really struggled over Ollie's situation; such a young dog with tremendous possibility but not suitable for the average adopter. The first obstacle was where to house Ollie, what volunteer is willing to put themselves and their pets at risk. The decision was made that he would stay with one of our board members, who would work daily with him to overcome this fear and anxiety. At one point in his foster home, his anxiety resulted in a bite that sent our foster parent to the urgent care clinic and an attack on one of the other dogs in our program requiring further medical treatment.

Obviously, this work will take many months. Currently, Ollie is learning that hands contain rewards (so don’t bite them) and every meal he gets is hand fed to him. Time is spent each day getting him accustom to the touch of a hand being a good experience with grand rewards. What the future holds for Ollie remains unknown. For now he’s “in loving arms” and we are grateful to our board members for their time and patience.

Sketch
Like a good number of our incoming shelties, Sketch was found as a stray. After many months going by with no one claiming ownership of him, the people who found him and cared for him decided he would be better off in the hands of skilled individuals who know the sheltie breed.

Our intake coordinator knew Sketch was going to be a challenge the minute she met him. Little did she know how big this challenge would be. In the first five minutes after picking him up, Sketch had peed, pooped, and puked in her car. Soon afterwards, she learned that Sketch had not been taught to walk on a leash. To this day, he refuses the activity and has to be carried whenever leaving the house and creates the inability to go for a simple walk around the neighborhood. This is significant because it can greatly affect his ability to learn how to socialize; a significant part of his recovery. He is attending formal classes, but again, he has to be carried in and out of the classroom.

Sketch is a worrier, mostly about things that lurk above him in his head, but are non-existent. In fact, he spends a great deal of time staring at the sky. He also is obsessed with chasing little birds and squirrels. If he were allowed, he would spend hours a day chasing these creatures and trying to escape the fence which confines him. Outdoors, Sketch presents many challenges for his foster home. He gets so over stimulated that he turns playtime into scary times. He “nips, grabs and runs”, usually resulting in bruises, tiny bite marks and torn clothing. He likes to body slam his foster mom and he is a demand barker.

Currently we are working with Sketch to redirect this behavior and to create positive experiences for him. Life is full of chicken, chicken, cheese, cheese, chicken, bacon and more cheese. And we are working on baby steps to increase his self confidence. We are hopeful that someone very special can accept Sketch into their life.

Pinkett
The plight of puppy mills continues to plague us here in North Carolina and a significant number of incoming dogs come from these unfortunate places. Pinkett is one of those and, as a result, she is shy and suffers from high anxiety. Her behavior sadly indicates she has spent a large part of her life without human contact, possibly hidden away from contact with other dogs. She tends to “spin” when she gets worked up. Movement from another room, people entering the room, feeding time, and other interruptions send her hiding in corners of the house or yard. Her progress has been extremely slow, but she is demonstrating more confidence on a weekly basis. Currently we are trying some new products with Pinkett to help with her anxieties, such as a new “Thundershirt” kindly donated by Thundershirts.com. We are also trying a DAP Hormone therapy and, so far, we are seeing small positive changes in her behavior.

TSR hopes that more volunteers will step forward to care for these dogs that are behaviorally challenged. Donations for their care and training are always welcome and can be made via our website at www.triangleshelties.com and by clicking on the PayPal button on the left. We also accept checks by mail addressed to:

Triangle Sheltie Rescue
PO Box 426
Youngsville, NC 27596

What we would really like to see is more people willing to step forward to house and train these special shelties so that they have every opportunity possible for a successful transition into a forever home.

Thank you for taking the time to read through these stories and for your consideration. These shelties are worth saving and the rewards are endless.