Fife
	Gender: Male Age: 1-2 Years Height/Weight: House-trained: Yes Fenced yard required: Location: Mid-Michigan Foster Home: Sandy	Crate-trained: Yes Treat-motivated: Toy-motivated: Yes Likes Car Rides: Good with cats: Good with kids: Commands: Sit; shake hands; stays back from open door until told ok to go out; working on down & stay

Fife was adopted in April, 2016 and is now known as Shadow. Here he is with his new human!

"I just got an update on Fife, now known as Shadow. He is doing great with his new family. He gets to go on daily walks with his new four-legged sister. He also got to meet the family's three-year-old grandson and found it quite enjoyable to give kisses to the little guy. I think Shadow has landed into a wonderful furever home."

Fife is a one to two-year-old male border collie that was picked up by a Good Samaritan and handed over to GLBCR. He has a beautifully marked black and white coat of medium length, which is easy to groom. He weighs 42 pounds, but he is slightly underweight and could use a few more pounds to fill him out.

Fife has a low to medium energy level. He likes to run with my dog and chase balls and Frisbees while outside, but he is very mellow when he is inside. He likes to lie on the floor near me and would be a good couch buddy if I allowed him on the furniture. He likes to follow me around the house.

Fife has been to the vet’s office to get up to date on his vaccinations. He is heartworm free and his fecal test came back negative. He is being neutered as I write this. He was friendly with all the staff at the vet’s office, but he did need to be muzzled when they were drawing blood.

Fife is pretty laid back for a border collie. He is very calm in the house. He has not attempted to chew on anything, and there are plenty of things lying around to tempt him. He likes balls, but doesn’t chew on them much either. He has been trustworthy outside of his crate at night and during the day. I do have him use the crate at night just to get him in the routine of using it, and I put him in the crate if I will be gone for a couple hours just to be on the safe side. He did get into the kitchen garbage can the one time I did not have the lid closed. I guess the leftover steak was just too tempting!

Fife came to me already knowing the sit command and knew how to shake hands. We have been working on the down and stay commands. I have also taught him to stay back away from the door when getting ready to go outside. He will sit while I have the door open and won’t go outside until I give the okay. Fife has not had any accidents in the house since I have had him. He goes to the door if he needs to go out, though I usually take him out before he gets to that point.

I make it a habit to walk around Fife while he is eating. I will use my foot to move the bowl around and I can put my hand down by the bowl. I will also pat his back. His eating does speed up when I do this, but there have not been any signs of aggression.

I love watching Fife run around outside. He has such a nice bouncy prance when walking around and stretches right out when running. Fife gets along great with my Aussie, Becky. He likes to chase balls and the Frisbee with her. He is submissive to her though and always lets her have the ball/Frisbee, even if he gets to it first. Even though he is larger than Becky, he has never gotten rough with her or knocked into her. He’s just happy to be running with her, especially if they see a squirrel. If I am petting Becky, he wants to be petted too. He will crowd in for pats, but shows no signs of jealousy. I keep them on opposite sides of the kitchen when I feed them just to be on the cautious side – why invite trouble. They take snacks side by side with no signs of aggression.

As far as other dogs, he was fine with the dogs in the vet’s waiting room, and he did a lot of happy sniffing with my neighbor’s dog. I no longer have a cat, so I do not know how he would react with one. Fife has only had the opportunity to meet a few people since I have had him. He met my teenage neighbor, along with his dog, and was very friendly with him. He met some people at the vet’s office and was friendly with them. Each time he meets someone, he somewhat cautiously sniffs their hand, and then accepts pets from them with a wagging tail. He really loved my adult son. He kept crawling right up into his lap. He is a real cuddler. I do not have children at home, so I do not know how he acts with them.

Fife will go into his crate if he thinks there is a treat involved. It is not his favorite place though. He will whine for about a minute and then settles down for the night.

Fife rides good in my van. He gets in his crate on his own without the promise of a treat. He settles right down and I don’t hear a peep out of him throughout the ride. The farthest I have taken him is 50 miles round trip.

Fife is a quiet dog. I have only heard him bark once, and that was an excited yip when he was playing with my dog. He has never barked in the house, even when Becky was barking at the mail truck going by. He does not seem to be sound sensitive. He might perk up at an unfamiliar sound, but he does not react to it. We had a thunderstorm the other night and it did not faze him. I have a fenced backyard, and Fife has made no attempt to jump over it. He prefers to follow Becky and me around instead.

The only problem spot I have found with Fife is that he gets nervous if you grab his collar. My guess is that he was handled with a heavy hand. I picked up a shoe once that was lying around near him and he cowered like he thought he was going to get hit with it. I have been working on this by playing around with his collar while petting and snuggling with him. Sometimes I will gently grab his collar when he is just standing next to me. I am hoping this will help desensitize his fear.

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