Mowgli
	Gender: Male Age: 6 Years Height/Weight: 18" / 30 lbs House-trained: Yes Fenced yard required: Yes Location: West Michigan Foster Home: Samantha and Billy	Crate-trained: Learning Treat-motivated: Yes Toy-motivated: Yes Likes Car Rides: Yes Good with cats: Learning Good with kids: tbd Commands:“Mowgli,” “sit,” “down,” “bring,” “drop,” and “trade”

Mowgli was adopted in April, 2018 and is now known as William Mowgli -- but you can call him Billy the Boy Wonder. Here he is with his new humans!

My name is Mowgli, and although my foster parents don’t know much about my background, they say that I look like a border collie/bear cub mix. Before getting picked up by Great Lakes Border Collie Rescue, I was living outside on a chain with only an old truck topper for shelter. This experience didn’t ruin my optimism though...I’m very adaptable to new situations, and I love making friends with everyone I meet. I don’t have the stereotypical border collie drive, as my foster parents have noticed that I’m not neurotic about chasing cars or toys, but I do have enough energy to go for runs, walks, and wrestle with the other dogs in the house. If you want play with toys or teach me tasks, I like playing fetch, jumping, agility, and learning new things! I don’t do much herding or nipping either, but I do sometimes jump or play with my mouth softly when I’m excited. My foster parents have been teaching me to sit instead of jumping and I’m getting pretty good at that.

I have pretty good manners in the house, and I tend to follow the lead of the other dog(s). I like chasing and wrestling my foster siblings, but I can chill out and play with a toy too. There are two cats in the house too, and I only chase them when my foster sister does. Most of the time I just leave them alone or sniff them respectfully when we cross paths. I’m also potty trained and have never had an accident in the house.

One time, I had to go to this store that smelled like humans and there were all these people watching me and my foster mom was asking me to do sits and downs and walking nicely on a leash. I was kind of nervous, but it was my first time and I got lots of cheese and hot dogs. I would totally do it again and again for more treats because I felt confident when we left. (Trip to a dog-friendly store...he ROCKED it.)

Also one time, my foster mom brought me to this place that smelled like dogs everywhere, and this lady kept dropping boxes and pushing chairs over and I kept looking at my foster mom and not responding because loud noises don’t really bother me. And then we went outside and there were some cars and busses and this lady kept saying what a good boy I am, and how I don’t even care about the cars/busses/noises. And then we played some games near other dogs, but i’m a good focused, so these other dogs didn’t distract me. I guess I’m a good boy? (Trip to see a dog trainer who did a small temperament test...again, he ROCKED it.)

The biggest thing I need to work on is going in to my kennel. I do a good job calming down and sleeping inside it, but I’m working on being more enthusiastic about going in. I really like playing and being with my people...My foster parents did set up a small play pen in their bedroom and I like to sleep in there.

If you want to meet me, I would definitely be excited about that! I can live with other dogs, cats, or children, but as with any new dog I should be introduced to other pets slowly, and children should be taught to play respectfully. I will probably match the energy of the house I move into, so if I’m the only animal and there are no kids I will likely be content with walks/jogs, and dog toys, and I’ll gladly take all the attention my new people give me. If I’m in a house with other playful dogs then you will see more of my playful and spunky side too.

Thanks for considering me!

“Wow” is all I can say as a foster mom to the future, lucky adopters of Mowgli. A wise volunteer nicknamed him BC^2, the border collie bear cub, and we can’t agree more. He’s got the wits of a border collie, but the cuteness (a little wild...fiercely attached to his people, a jaw-dropping jumper, and lover of the outdoors) of a bear cub.

We don’t know much about Mowgli except he spent the last 8 months living outside on a chain. Despite this, he seems to be comfortable in a house, and has shown very little nervousness about furniture or household noises. We feel he probably was someone’s pet and had good interactions with people prior to his previous living situation.

Though he is estimated at 5-7 years old, his body and brain act like he is only 3 years old. He is quick as a whip and loves working for yummy treats (beef hotdogs and cheese are his favorites!) Though Mowgli is a new name for him, he is coming when called in low distraction environments after only 2 days of working on it. He is good around other dogs and reads other dog body language well. His increased interest in chasing cats is why we would most likely recommend a home without cats, unless they are really willing to put in the time to counter-condition this response.

Mowgli's ideal home would have the following characteristics:
-cat free, or have dog savvy cat(s) AND parent(s) willing to work on reducing his desire to chase them
-parent(s) interested in playing lots of clicker games and using positive reinforcement training methods (He is SO smart.)
-dog siblings with appropriate play (or be an only dog)
-parent(s) that enjoy a lap dog. Mowgli thoroughly enjoys laying over legs/a lap that is on the ground
-parent(s) that enjoy running and/walking (these are some of his favorite activities and he is a natural when it comes to running. We've made it up to 1.5 miles, but the snow and ice prevent us from going more.)

Mowgli's personality has really come to life within the last couple of weeks and know that he will make his forever family very happy.

A few things about Mowgli:
-He initially came to us unneutered and very interested in marking our backyard. (He tried twice in the house, but that was only on the first and second day we had him, and he hasn't done it since.) He no longer marks in the backyard, unless it is over a poo or pee spot of one of our other dogs. He does show interest in marking in new environments, but can also be persuaded to play a game instead.
-He is insanely athletic. He cleared a 3ft high baby gate this morning....like it was nothing. Any takers on sports for an old(er) guy? Masters Agility?
-He is good with dogs, but is slow to warm up. We would not recommend taking him to an off-leash dog park. He really enjoys playing with our dogs, but it took a couple of weeks and lots of supervised play. He does a good job of being called off in a low distraction environment (our home), but a free-for-all dog park would be an impossible task for him and the other dogs. That place would not be his cup of tea.
-We would prefer Mowgli to have a fenced in yard because he enjoys walking the perimeter of new places, fence lines, the edge of sidewalks, etc and marking. Without a fence, the world would be his perimeter…He did escape an open gate once an we found him walking a neighbor's fence line.
-Mowgli is good with kids, but does jump. Ideally, kids would be older and not frightened by a jumping dog.

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