Nico
	Gender: Male Age: 1 Year Height/Weight: tbd / 37 lbs House-trained: Yes Fenced yard required: Yes Location: Northern Michigan Foster Home: Casey and Kelly	Crate-trained: Yes Treat-motivated: Yes Toy-motivated: Yes BC Experience Required: Yes Good with dogs: Slow Introduction Good with cats: tbd Good with kids: No Commands: Crate, Down, Drop It, and Sit

Devastatingly handsome guy Nico presents quite a mix--100% border collie energy, athleticism, sensitivity and observation skills, paired with an unknown background he's working hard to overcome. Since he came into the shelter as a stray, all we know for certain is: 1. This is one good looking dude, with the softest ears ever; and 2. Someone was definitely not nice to Nico.

Nico came into foster 5 months ago, smelly, and emaciated with 3 varieties of parasites. His coat looked like dull straw. He was dreadfully carsick on his transport, (and still struggles with car sickness although getting better on short trips). He wolfed his food so fast he would vomit, and drank his water way too fast (as if he had had limited access to it). He was extremely head shy, ducked and ran any time someone held out a hand to offer a treat, and hit the floor in terror anytime there was an unexpected noise in the home (such as a pencil falling off a table). He quickly memorized his surroundings and if something new was introduced into a room (such as a throw pillow), he'd stalk and bark at it. He did not get along with the resident dog in his first foster home, which was a situation that seemed to be driven by jealousy--he wanted his foster dad all to himself.

After a time in his first foster home, he moved to a second foster situation, a home with two resident dogs (one male and one female). After a slow introduction period of about a week, Nico is now comfortably existing as part of his new "pack", and has daily "bitey face" play sessions with his 3-year-old foster sister. All dogs are crated next to each other during meal times, and he does not show any food aggression. He does get possessive of chew toys and balls in the yard--responds appropriately and quickly when corrected, but this is a situation that is still being addressed.

Nico has made some huge strides during his time in foster. The first home was able to build his confidence level to the point where he stopped barking at new items in the home, and helped him overcome quite a bit of the head shyness. In his current foster situation, he watches his foster "siblings" like a hawk, as if he is trying to figure out how to even be a dog. He eats fast and enthusiastically, but no longer so frantically that he vomits. He LOVES mealtime, and supervises his foster mom as she puts the food in the dog bowls (see pic below if him peeking around the fridge).

He runs and plays in the yard, likes to chase a ball (doesn't always bring it back!) and likes to go on walks. He is affectionate and loves to be stroked and brushed. He's not much of a "furniture" dog--will sometimes rest on the sofa or a bed, but will usually jump off if a person joins him. He enjoys sleeping in a dog bed, but, as the pup he likely still is, will chew on it if not supervised (no bed in his crate at the moment!). All dogs in his foster home are crated at times the occupants are not home. He crates easily and does not try to escape. Although Nico can easily startle at simple household noises, he seems unfazed by thunderstorms!

Nico is extremely wary of new people--he is fearful but not aggressive. Great Grandma stayed with the foster home during Christmas. The first day she was there, Nico barked at her a few times but then seemed to grow comfortable with her. He still came to her for ear scritches almost immediately. The foster home has also used an overnight dog sitter (who had friends visit) with no issues. Nico would benefit from some training due to the issues of barking at strangers (both while in his fenced yard and while on leashed walks) and also for lunging at cars while on his leash. He seems to have quite a hatred of cars, and in his border collie way is perhaps trying to move them away from the property he has decided to protect. It is this car hatred that prompts the foster home to state he needs a fence. That said, although Nico is quite agile and could easily scale a fence, he has made no effort to do so.

Nico would likely do best either in a home without other dogs (so he has his special person all to himself), or a home where there is more than one other dog (so he is part of a pack, and not in direct competition with one other dog). Nico is untested around cats and children, but due to his overall anxious nature, a home with either would not be recommended. Nico has great potential for athletic pursuits such as agility or flyball, should he be able to gain the confidence to participate. This would likely take additional professional training.

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