You must complete an adoption application with WBCR before we will consider you for one of our Border Collies (under the “adoption” link). Then go to our PayPal link to pay the $15.00 application fee. One of our volunteers will check your references, and then another will come to your home to meet you & your family in person before the board will vote on your application. If you are approved, we will arrange a time for you to meet the dog(s) you are interested in. If you decide he/she is perfect for you and the board agrees, we will schedule a day for you to pick up your Border Collie, sign adoption paperwork, and pay the $350 minimum adoption donation. This whole process may take a month or more, as all WBCR members are volunteers and we’re committed to making a perfect match for our border collies. Thanks for your patience!
1 Year Old
Black, White, tan (black tri) rough/medium coat
Female (spayed)
Microchipped and current on vaccines, flea/tick, and heartworm preventative
For more information on Norma please contact her foster home.
March 24, 2023
ADOPTED!!!!!!
Jan 6, 2023
Norma started a trial period with an approved adopter in late November, but her fear of strangers resurfaced with a vengeance in their home, and they decided it would take more time & training than they were able to commit to. So Norma returned to her foster home and took the last few weeks of 2022 settling back into her routine here.
Norma met our trainer, Katie, the first week she was back to get a professional evaluation of her behavior. Katie specializes in reactive dogs, has helped train my own dogs, and has worked wonders with some pretty difficult cases. She believes, with routine, a safe space, and consistent training, Norma will gain confidence and continue learning to trust strangers. It will be important for Norma’s forever family to be patient and give her plenty of time to process information. Her family will need to let her adjust before inviting people over then follow a consistent routine when new people enter their home, and those visitors will have to be taught the rules so Norma can maintain her progress.
With the holidays and the health issues my husband is dealing with, we’ve had a lot of visitors recently. We follow the same routine every time someone comes over, and Norma is overly zealous to greet them. If they move too quickly, Norma tenses and barks. As long as they stop and let Norma take her time to approach them (which typically takes about 5 seconds), she relaxes. The key is not pushing her when she’s getting overwhelmed. We always encourage families to take training classes with their new dog, but it will be especially important for Norma. Motion is especially stimulating for Norma, and since children move quickly & erratically and are highly unlikely to remain conscious of Norma’s state of mind, we will not consider adopting her to a family with kids.
To be clear, Norma is much more comfortable approaching strangers in public. She made friends with everyone at the vet’s office, the dog park, the pool…she even met Santa! She’s a super sweet girl who loves to be pet – especially belly rubs! – but loves treats even more. I taught her to play fetch, and she’s absolutely and utterly obsessed with playing ball now. I think she could make a fantastic disc dog. She jumps really high to intercept, uses furniture to launch herself even higher, and she’s so petite that vaulting would be easy on her handler. As long as you can toss a ball a few feet though, Norma would be thrilled to hang out with you!
Nov 18, 2022
Adoption Pending!
Oct 11
Norma is still looking for her forever family but is keeping busy wrestling with her foster siblings at home and visiting the dog park. She gets along great with all types of people & dogs there, and we realized that she only barked at men when they came to our house; she is absolutely fine with them approaching her in public spaces. So we inundated her with men coming to our home. Now Norma only barks a typical “someone’s here” instead of a “that guy might kill me” response.
Norma is quite a vocal dog. She doesn’t just bark though. She talks. It makes me laugh every day. I wish I could catch it on video, but it happens so quickly that I haven’t been lucky enough yet. We have gotten video of her play style as she wrestled our 9-year-old male and thought it could give potential adopters an idea of how goofy she is.
Last week Norma went to the canine swimming pool and learned she’s not a fan. She was so motivated to follow her foster brother into the water that she jumped in as soon as I let go of her – unassisted & before we had the correct sizing for her life vest – and she kind of scared herself. In the 30 min we were there, we weren’t able to convince her it was fun, nor did her form improve. But it was cute to watch her try 🙂
When we’re actually able to wear her out, Norma loves to cuddle. She uses us and our dogs as pillows and is perfectly content for them to use her too. She’s such a sweet dog who is so excited to be near you that she just can’t contain herself and follow our butt-on-the-floor rule. She tries. But her self-control only lasts about 2 seconds before she has to be reminded again. There are certainly worse to traits in a dog, and I’m sure she can be trained to develop a longer attention span. She just needs a family who loves her & wants to work with her.
Aug 14
Norma is quickly learning the routine at her foster home. She potties on command as soon as we let her out; she runs straight to her crate at mealtimes; she sleeps quietly through the night. She also loves to wrestle with her foster siblings and adores her foster mom. Foster dad, however, is still a bit intimidating. In certain situations, Norma will pee and bark when he enters the room, and she sometimes hides under the bed to avoid him. At other times, she jumps onto his lap or sidles up next to him for pets. We haven’t yet identified a pattern, so we’re just working through it when it happens.
Norma visited the vet last week for her pre-op check-up and was declared “the perfect puppy.” Given her random reactions to her foster dad, I warned the vet & the tech (both male) that she might bark or pee. She did neither. She was super friendly and loving to EVERYone there! She’s up to date on all her vaccines and preventatives, and she’s scheduled to be spayed this coming week. She was also an incredibly wonderful passenger for the ride to & from the vet which is about 30 min each way. She either sat or laid down quietly in the back, sometimes watching out the windows. She’s such a good girl! She just needs a family to call her very own.
Aug 4, 2022
Norma is a petite 7-month-old tricolor female who arrived to foster care with her littermate, Heru, on Aug 3 because their family came to the conclusion that they were not equipped to handle her & her brother’s energy requirements. They wanted both pups to reach their full potential and live their best lives, even if that meant they find new families.
We’re just getting to know Norma, but so far she’s proving to be very sweet with people and a bit unsure of her foster siblings. To be fair, they can be a bit overwhelming (4 male, 2 female BCs ranging from 1-8 years old), so we start with one-on-one introductions and slowly progress to being all together. The first day, Norma was stress-panting a lot but, by the end of the night, she was able to relax enough to quietly chew on a bone at my feet. When put in her crate to decompress, she howled mournfully every 5-10 minutes for a half hour or so. At bedtime, she did the same but only for about 15 min then settled and slept quietly through the night. In the morning, she was panting much less and even started playing a bit. She needs time to adjust to and learn about her new environment, but she’s already starting to acclimate.
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