Hi my name is Stitch!
I am a nearly 7 month old deaf Border Collie. I’ve been with my foster carer since I was 10 weeks old and have flourished into the most wonderful pup or so I’m told! Everyone who meets me, falls in love with me .
Stitch knows how to sit, drop, shake with both paws, spin both ways, recall, stay, wait, working on roll over. He is crate trained and loves to spend time in a medium pen when outside!
Stitch’s future family must continue his crate training as it’s his safe space and a place for him to relax. It is very important that he has regular ‘down time’ especially being a working breed. He struggles with free roaming and especially can’t free roam whilst you are not home to supervise him.
Stitch’s loose lead walking has come a long way and he is great at checking in whilst going for a walk. He can get a bit triggered by cars going past but as long as you keep his engagement and reward his checking in, he will choose to disengage from the cars and focus on you! He also does really well on a long line and always chooses to check in every 30 seconds or so and responds to his recall command!
Stitch is a very social and friendly boy. He has met people of all ages and has loved meeting them all. He does like to jump up and get a cuddle though from everyone he meets (still working on this) so we’re always careful when meeting you children or older people. He absolutely adores the people in his life though and always enjoys a good cuddle and kiss from them.
Stitch is also very social with dogs. He has met all different kids of breeds and ages. He can be a bit rough with smaller dogs though so his forever home would ideally have medium/larger dog as a companion but he would also happily live as an only dog. Because he is deaf he sometimes finds it hard to read signals other dogs are giving him and occasionally needs help understanding what they’re trying to tell him.
Stitch is pretty much completely toilet trained. He now knows to wait till he gets let outside to go toilet or he will go to the back door to let me know he wants to go out.
Stitch has the most wonderful and loveable personality. He is the sweetest border collie you will ever meet and he is a master at puppy dog eyes that will melt anyones heart. He loves a good cuddle but not for too long! He is a gentle and sweet boy that loves to hang out with you. His crazy side comes out when playing with toys though! He loves a good game of tug or fetch with just about any kind of toy.
Stitch is a working breed so he requires more mental stimulation than physical exercise. He absolutely loves puzzle toys and enrichment activities that keep his brain working. He figures them out pretty quickly so his foster carer is always thinking of new ways to make them harder for him. He also loves going to group training sessions and shows off his skills in class! He doesn’t require walking every single day because he will just become a little athlete. It’s much more important to keep his brain active. He loves going on walks to explore and practice his training!
Stitch is deaf and has CCD (Canine Compulisive Disorder) which he is medicated for. For Stitch, this means he can obsessively shadow chase and can become fixated on cars occasionally. He has come a long way in his training and teaching him how to manage and disengage from shadow chasing.
Stitch's forever family would have to continue his training to make sure he doesn’t fall back into his old habits. This means crating him whenever you can’t supervise him or when you leave the house. Not allowing him to free roam the house which is when he will choose to shadow chase. He also can’t free roam in a backyard as he will choose to shadow chase. His foster cater has a medium pen set up outside for him which he does really well in and loves to relax on a raised bed in there for short periods of time. Otherwise he is in perfect health!
Stitch can occasionally resource guard high value treats from other dogs. This needs to be recognised and when given a high value treat that he is either crated or left alone until it is finished. He hasn’t resource guarded from humans since he was a very small puppy. He is very happy to share his toys and scattered food with other dogs though!
The ideal forever home for Stitch needs to be within the GEELONG area so that a slow transition between foster carer and adopter can occur.
Stitch is deaf. Stitch has CCD (Canine Compulsive Disorder) for which he is taking medication.
