Hi

My wife and I have recently decided to adopt a working collie from a friend of ours who is a stockman on a local farm. She is a 9 year old border collie with a lovely temperament and as he has another 6 or 7 dogs ( not all of which are working ) he would like her to go to a good home as she is now retired and not worked for nearly a year. She is in perfect health and very even tempered as are all his sheepdogs who although they are working dogs spend time with his family so are fine with kids. We live in a cottage in about acre in the Scottish countryside so there is plenty of room and walks for such an active breed and the friend will be just up the road if any problems arise, we have 2 cats, 2 geese, 4 ducks and 5 hens all of which she is used to being around at her home at the moment. What we really want some advice on is any tips from others who have adopted older dogs especially from a working background. She has always slept outside and has never been a house dog and we would not want to change this although we would like to try and allow her to spend time in the house when she wants and let her sleep outside in a kennel. We realise it may be quite a change for her and want to be sure we stress her as little as possible.

Any help would be much appreciated.

My late shepherd friend always took his retired oldies into his house They quickly learnt the routine although one did used to eye ball any sheep that appeared on the TV :D

They are smart dogs & hard working & he believed they deserved a bit extra when they retired although 9 is a bit young for a WS to retire unless injury/ill health is involved.

I personally don't like dogs in kennels even my working BC used to sleep by my bed It can be much easier to build up a relation with a dog if they live "in-house"

My last SWD lived outside or in kennels in Spain for 6 years of his life.  He's adapted brilliantly to living in a house (I personaly couldn't have my dogs living outside :d) and he only took about 2 weeks to be clean in the house!

I'm sure she would love to retire with you, You sound like you can offer her a nice, caring home for her to live out her years :)
If you are going to let her sleep outside though, make sure she can't get out of the grounds or keep her inside till she is used to her new surroundings. (just a thought) :) especially as she is coming from just up the road?

all the best

Dee

im sure she will be fine & settle in well. what a lovely thing you are doing.

you may find she choses to sleep in "cooler" areas & just keep a eye on her  & if she gets too hot youll have to just open a window!

it will be good if you can get her now,so you have lots of things to do in the summer,& you can leave the garden door open (if its safe to do so) so she can mooch in & out.
try to feed her inside etc,so she knows good things happen in there.

my friends ex working dog  BTW is constenly trying to get IN to their house!

my advise is just to chill about it. this is a FANTASTIC breed,they will adapt to anything.

please come on here & keep us updated!

Better inside where you can bond with her than outside where she wont see you if you are busy or watching tv. :-)

thanks for all the info I will keep you posted on how we get on.

well we now have 'chrissie' at home and she is doing fine. She did however decide to pee in the house which is understandable for a dog used to living outside. Does anyone have any advice on how to avoid this happening again if we have her inside?

Treat her like a pup, take her out after meals on waking and as she is an adult every couple of hours.  Use a word and reward with praise when she performs.

Confine her at times you cannot give her your full attention.  the fewer mistakes she is allowed to make the less likely a bad habit is likely to form.

Agree with Brainless, she is your very big pup now! And will need treating and training as such for a while. It honestly will not take long to re-train her, she will soon settle into your home, and no doubt become the biggest joy of your life, Collies are lovely, joyous, friendly dogs, glad that this one now has a loving retirement home. :-)