Rob Dog and Briar Rose

Our Rob Dog: Our son Ryan is 15 years old. Ryan has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of high functioning autism. At Easter time of last year, Ryan was spending a few days with his grandmother. She had talked him into taking a walk to the park with her. Getting Ryan to leave the house is sometimes a challenge in itself, Ryan starting a conversation with someone he does not know is an even bigger challenge. While at the park they saw a man playing Frisbee with a dog. My mother said that Ryan watched them and laughed at this little dog's antics. She said that it went flying through the air to catch the Frisbee and Ryan was so excited. When the man stopped to rest the dog, Ryan asked to go talk to him. My mother was so surprised that Ryan began asking all kinds of questions about the dog! He was very animated, and expressive, which is something that doesn't happen very often for a person with autism. The man told Ryan that the dog was 10 years old and that when he was younger he had been a Frisbee champion and that he had been an actor in the movie "The Animal". He let Ryan throw the Frisbee for the dog and mom said it thrilled him to death. As soon as she came home she called me at work, "You are not going to believe this..." and she told me all about how wonderful Ryan did and how he kept petting and hugging this little border collie. The next thing she said completely shocked me, this from a woman that is afraid of every animal, especially dogs. "You have to get a dog like this, Ryan told me he would love it and finally have a best friend."

Enter Border Collie Rescue, after much pleading with dad and running to shelters all over the southland, we filled out an application on the internet. BC Rescue was having a herding fun day and we were invited to attend to meet a possible adoptee. We were to meet a few dogs, one was named Robbie. When we arrived, Sandy introduced us to "another" Robbie. Ryan took him and walked around with him for awhile, when Ryan sat down on the ground, Rob backed up and sat in his lap. Well that was it, we were his!! Well, our Rob has stolen our hearts! I love to watch him with Ryan when they are quiet and don't know I'm watching. He still backs up and sits on Ryan's lap, and Ryan gently pets him and hugs him. Ryan is learning that he needs to talk to Rob and tell him what he wants. It is not your typical boy and dog relationship, but they are very caring of each other. Rob seems to sense when Ryan needs some tactile comfort or even when it is okay to be rough. Rob has recently learned to play dead and Ryan thinks he's the smartest dog ever.

We really do not know any of Rob's history before he came to us. All the rescue could tell us was that he came from a shelter. It took him a couple of months for him to really settle into our home, but now he is truly one of the family AND the center of attention. In August we came home from work and Rob was limping. Off we went to the vet to have him checked. Rob had a broken ankle. The vet said that it was an old break that was never taken care of and that he had probably jumped and came down on it badly. He was in a splint for about 4 weeks and there is nothing so sad as a depressed Border Collie. No beach, no camping, no fishing, no running..., we are happy to say that as soon as the splint was off we had our happy clown back.

As much as I would love to see my son have that typical boy and dog relationship, Rob has truly become my constant companion. He doesn't have the Frisbee gene, but he does have the fishing gene!! He loves our camping and fishing trips, he will sit right next to me waiting for the trout to bite. If we are fly casting and stop for a moment, he's sure to speak up and tell me that unless the fly is in the water we won't catch anything. "So you better hurry and cast the line, MOM!" In October he got to watch them stock the lake. Four hundred pounds of trout pouring out of a truck and wiggling all over, Rob is the greatest trout herding Border Collie ever! Remember my mom, the woman afraid of ALL animals. Well, she is just as crazy about our Rob as we are. In forty years I have never seen my mother pet a dog, Rob always gets greeted and patted by Grandmother. She even lets him in her house!!! We know he's not a great animal actor or Frisbee champion, but that doesn't matter to us. He is an important member of our family and we are so happy that he picked us!!

 

Briar Rose: Our Rob is doing fantastic and now has a new friend! Her name is Briar Rose and we adopted her from rescue in Feb 2003. Briar was with a family that now has young children running around. She was doing a great job of herding them back to mom! We adore our new girl as much as our Rob. And they adore each other.

Briar is absolutely ball crazy and we are looking into a local Fly Ball club in our area for an outlet for her. Rob is crazy about Briar and now has someone to chase. They are always running and playing. I have to say that two Border Collies are better than one!! It truly is easier with two. We just returned from Briar's third camping trip. She enjoys the long hikes and the walks in the woods. Rob is still the fisherman! All you have to do is say the words "camp or fish" and they go nuts. They know when we start loading up the van that we are heading to the mountains. It is all we can do to keep them from jumping in their crates, they can't wait to go. We now have a mandatory "take the dogs camping weekend" every month.

Briar had begun having seizures recently and we were very worried about her. Thanks to Dr. Sage and the wonderful staff OVVH she is now on medication and hasn't had anymore seizures. We also can't say enough about BC Rescue and the work they do. We thank them for giving us the greatest gift; loving, wonderful and loyal friends!!!