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OLLIERescue Me ID: 20-07-28-00438

No longer available

About OLLIE

Adoption Fee: $300
Australian Cattle Dog
Age: Puppy
Sex: Male

Ollie is a 1 yr. 8 mo. old, 34 lb cattle dog with classic breed traits. He is an incredibly smart, athletic, loving, sweet, 'velcro' pup. Ollie has clearly had some trauma in his past life, and has anxiety in some situations. He has a lot of personality and definitely will communicate his feelings to you. Ollie is a high energy guy who loves being outside and definitely needs his exercise in order to be relatively calm in the house. He is incredible with a frisbee, loves agility challenges, and he enjoys his 4 mile run every morning. Without his morning exercise, when home Ollie becomes sensitive to outside noises. Ollie has been living with us in an apartment (1BR/1BA) with no other animals. About 4 months ago, we adopted him to get him out of the shelter and to help him settle after neuter surgery and to make progress on some behavior issues. At home, Ollie follows us around the apartment. My partner and I both work from home, and when we are working, Ollie will curl up on his dog bed. We take breaks during the day to give him short walks and play mental stimulation games like hide and seek. If we leave Ollie home alone for more than 20 minutes, he is fine in his crate if he gets a frozen peanut butter Kong.�%A0�%A0 He loves to learn, is eager to please, and is very food motivated! Ollie is happiest whenever he can be with his people and we take him everywhere we can. He loves adventures! He travels well in the car and walks well on leash (using a Gentle Leader Head Harness). Ollie loves and is very excited to meet new people when we are out. However, he may need work when people visit the home. A male friend (wearing a mask) briefly came into our home, and Ollie was a bit aggressive toward him. When we first brought Ollie home, he was scared of random household items and activities and responded by snapping. A trainer help us to end that behavior. If he feels anxious these days, he curls himself into a little ball the corner. We will try to comfort him by coming to him with treats, TLC or a food dispensing toy.�%A0 Ollie would do best in a quiet situation. We live on a busy street in the downtown area in Sacramento. Ollie becomes very anxious and reactive when we encounter people on scooters/skateboards/hoverboards/rollerblades/etc (bikes are ok). Constant exposure to these, as well as passing other dogs has been the hardest thing for us to manage. It can take a couple of blocks before Ollie's nerves calm down and he can enjoy his walk or run.�%A0 Ollie has all the traits of an excellent working/herding dog. His instincts for herding have been mellowed but, when he's excited or agitated, they come out. As is often the case, traits that are desirable for a working dog on country property, can be very undesirable behaviors in urban and suburban life. We have been working with a trainer, who taught us to be his 'pack leaders,' especially when walking. Ollie needs structure and leaders to remind him that it is not his job to keep scary things away. He has responded well to training, and needs an experienced cattle dog owner who can be two steps ahead of him to continue this work. Ollie is an intelligent boy, with a busy brain, and who will think for himself if consistent direction is not provided. Ollie is reactive when seeing other dogs on walks. He will whine, jump, bark, and pull. The shelter told us he could only be in a single-dog household and we agree. We have been working on his dog reactivity on walks, and when we are in control of the situation, he'll manage to successfully pass a dog 15 to 20 ft. away without reacting. Ollie also has some resource guarding issues, mostly with food. We have been working with a trainer on this issue. His body language will indicate his displeasure and he'll usually growl before he begins his snapping gestures.�%A0 As with most cattle dogs, Ollie needs patience, calm, unrelenting consistency, and a relationship based on mutual respect. Negative or punishment based (including prong collars or spray bottles) training will NOT work with Ollie, and will never win him over. Ollie needs a nurturing, quiet home environment with adopters who have the time to spend with him daily to physically and mentally exhaust him. When provided the right direction and given boundaries, Ollie can grow into the ideal, well-behaved dog. We've loved working with him and have seen immense progress since we first picked him up from the shelter. He is a very sweet pup who likes to play and will reward you with evening and morning cuddles. Ollie will be your best companion if you're willing to put in the time.�%A0 If you are not interested in continuing training, Ollie would NOT be a good choice for your home.�%A0 Ollie is located in the Sacramento, CA area. If you're interested in learning more about Ollie/initiating an adoption application and/or meeting him, please contact�%A0Lauren Greenwood. Email: [email protected]

Sacramento County
Sacramento, California 95814

Compatibility

  • Good with Adults (Not Kids)

Personality

  • High Energy
  • Somewhat Dominant

Health

  • Neutered
  • Vaccinations Current

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