Monday, July 27, 2009

The tyranny of fear

The list of border collie phobias continues to grow. So far, I've heard about border collies who are afraid of:
--Cell phone rings
--Coughing
--Doorways
--Ceiling fans
--Music
(that last one reminded Denny of this: http://tr.im/uhuF)
I received an interesting email from Sallie, who fostered Zorro before we adopted him. She said his behavior is classic border collie. Some studies have suggested that BCs are so wired for sound that when they don't have sheep to herd, the sensory overload leads to fears. If we could trace Zorro's bloodlines I'm sure he has very strong herding blood in him," she said. "You have a true Border Collie."
We started Zorro on Prozac on Friday, which Sallie thinks will help. Too soon to determine whether it's working. Luckily, he doesn't seem to be suffering any side effects. Maybe a little more tired than usual but it's almost August in Washington so everybody is moving pretty slowly.
This morning, he was anxious and fearful and at first I thought I wouldn't get him out of the yard. Then he smelled something interesting near the fence so that got us outside the gate. Once on the other side, we found a couple of dogs to tailgate for a while, so we got some running in. As long as he has a dog to focus on, he forgets about the sky. But we can only get away with this for so long, because once we catch up with the dog, Zorro wants to herd him, and Zorro is faster than most dogs. Maybe we can rent a greyhound.

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