We are reaching out to all of our collie friends asking for your help with Jill. Please feel free to crosspost this email to all the experienced dog owners you know even if they are outside of NJ. Jill is in need of a new home. She is only 21 months old - she will be 2 in June. She is spayed and utd on shots. She is a beautiful sable collie - see attached pictures. Jill's owners recently contacted collie rescue because they have a newborn baby and are concerned about Jill's behavior. After talking with her owners - we thought it would be best if a very experienced collie person/professional dog trainer went to meet Jill to assess her temperament. This is what was reported: "The first 20 minutes of my visit I was giving the owners advice and seeing nothing that could not be dealt with by training. The initial issues I saw were jumping and barking for attention, they stated that she also barks when crated. While talking with the owners they said she had fear issues when outside on walks ( it was raining so we did not take a walk with her). We discussed that she needed more exercise (they live in a townhouse and since the baby arrived & with the winter we had this year Jill has gotten less exercise than usual). We discussed options including doggie daycare or giving her a job to do by trying herding or agility. The owners stated that Jill's negative behaviors started when she was 6 months old and have gotten progressively worse with time. Then we moved on to seeing her resource guarding issues. At first all went well, I had them give her the kong. I had the owners put cheese in it and I had liverwurst in my hand to work on showing them how to get her to trade the kong for the higher value treat. All was going well for a couple minutes, she was willing to happily trade with me the kong for the treat. Then as I was standing there with the kong in my hand talking with the owners about options and training she lunged at me. Without any warning (no lip curl or growl) Jill lunged at me and on contact started to snarl. The positive here is that she could have easily done damage to me but did inhibit her bite and only left the slightest of marks on my hand. My gut feeling is that she has learned that this behavior gets her what she wants. The owners stated that frequently when she sees the bag they throw at her she immediate starts to react. Jill is also on special food due to issues with Urinary tract infections. I spent almost an hour with the family and based on my conversation with the owners and my observations I think that for the safety of the infant in the house that Jill should not remain in the household. I think some of Jills issues are fear based in conjunction with the training methods being used on her have made things worse. My recommendation would be that she be placed in a home with no children and with owners that are experienced dog owners." Jill's owners have also stated that she is fine with dogs smaller than her and scared of dogs who are similar in size or larger. She has not shown any aggression towards the larger dogs - she just hides when in their presence. Her behavior around cats is unknown as she has never been around them. So, we are hoping that maybe you or someone you know might be willing to take on this "project" collie and give her the understanding, exercise, clear consistent leadership and training that she desperately needs. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Jill is not in our rescue because we do not have an appropriate foster home. We are just trying to help the owners by putting the information out, so if anyone is interested in meeting her, let me know and I will put you directly in touch with her owners. Thank you. Sincerely, Kary On '11-04-23 Jill was adopted.