Separated at birth?

Here is Lucy’s story:

Lucy was picked up in Anderson
County, South Carolina,
along with her sister, as strays when they were about three months old. While Laurie doesn’t think
that it was a kill shelter, it still wasn’t a
wonderful place for either one of them.

She found them on Petfinder, while looking for a border collie female, preferably a puppy. Lucy wasn’t very
photogenic, so Riley was the “cute” one. Laurie called about Riley and was offered both at a discounted price. The original plan was to give Lucy to a friend, but Laurie got so attached to her that it was difficult to
let Lucy go.

We won’t get into the details, but suffice it to say that Lucy ended up staying with Laurie, who went against all advice
and kept her. Laurie explains, “Everyone told me not to keep littermates, that they would be more
bonded to each other than to me (somewhat true), and I would never be able to
train them unless they were kept separately all of the time (not true). These
girls are probably the happiest dogs I’ve ever had.”

Lucy like Lilly is better in a familiar environment with the same routine. Riley, on the other hand, is happy all of the time, no matter who she sees, where she is, what’s
going on around her. Laurie says, “She has a natural curiosity that never
quits.”

Lucy loves
people to distraction, but put another dog in the mix, and she has to be the
alpha. Unfortunately, the other dogs don’t tend to like it. She feels like she
has to protect Laurie, protect any food that she may (or may not) have in her pocket,
and is guarding of anything that she sees as “hers.” 

“It isn’t terrible,” Laurie says, “but
when I react to it, she cowers like I’m going to beat her. I’ve never touched
her with anything but love, but I think that she senses what she’s doing is
wrong, and she’s afraid of me leaving her. At least that’s what I think. It
could very easily be something else, but I’m trying not to react, just to
redirect. A vet friend of mine has suggested a Gentle Leader with her, says it
will let her know that the strength is with me, and I’ll take care of things for
her. But, how can you really know?”

So far, Lucy has not been introduced to agility, but she has tried herding. And, Laurie says, “She loved it, thought the sheep
were the best things that ever happened to her. That’s until the llamas came. Those were better, in her eyes. She’d love to be able to herd all the time,
even though she’s not very good at it at this point. Or should I say I’m not. We’d both be better at it if I would take her more.  But since I live in a
pretty suburban area, there aren’t many sheep for her to play with.” 

Laurie feels lucky
to assist at the agility school, so she brings Lucy with her to practice. She adds that, Lucy, “wants to learn and learns fast. Once I knuckle down and
train her, she’ll probably take to it really fast.  I’m just concerned about how
she’ll react when there are other dogs in the mix, considering it will be me
with toys and food for rewards.”

Laurie hopes to get control over her own reactions when Lucy reacts. That’s something I surely understand (and I suspect that many of you feel the same).