Everything We’re Learning About Stormi (Week 1)

A running list of everything we're learning with our rescue herding puppy.

Aug 03, 2026

It’s officially been a little over a week since we rescued Stormi, and every day we understand him a little more. I thought it’d be fun to keep a running list of everything we’re learning along the way. Maybe it’ll help another family with a herding puppy one day, and I know it’ll be fun for us to look back on.

One thing that definitely helped going into this was Bagel. We took her through beginner and intermediate training classes, so we felt like we already had a really solid foundation before adopting Stormi. Of course, every dog is completely different, but having that experience gave us a starting point. The rescue believes Stormi is a Border Collie and Australian Shepherd mix, which means he’s likely inherited a lot of herding instincts. He’s incredibly intelligent, has a ton of energy, learns quickly, but he’s also one of the snuggliest little dogs we’ve ever had. He’ll go from sprinting around the yard to curling up right next to us on the couch.

Commands that have made the biggest difference

Sit

If I had to pick one command that’s made the biggest difference so far, it’d be sit.

We’ve found that asking Stormi to sit helps him reset, especially during those puppy moments when he gets really excited or starts nipping. Instead of continuing to feed into that excitement, asking for a sit gives him a chance to pause, think, and settle. It’s probably the command we use the most throughout the day.

Come

We’ve also spent a lot of time working on recall.

Inside the house, we’ll randomly call him throughout the day and reward him every time he comes. Outside, Josh and I stand about 20 feet apart in the backyard and take turns calling, “Stormi, come!” When he gets to one of us, he gets lots of praise, a treat, and then we release him with “free” before the other person calls him. Sometimes we’ll leave a lightweight leash dragging behind him while we practice, just in case we need it.

One thing we’ve noticed is that Stormi naturally likes staying close to us. I don’t know if that’s his personality, if it’s because he’s still settling in, or if we simply got lucky. That definitely wasn’t our experience with Bagel or my childhood dog, Noah, so we’re trying to reinforce it while he’s young.

What motivates him

This has probably been one of the biggest surprises.

With Bagel, our highest-value reward was always a ball or a Frisbee.

Stormi?

He is all about food.

He’s by far the most food-motivated dog we’ve ever had. The second treats come out, he’s completely focused. It reminded us how important it is to figure out what your individual dog values instead of assuming every dog is motivated by the same thing.

His herding instincts

We knew Stormi was energetic, but we didn’t realize how much of that came from instinct.

He naturally watches movement, likes to know where everyone is, and genuinely seems happiest when he has a job to do. We picked him up a herding ball, and it immediately clicked. Watching him interact with something that taps into what he was bred to do has been really fun.

Our first hike

We took Stormi on his first little hike the other morning. Nothing crazy, just about a mile and a half, and we headed out early to beat the Colorado heat.

Since it was his first hike, we probably stopped more than we needed to, but I honestly don’t regret it. About every quarter to half mile we’d find a shady spot, offer him water, and just check in with him. We tracked everything on our Garmin watches, which made it easy to see how far we’d gone between breaks.

Instead of focusing on the mileage, we were paying attention to Stormi. Was he looking for shade? Was he choosing to walk in our shadow? Were his ears getting especially warm? Was he slowing his pace? Did he still seem excited to keep going? Those little cues told us much more than the distance ever could. Because Stormi has black fur and he’s still a puppy, we wanted to be extra cautious in the Colorado heat and altitude. As always, every dog is different, so talk with your vet before heading out on trails, especially if your dog is still growing.

Looking ahead

One thing we’ve been reading a lot about is growth plates.

Since Stormi is a rescue, we don’t know his exact age, but we think he’ll only be around eight months old by the time our backpacking trip comes around at the end of September.

Right now, we’re planning as if he won’t be joining us.

We’ll make the final decision with our vet, but growth plates in many dogs don’t fully close until somewhere between 12 and 18 months, depending on the breed and the individual dog. We’d much rather be patient now than ask too much of his body while he’s still developing.

We’ll absolutely keep taking him on age-appropriate adventures and shorter hikes while he grows, but we also want to protect his body so he has the best chance of enjoying the mountains for years to come. The backpacking trips will always be ther!!!

Things that have surprised us

He’s much chattier than we expected and definitely has opinions.
He naturally likes staying close to us.
Ten minutes of training seems to tire him out more than adding another walk.
He settles on his own more often than we expected for a herding puppy.
He’s incredibly observant and notices everything.
Routines seem to help him relax.
He genuinely enjoys having a job.
He’s the most food-motivated dog we’ve ever had.

I’m sure this list will look completely different in another month, but that’s half the fun. Every week we’re getting to know a little more about who Stormi is.

Rooting for your bloom,
Jess