**Update**

Pepper is doing much better. She did get out again when my daughter came home for Spring Break - she was careless at a door, but my wife was able to get her back the next day.
She now spends more time out of her kennel, will sleep in our room with us and will willingly let us put the leash on her. She follows my wife around the house and is generally just more at ease.
She is actually a great walker - doesn't pull and is well behaved. We take her on play-dates with other dogs and walk her everyday. She even laid in the office while I worked last night.
She won't come to us yet and still runs to the kennel when I come home, but her socialization is getting so much better.
Looks like she will turn out to be a good dog!

THANK YOU for the update, 'frisco! So happy to read about the improvement in her. And the hopeful, positive tone of your post makes me smile. BIGLY.

pdc093 said:

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THANK YOU for the update, 'frisco! So happy to read about the improvement in her. And the hopeful, positive tone of your post makes me smile. BIGLY.

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No kidding, That is just two weeks and very good progress, hope it keeps getting better, dogs are the best at bouncing back.

Further Update

Pepper now jumps on the bed every morning when I leave and sleeps with my wife.
She has slept on the bed a few times through the night with me in it.
She will come engage with us(mostly her) when sitting in a chair.
Has gotten loose 3 more times (don't ask, but not from either one of us) and wife was able to get her in very short order. One time, after about 30 minutes, she just laid down and let the wife walk up and put the leash on her.
Still quite timid, but loves other dogs - has me thinking about getting her a playmate.
Is very hesitant to let us put the leash on in the house, but as soon as we do she is ready to walk.
4 months in and has yet to bark or growl.
Likes playing with our cats.
We got her an Air Tag.
We hope, when we are at the lake house and other dogs are around, we will be able to let her out to play with them without fear of her running off.

She is going to end up being a good dog!

She looks straight Border Collie to me. I have had 5 over the last 40 years. All different sizes and colors, long and short hair.
Smartest dogs I have ever been associated with.

Another Update and more help needed:

Pepper continues to improve. We are a little more than 6 months in.
Will mostly come when called.
Does well at Dog Park when she initiates the contact. This is a little odd because when we take her to our neighbors to play with their dogs - it is "on" immediately.
Perfectly behaved.
Not really interested in playing with toys. Although, she is like a homeless person. My wife can take her toys and scatter them around the house and Pepper will almost immediately go get them and return them to "her spot". Funny as well that when she was out for the longest(8 days), she had a spot that was her "camp" and she would bring things from around the neighborhood and keep them there with her.

But, she still runs when the opportunity presents itself.
This weekend at the lake, my SIL was careless at the door. Pepper was just watching for her opportunity. Ran and spent the night outside. Wife found her early the next morning via the air tag (life saver). She called her a couple of times and she just kept walking away. Ended up under a travel trailer. Laid there until my wife crawled under and put the leash on her and walked her home. At home, went straight to our bed and slept there the rest of the day.

Last 3 times she has gotten out she has been caught fairly easily. Her running now seems to be isolated to times when there are other people or dogs around. Maybe it is anxiety. But, she doesn't come home by herself even if she is easy to catch now. I don't really worry about her getting out/away from my wife and I, but if other people are around, all bets are off and that is not acceptable.

Does anybody think a professional trainer would do any good at this point? I tend to think until she becomes at least a little food motivated or will come to us every time when we call her, a trainer won't do much good. We work on this all the time.

It is getting close to football season and we can't ask anybody to watch her because she will run and doesn't go outside very readily unless she really has to "go".

Another odd thing is she seems to deem the backyard as "punishment". We will go outside with her or just let her out and as soon as she does her business, she runs straight back to the door. For a dog that wants to run away outside, it seems odd she doesn't want to spend anytime in the yard.

We are nearly 2 years in now and Pepper is almost a "normal" dog. I believe all BCs/BC mixes are at least a little "on the spectrum".
On her morning walks we can let her off the leash to chase squirrels and she comes back to get her leash on. Her night walk is usually after all the neighbor dogs are in for the night so she gets extended time off the leash and mostly walks along with us, chases any rabbit she sees and then comes right back. She will still occasionally look at us, look away, look at us again and then take off the other way - but now she comes back really quickly.
At our lake house with no fenced yard she just lays out in the yard and never runs off and rarely even wants to come inside.
The only time I have heard her bark was at a bobcat in our yard. Still not food motivated - grazes her food, but will eat the cat food if we leave the room for any amount of time. Plays with the cats and won't chase them off her bed - she'll sleep on the floor if one of the cats is in her bed.
Doesn't crave attention. Won't sit on the couch with you but for a few minutes and then not close to you. Tolerates being petted, but doesn't seek it out.
Great car-rider and handles the infrequent trip to the boarding kennel while we are at football games like a champ.
Took her to the other side of the families ranch over Thanksgiving where she met cows - she failed her border collie test by running away from them!
Everyone she meets loves her. Our patience has been rewarded!

Great update - thanks for sharing.

Unused to have a border collie/collie mix with behavior like you describe. Got out of my fenced yard (neighbors planks were rotted) 10 minutes before I was leaving out of state for a week-long conference. Couldn't do anything - had a friend put up flyers around the neighborhood. Got back - finally got a hit from someone who saw her in a cow pasture. Had to ride my mountain bike after her and basically jump from it onto her in order to catch her. Worked with her for a long time (training, positive re-enforcement) - I'd take her out to local parks with a leash and a 50 foot rope tied to it to let her roam a bit. She loved "herding" joggers. Eventually, was able to let her off-leash - she'd always come back. Turned into a really good dog (although still shy).