Naomi

Thanks Nadine! Bronte looks like royalty in the dog, the way she is sitting. Wow, hasn't Leo grown up!! Look at those dark eyes. Awww Halo is changing from cute to beautiful (although always cute). Such a different from the sig pics to the one you posted. I'll be visiting Archie and the others again this Saturday. Can't wait to have either some photos or videos to share. We are taking a blankie to leave behind with the breeder so that we have something to bring home with the litter's scent on it. Hopefully this will help him settle. Finished most of my doggie shopping today. I must of picked the most expensive store though.

Thanks D&R! I really can't wait to meet him. I've wanted a dog my whole life. So of course I'll take tonnes and tonnes of pictures to share. And I agree, they really are one of the cutest looking breeds (although I could be biased. ).

Congrats Koemi! They are all really cute.

Here is my youtube channel. Only a couple of videos so far. I have no subscribers yet. Nomie's Youtube

Thanks for the link, I'll check it out. I don't plan on leaving the pup in the crate during the day while I'm away. He'll be outside. The only time he'll be in the crate is for sleeping. Maybe I should just get him use to the crate, and shut the door after he is asleep?

I saw this at the pet store the other day and I'm thinking of buying it, but it said it might mark the carpet. Is this just a general warning that keeps the company safe from that rare mishap? Or are these products known to lighten the colour of carpet? Just curious because I rent. I will probably get it and do a test patch on some spare carpet first.

Nadine, I think Lilly is a beautiful name for a Golden Retriever. I could not think of a good girls name so it's lucky I ended up with a boy.. but if I knew of the name Lilly I reckon I would of used that. It's very pretty and I haven't heard it much.

My Aussie pup arrives in a few weeks. When we are home I would like the puppy inside with us and I would also like it to sleep in it's crate of a nightime (near our bed). Of a daytime when we are at work or away I plan to keep it outside in a dog run with a kennel. I want to train it to get use to these situations from day one as this is how it will be all it's life. We have a long weekend when he comes home which gives him three days to settle and on day four we are both back to work/uni. So by this time I want to make sure he is well adjusted to the idea of being outside in the pen and comfortable in using the kennel. How do I get it to like the crate? He will be sleeping in it on the first night so this is one of the first things I need to get him to like. My doggie book tells me to start by feeding him treats with the door open, but it doesn't really explain when I should start to shut the door and how long I should leave it shut for when he is getting use to it? Then next we want to introduce him to his dog run and kennel. I have kong toys to keep him busy while we are away.

Congrats! When do you get to see him? Tobias is a great name! And he is so cute! 2 weeks is not long at all. You'll be getting your pup the weekend before mine. Can't wait to see some more pics of him. I don't know how I would handle such a long wait! I was very lucky with my situation. I had contacted my breeder early last year to register my interest. At the time I couldn't commit to a pup because I didn't live in a suitable place. Then a month ago things started happening very quickly and we found ourself moving. Only two days later the breeder contacted me and asked if I was ready for a pup yet because a litter had just been born. Thankfully I was finally in a place that could have a dog. The timing couldn't of been any better! It was meant to be. But because it happened this way I wasn't sitting around waiting for a mating, and then for the birth of the pups. I'm glad I only had the 8 weeks to wait. If you like those you might also like these tags.. link How exciting! They are 4 weeks aren't they? Do you know which one is yours yet? Do you have a girl or boy preference? I just discovered that the weekend I bring Archie home is actually a long weekend! That means I have that one extra day to settle Archie into his new home. I'm so lucky.

Well next time you get a pup it will have to be an Aussie. Now that I know which pup I'm getting and I know his name, I went ahead and ordered one of these awesome ID tags. link

If you are looking at SLR's I would also recommend the Canon 550d. I've just switched to this after using the Canon 20d for quite some time and I love it. Although the 7d would be better for the action shots you are talking about, the 550d would be a great starter. It can do almost 4fps. Edited to say: to get the maxium fps you will also need a memory card with a fast writing speed. This makes the most of the cameras abilities. I use one of the Sandisk 'extreme' SD cards.

Our family cat use to do the same thing. He loved hunting and catching mice. But instead of killing them for us, he would bring it inside as a 'present' and then let them go. Usually he would let them go in a corner so he could watch them and they couldn't escape him.

Congrats! That must be so exciting. We will definitely need some pics sooner rather than later. Wow! Ren sounds like an angel. 3 weeks to go for me. Not so long now! It's been decided we are getting black tri boy #1 link We have named him Archer. Although I will be calling him Archie.

AH I see now. Lightroom is the only Adobe program that isn't in my design suite. Hmmm, I just assumed I could get by without it seeing as I have Photoshop and Bridge. I might have a play and see if I can get the same look in Adobe Bridge.

Nice to see Ren 'come to life' in video form! Ren looks like such a mini-me.

Beautiful images. You've captured their expressions well. When you say "create a new black/white preset" what does that mean? Is it somthing you do in photoshop or bridge?

Haha join the club LL. So have you narrowed down your options? Snook, I love the last one you've posted. :D

That's great SC. I guess it's all up to the individual situations and what works best for you and the breeder. And I can imagine the potty training would be so much easier by 12 weeks. I've just uploaded a short vid I took when we visited the pups. Excuse the shakiness of the video. ;) Australian Shepherd Puppies - 4 weeks old

Yup - that's where we are at - we have to wait for first shots and vet check until we come visit, then they don't go home until they've had their 12 wk shot. 12 weeks? I though pups were usually sent to their new owners at 8 weeks. From what I understand the 8 - 12 week period is really crucial for a pups development and they should be settling into their new home, meeting other people and other vaccinated puppies. Unless the breeder does all this socialization with the litter? I would die if I had to wait 12 weeks. ;)

I quite like combo two with the dark olive. We aren't much help are we? ;)

This is horrible. I can relate to how they feel as I was attacked by a labrador when I was 11. It does affect you for life. I still have little panic attacks if I come across stray dogs without owners. My first instinct is to run which is the worst thing I could do. Horrible that the men were injured, but I'm glad that they were able to protect the 3 and 8 year old children. How did they stop the dogs attacking in the end?

The wait for me has been getting quicker as it gets closer! Hope yours does too. How old was she at that stage? Nick and I have our hopes on the black tri boy but I understand it is also the breeders choice. We see them again at 6 weeks so hopefully we have a better idea then of which one will be ours. Oh so yours will be home a week after I get mine. We will be going through similar experiences then. It is fair enough that the breeder has decided that. I'm pretty sure it is to do with health reasons (parvo maybe?) I was lucky enough to go meet the breeder and her dogs when the pups were one week old. We saw the pups but didn't hold them or anything. I saw them again at 4 weeks. I think this is a good age to visit them because this is when you can really begin to interact with them. You'll love it!

WA, that's awesome! I would love that amount of time to spend with the pups. When did you know that Halo was the one you wanted? So how long has everyone got now? Is anyone getting their pup around the same time as mine? (March 12)

I'm not sure if it is on Foxtel, but one of my favourite docs was Big Cat Diary. I was addicted to that show. They followed the lives of a pride of lions, leopards, and cheetahs through several generations.

Go Charlie! Happy Birthday! ;) Lovely photos of him.