Sayly

The Tibetan Spaniel listed is a cutie too and very sweet!

We have a lady in town who has two JRTs. They are dog aggressive and she lives/works at the petrol station. If we walk in that area we have to cross the road as her two will rush at ours barking and getting quite close (close enough for Gracie to get a mouthful of fur one day) and they circle behind the dogs and try and nip them from behind. Poppy is DA (doesn't react to dogs unless they are in her face though) and Gracie does not like other small terriers. The lady also walks them around the town off lead. Makes me soooo angry.

There are often reasons behind not allowing certain markings to be shown, for example Aussies without pigment covering their eyes or ears can be deaf or blind. Often they aren't but there is an increased risk. Excessive white can be from mating merle to merle, which can result in homozygous merle puppies which can be deaf or blind. White covering the eyes/ears/body splashes can also come up in normal merles and tri colours. this photo made my heart swell - it's so beautiful! Love the love - Astred She loves loves loves babies and is so good with them. I think she'd love to be a mother, will have to see how things go as to if she does or doesn't have a litter.

I will take it if you think it would be strong enough for a small Aussie Shepherd bitch!

When Sheila Polk judged the 2008 Aussie spec in Vic, there was a huge turnout, it was the biggest gathering of Aussies ever seen in this country. She did not discriminate between tailed and non-tailed Aussies and out of about 22 classes, there were around 8 tailed winners. That is not at all bad considering the ratio of tailed to non-tailed entries was a lot lower than that. Specialty judges I think I'd enter everything I could tailed or non-tailed! Specialty judges I would expect to be some-what better with tails than an average judge from the USA. Would have loved to be there. ETA: SP - there's been talk but I don't think it's happened yet. I would think all judges coming to judge here would be told we are no longer able to dock and that tailed animals should not be discriminated against due to tails, like the Aus judges were? I personally prefer bob tailed Aussies and a tail can make them appear longer. A gay tail is also unsightly. Not that I'm saying tailed Aussies shouldn't go up! One of my favourite bitches has a tail and I get so excited when she does well. Nearly as excited as her owner/handler.

Does anyone know if there were any Irish entered and if so any results? Would LOVE to know!

You said exactly what I was going to say. For a cat it is even worse.

I wouldn't expect to do well with a tailed Aussie under an American judge (in fact I wouldn't expect to do well under Aussie judges either) but I think I'd still enter. The more they see the more "normal" the tails will hopefully appear. The Irish are traditionally docked (about 1/3 of the tail taken off) but because Ruby is very much American lines I would rather enter her under an American than many other nationalities. She gets groomed to perfection for USA, Canadian judges but for some Europeans we tend to leave her a touch more hairy as they seem to be shown hairier over there. The Americans of course groom them right up. I doubt I will enter her under Asian judges anymore as they don't tend to even look at her and I have been asked to table her before...

Great to have you back Jed. I can't imagine what you are going through.

Research your breed and the health tests required, then go with someone who does health test. If you are going to fork out $800, $1k, $2k for a dog you don't want it going blind or passing away when it's 2.

We got a rare breed show prospect bitch for $800. Aussie Shepherds you are looking at closer to $1000 for a pet. But then with Aussies there is more outlay in health testing parents than there is for the rare breed.

Holly has a pawprint on her leg.

So good to hear you are recovering Jed! Thank you for the updates.

Coming back to this thread and looking at what I wanted to achieve and I have done most of it! Holly and Riley both got their titles and Holly is now on over 200 points with numerous BOBs. The babies that hit the ring have had mixed show careers for now, the dog hasn't done much and has been taken out of the ring so he can mature a bit and grow into himself. The bitch picked up a baby in show and a 10 point BCC at 7 months of age. Got my prefix (first choice). The older dog didn't end up happening but it's all good because he's since become a grand champ and semi-retired. Haven't handled the Bassets much but handle the Dachies most shows and loving it! Picked up a BIG and an Aust Bred in Group with the standard LH. And this little darling is 9 weeks old! Very excited about her as she's only the 2nd Aussie/dog to be in my name (co-owned). She's 1/2 sister to Holly and sired by a DOLer's dog who went to rainbow bridge after the litter was born. ;) Pic at 6 weeks Love the attitude already! I need to get some stacked pics of her. Started lead training today and she's picking it up pretty quickly.

Mum was going to head over with Ruby but didn't work out with work.

I think plant material is cheaper thus added to kibble as the main ingredient for this reason. I try and purchase foods with meat as the primary ingredient.

Is an animal that seeks out, consumes and digests non-animal foods omnivorous? That would be my understanding. Scientifically speaking, dogs are actually classified as "Carnivores", but there is a difference between dogs and cats. Cats are "Obligate Carnivores" which means their diet is explicitly made up of meat. Dogs, however, do consume some plant material, therefore they are not "obligate" carnivores. But they do not consume enough to be classified as "Omnivores". Confusing I know... Thanks Danielle.

Aussie Shepherds are working dogs so can't be happy living anywhere but on a farm. I dunno, Holly looks pretty happy curled up on the couch right now...

I'm sure at uni a couple of years ago we covered the fact that dogs are somewhat omniverous, but for the life of me I can't even remember what subject it was under or I'd check out the lecture material.

Dogs can be right or left pawed but I don't think tongue-hanging-side would have much to do with it. Poor Gracie, mustn't be a terrier then after learning to sit the day after we got her in about 5mins... Thankfully the Aussie Shep standard states any eye colour is allowed, hard to get a dark eye on a red Aussie. Then you sure can't trust the majority of Aussie Shepherds then... Those evil tan eyebrows! Had the blue eye thing with Holly. Is the Dally thing to do with the stones?

I got to spend some time with a couple of babies on the weekend, spent some time lead training and was going to handle one but clashed with group 5. Absolutely sweet dogs but very stubborn!

Wish you lived here Gayle, would love to handle him for you.

I am lucky enough to co-own his black tri sister Bree (Tuscamada Twist of Summer) with their breeder. Issak and Bree were my favourites from the litter and I'm so happy to know he and his genes are safe with Gayle. He's the only black tri son of a black tri Aussie who passed before his time. He's a special little dude!

It may have been performed in WA as the complete ban there has only been brought in very recently. And there is a bob tail gene in Rotties but don't know how common it is in the breed. Or it may have had a badly formed tail at birth, or broke it or anything. Many possibly reasons for a short tail.

Still thinking of you Jed and family.