Miru

Yes I meant an Australian Shepherd - are Australian Terriers considered a working breed too? Sorry for the confusion. LisaCC thanks for the honest response :) The other dogs on the horse property are working breeds but not actual working dogs, they spend their entire day playing with each other. Noted that my dog may not want to play with them, I had not thought of that. Also duly noted about anxiety being a solid possibility in an Aussie Shep though, thank you. It's not that I'm looking for a bulletproof breed, it's just that the anxiety in my late dog made me hesitate over getting another dog at all in case I ended up with that again, however I'm sure there's no guarantees when it comes to dogs of any breed and I'm prepared to deal with what comes. I've been talking to an Aussie owner and have been trying to get in contact with a local breeder to talk about them too but still awaiting a response. I was hoping to get some insight here too as I see a few folks have/breed them. I'm also interested in suggestions of breeds that might suit better if the Aussie Shep turns out to be incompatible. Every time I look up a breed and think they might be suitable a long list of negatives is also present so I end up unsure.

Hi everyone, I've been a lurker but I recently had to go through the loss of two oldies and I'm looking for some advice. My two were chinese cresteds who I had for about 12 years, and one of them had extremely bad separation anxiety which I was able to manage somewhat but it never really went away - I nicknamed her DestructoDog for reasons I'm sure you can guess. I'd always maintained that after managing her tendencies for so long I would avoid dogs once she was gone because she was such hard work (the other was a breeze!), but I find myself with an aching loneliness where the click click of little paws used to be. Despite the years of difficulties with her, I have not dealt with their loss at all well. My decision on never having dogs again has done a complete reversal but I'm nervous of potentially ending up with another difficult anxiety dog. Once I choose a dog it will be for the entirety of the dog's life so it's not a decision I am entering into lightly. I've been looking at dog breeds and have decided this time around I'd like a larger, more robust breed that I can take with me to the horse paddock and generally accompany me almost everywhere. The dog will live inside with me rather than be relegated to the back yard. The Aussie has really caught my eye as an intelligent, person-focused dog but I'm hesitant at going with a working breed in case they are far too much for me. I always hear horror stories of families taking on working breeds and ending up with bored and destructive dogs. I work from home and I have a half acre, well-fenced property and I drive out to the paddock almost every day where there are other working breeds available for play. There's also 2 other dogs (medium and small breed) living on this property which are not mine but my future dog will have almost constant access to (think of a duplex type arrangement with shared yard). I will be putting the time in to train whichever dog I end up with but I relish the thought of perhaps being able to do some advanced obedience stuff. I'm not a hugely active person but I would be able to walk and play ball/frisbee/whatever on an almost daily basis in addition to the paddock visits. Does the Aussie sound like it would suit this sort of lifestyle or is it going to go stir crazy with boredom?