Nik

My neighbours have a cocker spaniel and he's home by himself most of the day. He speaks to us through the gap in the fence, but seems otherwise happy. They love their garden, and he doesn't dig it up. Lovely nature with my kids too. They have hardly trained him past the very basics, but he's a well mannered boy nonetheless. I second Shorstep suggesting Aussie Terriers. We had 3 growing up, and they were a great dog. Didn't bark for no reason, and were happy outside all day. Relatively easy to train (I trained mine by myself when I was 11), and very loyal. Didn't shed too much, but I wasn't doing the cleaning at that stage of my life, so I could be wrong. I currently have an Aussie Shepherd, and she's been hardly walked the last few weeks, yet she's still happy to just hang out with me and the kids, but I'm also happy to have her hanging around under my feet all day. She's never chewed anything except a cardboard box, but she does leave HEAPS of hair... my wardrobe is changing from mostly blacks to mottled grey colour .

My almost 1 yo Aussie Shepherd seems to shed fairly constantly - it's a competition in our house who can shed more hair to gum up the vacuum cleaner, Annie or myself! I rub the carpet with my shoes and wads of our combined hair appear (as our carpet is kind of greyish/brown, perfect for hiding hair!) Seems that the Aussies seems to fall into two categories, constant shedders like mine, or twice a year as a major coat drop. Wonder if the sleeping/living inside does have something to do with it? Mine is inside with me almost 24/7.

Oi, don't you remember meeting my Annie there a few times??? Aussies are definitely the breed for me. I wanted a moderately energetic dog, not one that was a coiled spring, one that was super affectionate, very intelligent and able to come everywhere with us. Annie is all that and more. I can't wait to eventually add another Aussie or two to our family. .

Mine's a bit different to that one but I did it myself. Turned the water mains off, unscrewed the spout that was there (using cloth over pliers on the end bit to be able to turn it). Then screwed the show head on and turned mains back on. Simple as. Oh! I found a picture of my exact model. The base triangley bit has a thread inside it that matches up with where the spout came off. I think we have the same ones! We have one for the shower, and one for the bath. Mostly I bath Annie in the bath, especially if I need to clean it, and other times we use the shower. They're easy to install and not too pricey.

I'm pretty sure that Annie's mum was bred on her 2nd cycle as she was 18 months when our girl was born. It was her only dog and her first time breeding. I haven't been in contact with the owner of her grandma but I know who she is. I asked our breeder when Annie had her weird first season at 5 months but she told me that Indy, her mum, had her first at 11 months. I'm going to be super careful and only walk her on leash away from here for the next few days, then it will be games in the backyard only! Thanks for all the advise. I'm sure I'll be back again asking new questions at a later stage!

Ok, on leash at all times it is.

Thanks I had been driving her to a park where hardly any dogs go in the middle of the day, and putting her on leash as soon as another dog came near. And I've been keeping her inside when I have to go out. Our vet is lovely, and isn't charging me at all, just wanted an opinion from someone who has seen it a bit!

Post deleted as new question asked further down. Sorry I can't edit properly as I'm on my phone as Internet not working at home today Grrrrr

I'm another newish Aussie owner (my girl is almost 1). She has always been calm. There were a few initial times where she nipped or jumped on us (we have 4 young boys) but she quickly learned that these behavious got her no where. She is protective of my kids when we are out. Just yesterday we were at a park and another dog came near my 2yo who was happily exploring in the bushy garden. She quickly put herself between them and herded the other dog off in the other direction! Annie only barks when playing or if there's someone suspicious around, especially if they come knocking on the door offering light bulbs . I have only met one Aussie that would have been too full on for me. There are 4 others in my neighbourhood, and the rest are calm like our Annie.

And the other! http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...=187252&hl=

Here's one... http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...=186971&hl=

Australian Shepherd (have one already, and probably always will) and then in no particular order.... Australian Terrier (had three growing up, the best big little dogs) Kelpie Border Collie Bernese Mountain Dog Finnish Lapphund Border Terrier Golden Retriever Pointer Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever

I only recently found out that the GSD and Alsatian were the same breed... I though that the GSD were the shorter haired ones and the Alsatian the longer haired.... nope, just one name was more politically correct after WW2.

I just looked over at the couch, and yes, Annie is asleep like that now too!

Aussies do upside down cockroaches too!

Oops, sorry. Now I knew that, but typed dalmation anyway!

I agree with this Gayle, and also add... No, I didn't chop off half her tail (she has a long bob tail) No, she is not a husky cross dalmation ! (merle with blue eyes!) Yes, she can see out of her blue eyes... what colour are yours! Blue? Can you see fine?

We just loved the blue merle Aussie Shepherds, and we waited until the right one came along - and boy has she been great. Now we'd like to add a red tri or merle to our family. We loved them before, but were too close in colour to our old girl a BC x kelpie (avatar pic), and we just weren't ready for that yet. Now the reds are calling........

I'll put a vote in for Aussie terriers. I had a few growing up, and they are great little big dogs (they think they are big). I really liked the fact that they are closer to medium than small, and are nice sturdy dogs. Ours were great around kids. We got 2 brothers when I was 12, then we got a female when one of the brothers died. I had my Aussie (Kelly) trained quite easily. I always wanted a horse growing up, but mum and dad would let me, so I trained my dog to go over jumps and around obstacles like in a gymkana. I didn't know there was such thing as agility then, but I'm sure he would have excelled at it!!! He lived for a bit over 17 years. I had my first child when Kelly was 9. He was soooo good with him, and would lie at the entrance to his bedroom and guard it when my son was asleep. Our female wasn't quite as even tempered, but none of us put as much time into her as I did with my Kelly. I would definitely describe them as watchdogs... they would bark when people came to the gate/door, but wouldn't bark unneccessarily. They are long coated, but weren't that hard to look after. Our female had a rather silky coat, rather than the harsh coat which our boys had, so my parents had her clipped in summer as she would get covered in burrs that were very hard to get out.

Hope she feels better soon. Nothing worse when they're sick and can't tell you what's wrong.

He Hee, we have a similar one of the same sign! And several others! I don't want to take over from your thread and post them, especially as mine were taken with a cheapo point and shoot camera (I since have my lovely DSL which I'm still learning to use) I loved the ones where you came to a narrow bridge and there was a sign with one red car and one black car, and it was supposed to tell you which car went first. We were lucky that no one ever came the other way at that time. And everyone waved as you drove past. The other funny thing we found was we were following the map down a road which became worse and worse (this road was marked as a major road). Then we came across the GRADER making the road ! Needless to say we turned back and found another way through.

Reminds me of my little Aussie terrier I had growing up. She had what I called the "yawn spot" If I scratched her on the back of her neck it would make her constantly yawn. Was a cool party trick!

My 4yo just loves the "buddies" There's a few movies in that Disney franchise... I think I've watched Santa Buddies about 4 times in 3 days! The kids especially loved Space Buddies, and there is the most gorgeous Bull Terrier named Sputnik in it. I man walks one past the boys' school most afternoons who is the spitting image of the one in the movie, so the boys have christened it Sputnik (I have no idea what it's real name is).

Hi All, I'm probably adding a pup to our family that *may* be of show quality. Anyway, I'm wondering if there's anywhere in the western suburbs of Melbourne where show training takes place, as I'm a total newbie to showing. And I think that I'll need all the help I can get. I've had a quick look through this topic, but it's too long to go through properly! Thanks in advance Nik Edited to add: I know it's on a Bulla, but that's a good hours drive for me, as is KCC park (although that's probably further)

I would say if its costing that much they are being ripped off big time or there telling porkies. +1 Last dog I sent to the USA, the actual freight + AQIS work was not much more than the price of the puppy. Even sending Bad Alice to Japan is still just over the $1k mark. They asked us to help out to see if we could help lower costs for them as my OH's uncle works for Jetpets. I personally think the problem will be with the dog being able to manage the trip on her own as she is such a handful and they have no idea about training. You can only offer so much advice..... Ruby is also arriving a good fortnight before them as they're having a pre-honeymoon in Bali on the way! Lucky there's family on the other side to look after her!