Robin's graduation day

The silly is sticking her tongue out!

Robin my love

I took these raincoat pictures before RObin's intermediate obedience class. Its funny; she always hated modeling the dog sweaters I knitted for charity, but she had a fine time with this little raincoat. She pranced around to show various staff members and customers and just loved it. Too bad we simply don't have a use for raincoats here.
The last two pictures are just lounging around in my studio while I quilt. We haven't done this for a long time; just working all the time.

Ok, back to work.

Wonderful dogs

And as long as I'm at it; here's Robin at 7 months and Sammy at 13 weeks.

Pat's puppy update, again

Tuesday is living at our house while we look for a good home for her. She is turning out to be just too much Heeler for Pat, and she is too much Heeler for us too. She bullies Robin something awful, so I make her stay on the porch most of the day while RObin stays inside with me. Its better anyway, because Tuesday has NO manners.
She will pee and poop outside when you take her out, but then pee all over the place inside too, no matter how often you take her out. She doesn't even seem to know she is peeing, or at least just doesn't care. She's not scared, either. Half Heeler, remember? She'll start peeing just walking along. I try to be understanding, but start making her stay outside about the third time I have to mop the floor in the morning.
SHe also blunders all over, barks at the cat, jumps up on the counters and furniture and steals all RObin's stuff and guards it, chomping Robin if she tries to pick up her own toy. Robin is a wuss, OK, but she's my wuss and I resent the other dog bullying her.
DH thinks he may have found a good home, with a woman he works with. She already has 3 dogs, and likes the hard Heeler personality. Bill will deliver her on Saturday, and then find out on Monday at the vet (parvo booster) if we have to take her back again.
We're going on a jeep trip Sunday so at least we have that time free.

Robin's eye update

Yesterday I took Robin to a canine opthalmologist. My god, that is expensive! But anyway, I found out that she doesn't have the inward eyelashes, but a skin inflammation called "Meibomitis". Her eyeballs and vision are perfect, but the pores in her eyelids are clogged and that's why they are swollen. The pressure builds up, then comes to head just like a pimple, bursts, and repeats. It is a staph infection and has some kind of trigger that causes it to recur and become chronic if the trigger can't be eliminated.
So, we have eye wash, antibiotic eye ointment, prednisone, and antibiotic pills. ANd another appointment in 2 weeks. I will work on eliminating even more possible allergens from her diet and environment, but I doubt if that will work. I mean, we already try not to buy anything with artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives on general principle. The vet said I may have to take her to a canine dermatologist for skin testing, as this is a dermatological problem.
She (the vet) also says that she has known many dogs with recurring meibomitis to never have another attack after being spayed. So, if we don't find the trigger within 6 months, hopefully spaying RObin will take care of it. I want to let her growth plates close before I spay her so she will be proportional, but if we can't get a handle on this eye problem, we'll do it sooner.

Pat's puppy Tuesday

I have hesitated to give progress reports on Tuesday because there wasn't any progress (by my lights) to report. 

Tuesday is a very nice little dog, and DH says that she will do anything for HIM when he visits, but that Pat just isn't able to train her, or even take care of a puppy full-time.  I know it doesn't seem like much to take care of and train a puppy, especially when you don't have anything else to do, but she isn't coping with it.  All Pat has done, for all she says she's trying, is teach Tuesday that you never have to be any place you don't want to be right then, you'll get attention if you make enough noise, and you might as well pee anywhere you happen to be because nobody can tell when you are getting ready to go.

So Tuesday is going to come live with us part of the week and just spend Saturdaythru Monday with Pat.  Evidently Pat never gets to sleep because Tuesday either barks nonstop or won't leave her alone if loose.  I think we can take care of that  pretty quick.  Crate and exercise pen are ready.

Also, she isn't getting near enough exercise and that will be solved immediately too.

Robin's nose shouldn't be too out of joint as she will still go to work with me and Tuesday will have to stay home alone. (4 hours 2 days a week, big deal)

 

 

AJ

Pat's puppy

Yesterday I drove Pat to Winkelman to pick up her 9-week-old 1/2 Miniature Aussie, 1/2 Queensland Heeler puppy. I had asked Kathy (at Boldheart) to donate a puppy from the accidental litter to Pat and she had nicely agreed. She picked out the smallest and sweetest little blue merle girl for Pat and is selling the rest of the litter from her daughter's house in Tucson.
The puppy, which Pat promptly named Tuesday, is healthy and well-socialized, and her shots are up to date, tail docked and dewclaws removed. Just a few of the reasons its better to get even an accidental puppy from a breeder rather than somebody trying to make a few bucks from their backyard dogs.
It was the first time I have spent any amount of time with Pat and without Bill, and it went OK. But she did talk nonstop and I had to come straight home and spend some quiet time when we got back to Avondale and I dropped her and Tuesday off.
Robin went along, of course, and she was very good, also of course. However, she refused to go to the bathroom anywhere, no matter what, and held even her pee until we got home. The poor thing was so full of pee that she dripped a little when everybody was making over her at Cotton Fields, but still wouldn't settle down and go. I should have taken her to the dog park and stayed there with her until she HAD to go, but I didn't. I didn't want to see or talk to anybody for any reason for a while, and drove straight home. Poor little doggie; she must have peeed 3 times in the first 5 minutes after we got home. 4 1/2 months old. I sure do love her.

Rattlesnakes!

A few minutes ago, I killed my SECOND rattlesnake of the new season, although it was the first one actually on our property. THe first one I killed was on the road about 1/2 mile from the house on Monday. Coincidentally I was on my way to the vet with Robin, and it scared me enough to have Dr Bolen give her the first rattlesnake vaccine, with a second to follow in 4 weeks. Then, he says, in this climate, she should have them every six months because we can encounter rattlers just about year round in this climate. So I was feeling better about snakes, because after all, she IS growing.

She was 9 lbs, 9 ozs. on that day's weigh in.

The snake this morning was coiled up under a dog crate that we had left to air near a tree. I picked it up and walked away with it, and it was just luck I saw the snake. He didn't make a sound, or move. I ran to get the shovel, and then I couldn't find him when I came back. I looked and looked, and I was afraid he had crawled under the straw strewn around the tree. I practically had hysterics calling Robin away from the tree, but she figured out there was something wrong with me, and came right away. 4 mos old.

I finally found the snake, right where he had been, and chopped him up in little pieces right there, all the while yelling NO! at Robin as she jumped around wanting to attack the shovel.

I do tend to , some say, overreact to rattlers, but the memory of spending the night crying with Etta Mae after she was bitten has never left me. And she was 5 mos old and probably 25 lbs.

Now I am doubly determined to have her snakeproofed as well as get the booster vaccination. I found a place in Cave Creek that seems good, but they won't do it until the dog is 5 months old. If I had waited for that, she could have been bitten and died.

My main problem is my active imagination. I can always imagine so many more bad outcomes than good ones.

DH and dog

Anyone who knew us in a previous life would NOT believe this picture. Dog on couch!

Edgar(1 year) and Robin(3 mos.)

I have finally gotten around to taking some pictures of Robin and the chickens by leaving the camera in my fanny pack and wearing it whenever I go outside with Robin. A necessary step, since she is no dummy and knows perfectly well where the clicker and treats are. The little devil goes her merry way if I don't have the bribes and behaves like a Companion Dog Excellent if I DO have them.
I originally hated the idea of abandoning all the dog training ideas I've had for the past 40 years and using treats and clickers to train, EVEN though my reading and talking to others have convinced me that its a better method. It just didn't seem right to me to bribe the dog. The book that finally convinced me is called Katz on Dogs, by Jon Katz. His explanations of how dogs minds work made more sense to me than anything has before. And I must admit that I haven't kept up at all with the dog fancy when we were dogless. So many new ideas have come and gone, but this one really works. It took 2 tries and Robin knows Sit. 2, not 10 or 15. Come is still iffy, depending on what else she is doing, but she will improve. She's just a kid, after all.
We had Robin help put the chickens away yesterday for the first time since both of us were home to prevent any damage to chickens or dog. She DEFINITELY has herding instinct, and went right out around them to try and bring them to us. Sloppy, but it was evident what she was doing. To me, anyway. So DH stood beside the door we wanted the chickens to go through and I danced around to keep Edgar from jumping on Robin. She didn't really try to catch a chicken; she just wanted them to MOVE. It was fun, and took just a few seconds to get them into the coop, and boy, was she proud of herself. Not something to try when DH isn't home, as Edgar needs somebody to guard him until the dog gets bigger and more sure of herself. Fun!

Miss Robin behaved herself very well at our first puppy class at Petsmart this morning. It is a class of 5, with 3 BIG puppies, Robin, and one little MinPin.
Robin is well-socialized to people and eagerly greets everybody of any age to get petted. But she is very unsure of herself around other dogs. SHe doesn't squat and pee or anything like that, but she doesn't want anything to do with them, even the MinPin.
The instructor assures me she will be 100 % better next week, just with another week maturity. I hope so. Her temperament is just so perfect in all other ways that I can live with it if she doesn't do well with other dogs, but I would prefer her to be good with them. So she can play with Pat's puppy if no other.

See what I mean?

Robin at Home

I bet I've taken more pictures in the 5 days since Robin came home to live than I had in the previous several years. I am still a lousy photographer but at least now I can crop, straighten, lighten, darken, sharpen, etc. Only occasionally do I keep one as is. Maybe eventually I will get better. After all, I have the ideal photo subject.

I'm old; Robin is young.

Isn't she adorable? I will post others showing her at attention, but Dh couldn't seem to take a picture with BOTH of us looking halfway decent. A red merle miniature aussie who may yet be a toy instead, Robin is 10 weeks old tomorrow and quite tiny. She really is an aussie though. She would adore to herd the chickens and the cat, but that's another story.

My OWN puppy

I got this photo of my new puppy from the Boldheart website. Kathy has been calling her Cherish, but I lean toward Zorra. My DH says neither fits (what does he know?) but that she will name herself within a day or so. He might be correct about that part, or at least which of the names will suit her more.
I am driving to Winkelman on Friday to pick her up. SHe was born 12/11/2006 so is past any spooky period and ready to come home. Kathy thinks she will mature as a small mini, rather than a toy, but DH was the one insisting on a toy anyway, and he is OK with her. THe litter I was waiting for didn't have a red female in it, so I was very glad that Kathy decided to sell this little girl rather than keep her as planned.

Puppy update

The litter my puppy will be in is due in another week, and I am so impatient I am like a little kid that needs to visit the bathroom. I don't think I wrote that I drove down to Winkelman to meet the breeder and her dogs a couple of weeks ago. I really enjoyed all of it, the drive (except for crossing Phoenix), the area, the dogs, and Kathy. We really hit it off, and I gave her a little lap quilt before I left. She gave me a painting. Mutual admiration society.
And the dogs were truly wonderful. Real old style Aussies in smaller packages, smart and gorgeous. The minis are just about the size of good Aussies in the 60s and 70s, before the show breeders got hold of them and started breeding them bigger and bigger. Now the AKC Aussie is a big dog, and the minis are in the hands of those who appreciate them.
And the Toys!!! I am going to have so much fun. They are small enough to lap sit and big enough to work ducks, and sheep.
Kathy works cattle with the minis but not the toys. One good kick would break most of their bones.
I can't say enough good about them. I took photos, but my camera timer was set and I didn't know it. so all the photos were taken well after I pressed the button. Duhhh.

Puppy update

We sent a deposit to Boldheart Miniature Aussies for a pup from the Rose and Shiloh litter due February 7. DH fell in love with the pictures of Rose; he says she looks like the old Flintridge dogs that went in the the Australian Shepherd. I think he's right; those dogs were small too, and the AKC Aussies being bred today are huge and don't look too much like even the dogs we had in the 1980's. Rose is a small mini, and so is Shiloh, and Shiloh throws toys. Mine will be a toy per DH, and he is getting the pup for me, so a toy she will be.
We didn't get Mia, cute as she is, for the very reason I was afraid of. She was just too spooky and we also thought she was mainly socialized to the pack and would never bond as well to us as a pup that was removed from the pack at the proper time. TinyTrax pups were very nice, and I think the breeder does a good job with the little ones' critical periods and all, but she doesn't seem to do any training at all after that. SHe even had to lure the pack outside with treats rather than just telling them to go out. IMO, her dogs have potential that will never be realized. ANd there was no way to tell whether herding instinct was still present in her dogs since they have never been taught to do anything.
Boldheart Aussies are working herding dogs. You can train a herding dog to do anything you want to do with him, because he wants a job and wants to take direction from you. I can't wait.
I wish it wasn't so far away. The date I mean; I chose the breeder partially on the fact that she is in AZ and her dogs are raised in more or less the same climate I live in. I will go visit once before the pups come. DH says he doesn't want to go with; I just don't understand that.

My history with Aussies

--- In TASCA@yahoogroups.com, RuffHouseAussies@... wrote:

> I would like to learn more about your experience with the size
change in the standard Aussie after AKC got involved. Many, many years
ago my first Aussie was about the size of a large mini. Patches was a
great girl and I too later fell in love with the Toy Aussies.
>

We bought a retired ASCA Ch. bitch (Sassy) with the intent of putting
working titles on her, as her full brother was really sweeping all the
herding trials around, even beating some Border Collies. She was 17 "
but was 3 years old. We did well with her; the first litter was to
our herding titled male and the puppies had beautiful movement and did
very well in puppy classes. There were 2 eventual conformation
champions from the litter, both bitches and both larger than Sassy.
One was sold as a pet (bite was a little off) and we kept a small male
for working stock. Even though he continued to have great
conformation and movement, he was only 17" at 2 years old and we gave
up showing him in conformation after leaving the puppy classes. He
had never even placed again, but he was a fantastic working dog. We
sold him after getting his started titles.
The second litter for Sassy was to a larger Nat Ch. male, and the pups
were correspondingly larger. THere were 3 eventual ch.s, I think, 2
males (very large) and 1 large bitch. THe heads were beginning to
resemble the Bernese Mtn Dog a friend owned. The only reason we bred
Sassy to this male was that DH took him in for herding training and
titling, and the price was the stud fee.
Third litter was accidental. My large male pup from the previous
litter and stepson's jr handling bitch. SHe was a litter sister to
Sassy but much bigger. SInce Cosby was only a year old, we did not
register the litter and sold as pets to be neutered. We have always
felt that only OFA and CERF animals shall be bred, and we had to walk
the walk as well as talk the talk.
Overall, we much preferred the smaller dogs, but as time went on, the
judges that ASCAZ hired for the shows were Working Group AKC judges,
and they almost invariably went for the bigger, blocky head dogs, so
that is what people bred for. THe smaller ones still did much better
as working trial dogs, and the breed began to split. Understand, I'm
talking about here in AZ, and within our direct knowledge while being
active in the state club. And it was even before AKC recognition.
Eventually we decided there was no point in sticking with a breed that
was going to be split, like so many of the Sporting Group, between
conformation dogs and working dogs. So we sold Sassy back to her
first owner, and sold the others as working stockdogs since all our
dogs received herding training. And that was that until now.

AJ in AZ

 

 

 

 

 

Another photo

Isn't she beautiful? 

16 mos old Toy Aussie

This is Mia. We are going to see her too when we go to see TinyTrax' new litter. The owner says she hangs back and is on the bottom of the pecking order, so I don't know if she will be coming home with us or not. For obedience and herding you need a more assertive dog, and if she isn't that, I depend on DH to prevent me from saying YES to her. I have already fallen in love, but I only get ONE dog, so it has to be the right one. This picture is of her at 5 mos, and she is 16 mos now.