Gayle.

Thanks for the nice comments, it was such a fabulous afternoon with the dogs, they were incredibly well behaved and when we arrived on the beach with them and started to line them up for photos, we attracted quite a crowd of onlookers and other photo enthusiasts. I suppose it's not every day of the week you see a pack of seven very attractive, colourful (and colour co-ordinated), well mannered and well behaved purebred dogs on your local beach, and have the opportunity to photograph them. It makes a photoshoot really very easy when the dogs know how to sit, drop and stay. And when they aren't reactive to other dogs being in their space. After being there for the afternoon, I've got hundreds more ideas for pics so we'll have to arrange another day out!

Aussies LOVE swimming, they were dying to go splashing in the waves, but they were told not to and they are seven really well-behaved dogs who showed an amazing amount of restraint.

My girl Dusty is there but I don't think the other owner is a DOLer. This came about because Leopuppy wanted some pics taken of herself with her dogs, so we organised a photoshoot at Kilcunda beach. I was the photographer, they brought their dogs and we all had a fantastic afternoon.

The oldest dog in the pics is 11, she was the first tailed Aussie in Australia to gain a championship title and last year, at the age of 10, she won reserve bitch challenge at the Australian Shepherd speciality show in Melbourne, over some of the best bitches in the country. The youngest dog is about 17 months and belongs to DOLer Leopuppy, as do three of the others.

Not that I'm biased or anything......but seven dogs, unleashed, on a public beach and none of them got wet.........oh, but we attracted a bit of a crowd. Only one of them is mine, the rest belong to a couple of friends.

Just curious and totally off topic, but why wouldn't you let your dog settle in for a few more days before taking her out and about? I wouldn't. The day after I got Shae off a plane from WA, she came to the obedience club with me. Nothing like bonding with a new adult dog than by taking it out and about with you.

Good lord, what a lot of work! I wouldn't go to that much trouble for my kids let alone my dogs. Like others have said, source a top quality kibble and throw in some raw meaty bones and you'll have a good diet that's easy to manage and simple to maintain. And it will allow you plenty of time to enjoy your dogs, which *that* particular diet won't.

It depends on the state road laws, and whether they are enforced by the local police. In Vic, apparently it's illegal to bike a dog on a public road, but I've done it for years.....even right past the local police station.....and no one bats an eyelid. Mostly I stick to rail trails and bike tracks but around where I live now, I bike on the local back roads and farm access roads as well as the village streets and bike paths.

Every few days we look at Ripley, our latest addition, and comment on how much joy he's brought to us and how Benson would have loved haring around the place with him. They would have been great mates.

As well as contact the PM, also contact the media via comment sections on their websites and voice your disgust. The story on the Herald Sun website has a section for comments, so far there aren't any.

According to the Herald Sun it's a Spoodle, cocker spaniel x poodle. That's not a dog, it's a travesty.

Read her posting history, it's easy to figure out the breed.

When our old girl Kassy died early this year, we hadn't intended to get another dog but it had never really dawned on me that three dogs would be an "unbalanced" pack......I often take two dogs to shows or training and the third would stay with Kassy for company. Once she was gone, I had to rethink things and it was only a matter of weeks before we started looking for an adult dog to bring into the family. It was the same when Benson died suddenly. I had no intention of getting another dog but it was hard to manage three dogs and when one was offered to us, we thought about it and it didn't take long to realise that we needed the balance a fourth dog brings. I miss the two dogs that have departed this year more than I can ever say. I still cry daily for Benson, and nothing on earth could ever replace him. Bringing another dog into the family did not lessen my grief for him, it didn't change it at all.....that is a totally separate issue. But the new dogs bring their own joy and they are now an integral part of the family. I just have to realise that with a large family of pets, things change and the family changes and adapts.

Same, what an odd rule. I had a "discussion" with a trainer at my club who wanted me to use a check chain on Isaak when he was 5 months old. He said "No dog in MY class should be wearing ANYTHING other than a check chain!" and I looked at my calm, well behaved little man, who was sitting quietly beside me wearing his bright red flat collar...and a discussion ensued. Because Isaak had graduated from the puppy class, he was in beginners with a whole lot of older dogs and the trainer just didn't get it that a check chain on a 5 month old puppy was not a good idea. And he was the only dog in the class who didn't pull! He didn't need anything other than a flat collar no matter what his age. In the end I just trained him at home, attended the next graduation day and moved on up to the next class and a different trainer.

No words, just heartfelt hugs from here.

The moral of the story is.......never underestimate your dogs' talent for making a complete and utter dickhead out of you.

Look like a pair of mutts to me. The one on the left doesn't look like a Briard, they have lower set ears and would be more in the 25 kg+ category.

We had a crack at PT, Shae was perfect in training, she moved those sheep along nicely, did some lovely stops, we navigated the penning like a pair of old hands......then came the trial. Oh my god, she acted like she'd never seen sheep before and had never been allowed in a paddock.....she went absolutely feral! You know how dogs in trials have a tendency to embarrass their handlers.....well, she pulled that little talent out of her hat, then when I called her off, she came trotting up to me and strutted out of the paddock with me like she was 10 feet tall and supersonic. Little bugger she is.

Shae and I got our HT a few weeks ago, not really a huge achievement in the grand scheme of things, but I'm pretty proud of her. I see it as the first rung of the ladder....hopefully there'll be a few more titles sometime down the track. She is now known as Borderton Dappled in Shade HT.

Why don't you contact Sherel and ask for a sample bag? They are about 1kg so would do a Pap for long enough to find out if it's a suitable food.

Shae has always been like it (well as long as I've had her which is since Feb this year) but she has gotten worse as she's bonded closer with me. It's MY duty to protect her from dogs coming into her space as I'm the one who puts the lead on her. If she snaps at them, I haven't done my job properly.

I have a dog who gets quite stressed when she's on lead and other dogs approach her. She obviously feels vulnerable, and she'll snap after a warning growl if a dog gets too close sometimes the growl is nearly silent and the snap comes very fast.

Just read the opening post again. If the other pup is a littermate to this one, and is dark brown and white with no tan, they aren't Australian Shepherds. One parent would have to be a red bi colour for that to happen and they are so rare in Australia that any offspring would be treasured and special, and def not in rescue.

It's kind of hard to see on my iPhone but it doesn't look fluffy enough to be an Aussie, and despite them being quite a well represented breed on DOL, they are still comparatively rare in the general public. Extremely cute bubba though. I'd love too see how he grows up.

I take Shae to the same one Jules goes to at Nyora. She loves it and so do I. Changes in behaviour? None. She's still the same little dog as before we started. She still loves to chase a tennis ball, she doesn't herd anything other than when we're at herding training and she's in with the sheep. it's been very good for increasing the bond between her and I.......it's the one thing we do together with no other dog involved. I was a bit apprehensive when we first started..........would she like it, would I understand it, would be look like a pair of idiots??? The instructors are fantastic, and although I still have a lot of vacant-brain moments, we have taken part in trials and gained our first title.