Gayle.

Is this it? http://www.minifoxie.org/

We left Bensons body to be dealt with by the vet, it's something I've thought about since......should I have had him cremated, should we have brought him home and buried him? But we were with him when he was sent on his way, he was under anaesthetic at the time and while he was living I felt his presence in his body and after he was gone, I felt that he was no longer there. His body was just a shell. I have since felt that he is with me (I am not really spiritual and I don't know how to explain this at all) and I'm at peace with my decision. I feel the vet would have been respectful of his remains, she was extremely sensitive in the way she handled his illness and death and while I'm still devestated beyond anything I could ever imagine (and yes, I cry daily for my boy), I don't regret that particular decision. I am very glad though, that I am a good photographer and have some excellent camera gear because I have thousands of really nice photos of him and I will treasure them for the rest of my life. And it's now prompted a friend of mine to request that I do a photoshoot of her and her dogs, because we never know what the immediate future holds.

With lots of patience. I started off with Isaak just getting him to stand still....and if he managed it for a split second he got praise and a treat. Then over time we extended it, and then I started placing his feet where I wanted them. Short sessions, lots of fun, lots of praise. For gaiting, we just kind of trotted around until he was gaiting nicely and got praised then but it took a few goes before he did it nicely in the ring. I made mistakes with Dusty in that I was so serious about everything, and she also became serious about it. She wanted to badly to do everything right and please me that she never looked like she was enjoying herself. I lightened up with Isaak and it took him a lot longer to "get it" in the ring, but he goes in there looking like he's having fun and consequently looks showier for it. I'll be the first to admit, I show my dogs for fun. I get bored doing it weekend after weekend so I give myself and the dogs long breaks and do other things. But the weekends we do go to shows, we have a blast and I love the day out with the dogs. It means though, that Isaak took a long time to learn calm behaviour in the ring but he's good now and I'm always so proud of him when I show him.

I have a friend who works for one of those hated animal organisations......I would put her at the top of my list to sell (or give) a puppy to. Her dogs have swags of titles in dog sports.....very advanced titles, they trial at a high level. They are her world and her entire life revolves around them. On the other hand, there are people in the dog world who I wouldn't sell a broken down car to, let alone a live animal.

The English Shepherd looks just like my Dusty but with a tail. I like the English Shepherds, they are very similar to Aussies but some different colours.

I have a dog who growls at other dogs if they approach her when she's on leash. Seeing as she came to me when she was 5 years old, I have no way of knowing if there's any history there but I do know that she spent the best part of her first 18 months of life tied up in a backyard, so that may have something to do with it. Because I'm the one putting the lead on her, I feel it's my job to protect her from the stress of other dogs approaching her and I;m careful to tell people to keep their dogs at a distance, or take her away from them. She gets quite stressed and anxious, although she's very friendly and playful when she's off lead. As the caretakers of these beautiful dogs, it's up to us to read the signs and not put the dogs in a stressful situation, or manage it really well if we can't avoid it. I can't avoid having Shae on a lead when we go for a walk, but I can avoid having her meet other dogs. I can avoid activities and places like an obedience club where she can't be off lead and must be close to other dogs, and find other activities that we can enjoy together that doesn't put her under stress but allows her to use her brain and her instincts. (We do herding, it's perfect for a dog like her).

These are my perfect dogs. I think they are stunning and I wish there were some here in Australia. If I ever win the lottery, I'm going to import some. I think these dogs are why I love the black tri Aussies above all the other colours Aussies come in.

You don't need to give out your bank details for an online banking transfer, you just need the details of the person you want to pay.

I have a "grooming table" made from an ex-office display hutch.......it's about hip height, it has a good broad flat surface and underneath it has a lot of pigeon-hole type shelves for keeping things tidy. It was originally used in a display home reception room for holding brochures, business cards and house plans. My husband got it for free when the display home was sold as a family residence and he was employed by the building company to remove all their stuff. It definitely makes grooming easier and the dogs are more comfortable than on the floor. I have a grooming shed where I keep all my stuff so my "table" is a permanant fixture there. A fold away one might be better if you don't have space.

One day at a dog show, I was sitting waiting for group judging, which was hours away given that Aussies are pretty much first up. The lady in the gazebo opposite me had a whippet which she popped onto a grooming table and proceeded to groom. I thought "Well, this is going to be quick, what can you do with a whippet?" but no.....it took her the best part of two hours. She brushed and polished and buffed and sprayed and dabbed and applied product after product, and I watched in absolute fascination as bottle after brush after spray after cloth was produced from her voluminous grooming bag and used on the dog. And at the end, the whippet looked exactly the same as when she'd started, and all I could think was "Oh dear, she probably needs an Old English Sheepdog, at least they look different after two hours of grooming!" LOL!

While Dusty loves getting brushed and trimmed and primped up for a show, she absolutely does not embrace a bath with the same feelings. I don't have a hydrobath so I use the local coin operated dog wash to give the dogs a regular bath. Dusty gets in reluctantly and then proceeds to sit there with a very unimpressed expression on her face while she's bathed. In fact her expression reads "I hate you with every ounce of my being and if I could kill you by looking at you, I'd do exactly that!" Any treats she's offered are immediately spat out the side of her mouth, because you can't possibly chew treats when your jaw is clenched tight in utter disgust. Isaak also hates the bath but he just sits there looking like a big, sad, wet goober. No hate coming from him, just sheer unadulterated misery.

Bwahaha!! Maybe she is a former beauty queen, reincarnated as an Aussie? Well, she's got the bitch attitude to go with it, so she might very well have been.

My dogs all love it, in fact Dusty thinks she should be on the grooming table with every other dog and get brushed again and again. When I first got Shae, I wasn't sure how she'd be as I hadn't been told what she was like to groom, plus her coat had been clipped off. The first time brushed her she was in heaven, she rolled this way and that way and on her back and on her tummy, and stretched out and moaned with delights when I pin-brushed her sides. Then when I was done, she sat up and offered me each paw in turn so I could give her a manicure! LOL! Now that's a first.....the other dogs HATE having their nails done.

Rottis and Bernese Mountain Dogs could easily move to group 5, they are both herding dogs and the ones I've seen in action do a fine job of it too.

Two of my dogs are entire and staying that way. I am not a breeder and have no intention of breeding.

Regarding the statement in bold. I have to ask. Are their breeders out there who work for rescues that are using the rescue resources rather than their own to rehome dogs they have bred? I am not talking about just contacts for people who might be looking for homes as these can often be passed freely between breeders and rescues and I would not class a dog as a rescue because the dog was united with a person through a contact list of people looking for dogs (my friends just got a lead for a dog through a rescue but dealt with the owner who was rehoming the dog - while the lead came through rescue the dog is a rehome). I am talking about in general classifying a dog as a rescue and possibly using rescue resources to rehome a dog where they are the breeder of that dog. Depends on the breed, I suppose, and how active they are in rescuing and rehoming their own breed. In my case, the breeders are also the state rescue service for the breed and the dog came back to them via that service and was rehomed to me through that service. They told me she was a rescue dog and told me her story (and there's a lot more to the story than I will ever tell here). In Vic, the Australian Shepherd club form an active network to rescue and rehome dogs that are in pounds (not too many, thank goodness) or have been surrendered by their owners. They are not a formal rescue service, but what they do equates to the same. In a nutshell, if the dogs aren't surrendered and rehomed, they'd be dumped in a pound and/or euthanased.

When a dog is rehomed via a breed rescue service, whether it was bred by the people who run the service (ie, a registered breeder or a breed club) or bred in another state, or bred by backyarders, then it's a rescue. A lot of "rescues" are not "rescued" from deaths doorstep, or from a terrible situation. A lot of them are surrendered due to owners circumstances....marriage break up, ill-health, moving etc....and they are perfectly nice, well balanced dogs whose owners couldn't keep them and who couldn't find them another home. And so they ended up in a shelter, a pound or with a rescue service for rehoming (or euthanasing).

My rescue dog came from a breeder. They sold her as a puppy, she was returned at 18 months as being unsuitable (and out of control due to gross neglect). She was rehomed then returned again when her second owners went to live overseas and didn't want to take her with them. So she was rehomed to me by the very same people who bred her. They also run breed rescue in their state. But I didn't pay any of their bills as they gave her to me and sourced discounted air travel for her. Lots of breeders will take back dogs they've bred and rehome them...and this IS rescue as otherwise those dogs would end up in pounds. All that aside, I agree with you. People often justify their badly purchased puppy by saying they "rescued" it. And often they are enabled and encouraged by their friends. It's not limited to "Joe Public" either. Not long after I joined DOL someone with a high post count (I can't remember who) made a post about how her husband had gone to a pet shop to buy something and saw a JRT puppy there and felt sorry for it so came home and told her and they went back and bought the puppy and brought it home. This was being touted as a rescue, and the poster was being thoroughly congratulated by other DOLers for their initiative in saving the puppy from an unknown fate. All I could think about was how hypocritical they all were.

Smooth collie or a Pointer (a small female would fit the criteria). Cardigan corgi.......might be a bit short but are apparently very, very nice dogs with great dispositions.

What about one of the French bassets......the Fauve, the Petit or the bigger one (Grande)?

I have never been asked if a pup I'm walking has been vaccinated. My Aussie pups always got loads of attention on walks, they are cute as fluffy little buttons, and I got asked lots of questions but never that one. Usually about lack of tails, are they Border Collies, what crossbred, do I breed them etc....but never about vaccinations. I could easily get annoyed with the assumption that they are Border Collies but I take the opportunity to educate each person on the Australian Shepherd breed, usually they haven't heard of them or thought they'd be like German Shepherds, and hopefully by the time we part ways, they'll know a bit about a breed of dog they've never met before. Mostly I am flattered that people notice my dogs and stop for a chat.

When Benson was a puppy, he had a red toy similar to those, it was called a Kong Wubba and he loved it. I found it on the weekend when I was cleaning my dog shed out and I gave it to Ripley who loves it too. They are fun toys for dogs, Ripley has been carting it around, shaking it, hiding it from the other dogs and generally just giving it a good old slobber.

I too, post with my real name and hide nothing. FYI, my son is in the armed forces and has done tours of duty to Iraq and more recently, Afghanistan. The stress of my son being in a war zone, is not, however transferred to my dogs. The defence forces have support in place for families of personnel posted overseas, you might like to look them up. Your obsession with your pups very normal behaviour isn't at all healthy. For the pup.

check the OPs posting history. That speaks louder than any explanation could. And I agree with Jules.

Check out the link I provided, none of the adult Lagotti on that site have tight curls, they have loose, slightly shaggy curls. They are most definitely purebred dogs, I know the breeder. Didn't someone say earlier in the thread that they checked with Hills and the dog has been confirmed a Lagotto?