Gayle.

Just the bed. Don't let the puppy piddle in the crate, the idea is to take the pup out of the crate, outside to the toilet, not teach it to pee in it's bedroom. Dogs are naturally clean and don't like to toilet where they sleep, which is the basis of crate training.

My girl Dusty doesn't tolerate rudeness from other dogs. My friend has a young Aussie male who gets in her face and she bares her teeth, growls and snaps at him. Doesn't make contact, but the young bloke backs off for a few minutes before he comes in to try again.....and gets the same reception. She tolerates our young boy Isaak to a degree, but we've had him since he was 8 weeks old and she took on a motherly role with him. She loves him, but isn't above biting him on the arse if she thinks he needs pulling into line. How is Shelley off lead with other dogs?

Actually, last week sealed the deal for me. A bitch in season and a horny 10 month old male puppy in the house together......not fun. This was part of an email my husband sent to his sister in the US, which perfectly describes what has just been the doggy week from hell for us. Posted with his permission, of course. "Between political unrest and wild weather around the world, and all these global warming "experts" making a great deal of money with their less than educated predictions of doom and gloom, there is still some natural humor that occurs. We have in this corner, Ms Dusty, at 23 kgs who has entered her 2nd week of her cycle season. And, in that corner, at 30 kgs, Arnold Swartz-a-left-nut-just-dropped Issak. We segregated our heroes as a precaution at the first sign of Ms Dusty's "season" while in the back of my mind, he's only 10 months old,he wouldn't have a clue.. would he? .... well, nature has a way of proving everyone wrong. During dinner serving for this pack of 4 legged kids, Dusty and Isaak managed to make visual contact for about 10 seconds before we separated them, just after he got a wiff of wow that was emanating from Princess Dusty. Isaak transformed into this testosterone high bred machine, and was literally running around the walls. He was text book ballistic. He wouldn’t even touch his dinner which in it self was amazing, he normally would snort his dinner in one bite. After all the shelves being emptied I thought I better put him and his dinner outside before he kills the TV, he was running laps and trying to climb trees while barking. All night he was carrying on, it was a bit awkward to say the least. The following morning, I put Benson and Dusty in the pergola that's secured with a gate, and placed Shae and Mr. Hard-On in the yard. He's still going stupid at 7 am because he can see Dusty thru the gate. So not to upset the neighbours,I went and put an electronic collar on him, to stop the barking. He figured out with in seconds, the collar only works for barking, not yelping. So he is now making more noise than before. I'm now wondering what the hell I can do, I got to go to work. As I entered the kitchen, which over looks the pergola, To my amazement, I see Benson, who is neutered calling Isaakwhile he is humping his brains out with Dusty as if to say "oh, sorry mate, cant get thru the fence huh, tough luck, " with this big stupid grin on his face. I couldn’t stop laughing, who says dogs don’t have a sense of humour."

I thought very hard about it, got a prefix which I love, then thought so much about it that it just about made my head explode. In the end, and after loads of consideration. I decided against it. For a number of reasons. Time, knowledge, distance from decent vet specialists, the fact that there are plenty of breeders doing it well already, concern over the sale of puppies and placing them in the right homes, and the overwhelming love for my darling girl who I decided I love too much for her to be my test pilot. Plus I like keeping my dogs. As a breeder I'd have to make decisions I'd hate. In the end it was easier to ditch the whole idea. Still love my prefix though.

Its the second Gayle. I'd say mandory health testing is the flow on result. but the way around that is to not carry out any health tests. If you don't know about the conditions you can hardly breed "knowingly". That is kind of a stupid law, don't you think? It's like saying if you don't have a speedo in your car you can't be booked for speeding because you couldn't know you were speeding ( thanks civic compliance for that little surprise in yesterdays mail.)

Is it illegal? Or is it illegal to knowingly breed animals with heritable defects? I don't actually know, but if it's the second case, that's different to being legally obliged to carry out health testing.

A chuckle of Aussies, given thier sense of humour. Or maybe a "shuffle" seeing as They have a tendency to be under your feet at all times.

Shortstep, have you ever bred Australian Shepherds? totally OT, but I'm curious and this is as good of a place as any to ask. And on topic, just last week we had one poodle breeder calling another one a backyard breeder because she doesn' t show her poodles. Right here on DOL. Isn't that the type of breeder bashing the article refers to?

My one syllable girl is Shae. She used to be Shade but we wanted to give her a new name for her new life with us.

I'm not 100% sure on the rulling and cant be bothered trying to find it, but it's something about new breeds being named for what they were bred for, or their origins....it can't be a "made up" name and it can't hang off another breeds name. Are Shiloh Shepherds bred from dogs who have a recorded history of herding? What's the "Shiloh" part of the name from?

My tailed Aussie wiggles rather than wags. The whole back end gets involved.

Hahaha love it! That's hilarious.

Aussies use their front paws as hands. They hold food with them, use them to swipe things towards themselves (generally food from the kitchen bench) and two of mine can open doors with their paws. I have also seen Benson use one front paw to point to something to show another dog. If Benson had thumbs on his front paws he'd be dangerously human-like. He's way too dexterous as it is.

Just doing some Googling of Confidor Concentrate as a flea treatment and it seems to be in use by greyhound trainers on their dogs. There's also another product called Avenge Sheep Drench which uses the same active ingredient in the same strength as Confidor Concentrate. The strength is apparently half that of Advantage and the correct dose for a 20-25kg dog is 1ml Confidor to 2 ml water, syringed on the back of the neck and base of the tail. The active ingredient is imidacloprid. I don't generally have to treat my dogs for fleas, they get a flea rinse at the dog wash when I bath them but I'm not keen on constant use of spot-ons as I don't believe a continual absorption of any chemical can be good for the dog. But occasionally I have to, but to de-flea 4 dogs costs an absolute fortune! If Confidor IS the same as Advantage, I'd be prepared to give it a go every now and then........I generally only do my dogs for two treatments, one to get rid of the live fleas then a month later to get rid of any hatchlings. The research by Google continues.

If it's to be a proper breed, I don't think they can use the name "Miniature Australian Shepherd" as it's not one.....it doesn't even look like a small Aussie....it looks something like a cross between an Aussie, a Sheltie and a Papillon. Well some of them do. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of consistency either. I believe an alternative name is North American Shepherd, but to be named that, the dog would have to have a recorded history of herding. Isn't there some ruling about naming a new breed, that the name has to reflect it's origins or it's intent? Which is why the Labradoodle will never be called that and if it ever gets to the point of being more than a mutt, the correct name (for now) is Australian Service Dog.

Awwww, how cute are those cows??? Bet they don't come with a mini price tag though. I didn't even know they existed, amazing the things one learns on DOL.

Do they have Shetland cows? I would like a cow but I only have space for a little one.

I was very active on Cat-world for a few years, but got thoroughly tired of the forum police and the double standards.

Australian Shepherds grin....well some of them do. It's a breed specific trait. Some of them also shake when excited or focussed.....their whole rear end shivers.

And Her Imperial Highness, the royal princess Dusty, hates my adult sons.......neither of who have ever said a bad word to her, and is terrified of lawn mowers, and she's definitely never been run over by one. Dusty came from a very caring breeder at 8 weeks of age and she's lived a life quite suitable for royalty ever since. I don't personally believe you can tell a dog has been abused by the dogs actions or fear of something.

I think too, that some rescue organisations have to realize that not all dogs are suitable for rehoming.

It's a garden pest concentrate that's mixed with water and sprayed on plants. It contains the same active ingredient as Advantage. And it's made by the same company.....Bayer.

If someone is hellbent in getting a miniature Aussie, they should get a Papillon. There's a couple at our obedience club with a black tri Aussie and a white, black and tan Papillon, and honestly the little Pap is like a miniature, mirror image of his big brother. They both do obedience and agility and tey are both as clever as each other. The Papillon is actually MUCH more active than the Aussie.

I just bought a bulk pack of Frontline Plus from the US (eBay) and it's heaps cheaper than buying it here.

And a touch of Papillon, maybe? And a tad too much white?