Gayle.

Do they shed as much as labs? nup, not even close. Aside from the twice yearly seasonal coat drops, they actually don't shed much at all.

I don't exercise my dogs before work.....as it is, I get up at 5.20am, be buggered if I'm getting up an hour before that!

Cropped sensor. I have a Canon EOS 40D.

I like the 100mm f2 for portrait style shots, the 50mm f1.4 for full body shots and the 17-40 f4L for group shots.

I'm impressed that people actually leave their dogs inside when they're at work. I doubt I'd have a house left if I did.....my cats stay inside, but I reckon a Burmese cat combined with a couple of Australian Shepherd boys left unsupervised would see my house demolished within one short working day. The only dog of mine I'd be comfortable leaving inside unsupervised for any length of time is Dusty, cos she's a princess and wouldn't dare put a paw wrong. They all get turfed out before sunup on a workday........rain, hail or shine.

That they're not border collies and that their tails aren't docked. There's also an assumption that all Aussies need loads of exercise but mine must be the exception to the rule.

My Aussies are bigger than Borders and they'd only get about half that amount of food, except the the 7 month old pup who's still growing and gets a bit less than you've listed. My very large 30kg adult male gets 1.3 cups of super premium kibble and 1 small chicken drumstick per day. If he had a chicken frame, that would replace the kibble, as would a cup of beef and veges. My adult female, who is not a small specimen of the breed gets 1 cup of kibble and a chicken drum. If they get treats for training, they get less kibble at dinner. If they get table scraps, they get less kibble. They are both lean and well muscled.

I agree with this, and I'd go so far as to say that if a breeder has litters of 6 or more pups, sells them for $1000-$1500 or more and isn't making a profit, then they either need to find another vet or healthier dogs to breed with. Because if all that money is being eaten up with veterinary expenses.....which seems to be the most given reason.....then those dogs should probably be neutered and the breeder maybe look further afield for breeding stock. I have no idea why it's considered so bad to make a profit.......it used to be a hallmark of success. These days it seems to be a mark of shame.

Isaak doesn't have any moles and he spends a lot of time in the fishpond, so I have my doubts as to whether he's even a dog let alone an Australian Shepherd....I think he might really be a rare breed of carp.

Benson licks his lips a lot....tongue straight out in front then back in his mouth like a lizard.....over and over. Benson is very loved and has been since the day he was born. He came from an excellent breeder who completely adores her puppies and raises then indoors and gives them the best start in life possible. We got him at 11 weeks of age and he has a wonderful life with us. He's never experienced deliberately inflicted pain, never known cruelty. He's a big happy, friendly boy. The lip licking manifested gradually, it seems to happen when he is super excited or very happy about something, and I've kind of put it down to us teaching him he's not allowed to jump on people in his excitement. He seems to need a way to express his happiness so he licks his lips instead. I can make it happen instantly by scratching his back near his tail, but he also does it when we get home from work, when he's let inside for his dinner, when I go outside to play with him etc. etc. Times when he would like to jump on me but can't because he's not allowed to.

Ours was indoors, thank goodness. Was the Brittany spec at Bulla? Looks miserable there. We had a great day out, no wins for my guys but they did me proud anyway. Pity about the rude buggers showing in their own spec in the next ring who set up after the Aussie people and almost totally blocked the walkway and therefore easy access to the ring for a lot of us.

Umm, they don't really miss out on anything. When my son was in Iraq, I kept asking him what did he want me to send him....and everything I suggested, he said was easy to get over there. He had plenty of Aussie food, and really the only thing he wanted was some Bonds T-shirts as he had to have sleeves and he'd only taken singlets, and a couple of motorbike mags. Pretty much everything else was quite readily available.

I'm doing my bit......I'm sending my son over. Six month tour of duty to Afghanistan.

I'm fed up with doing multiple trips back and forth to the car to get all our dog show gear to our "spot", so I'm committing part of my tax refund to buying a decent trolley. I've researched and read, and decided to go with OKS Engineering in Tas, for a handmade jobbie. Gotta say, the service on enquiry has been excellent......emails answered promptly and efficiently. So now I need to wait for the ATO to do their thing, then place my order. Who has an OKS trolley and what can you tell me? Are they as good as they sound?

Our metal one is very heavy and my husband hates having to carry it at dog shows. The soft crate takes up less space, is much lighter, easier to manage and doesn't rattle in the back of the car like the metal one does. But the dogs prefer the metal one cos they can see out.

And that is the RSPCA's concern too. If the animals wellbeing is fine and the business owners are operating within the law, what's the issue? Contunially reporting someone for doing something that is not wrong, IS harrassment.

The fact that's she's reported them three times a year for 4 years without having sighted the animals except for a drive-by glimpse, is harrassment. The fact that it's still operating means there wasn't anythng wrong, not that they RSPCA didn't do anything about it.

I personally would have wanted to take a closer look at the property to ensure that they did deserve to be reported to the RSPCA BUT lest we forget that selling puppies and kittens on a regular basis DOES constitute PUPPY MILLING !! The OP has made it amply clear that there were large signs advertising puppies & kittens on a very regular basis! Too regular for my liking....breeding should be done to better the breed and NOT as a means to pay one's mortgage! I must say that I dont think too highly of anyone wanting to sell animals esp pet animals via signs outside a property. Given that most of you like to take up residence on a mountain top and shout your distaste at pet shops for getting their 'stock' from puppy millers (me included) and also for relying on people walking by and purchasing a pup on a whim because it looks cute, I am surprised that you dont have issues with people adopting the method of selling pups via signs outside a property...same concept as far as I am concerned! Puppy mills/farms are not illegal. Nor is selling many puppies regularly via a sign posted out front. Doesn't matter how highly or lowly you think of them, or whether it's to your liking or not, it's not against the law.

Black Hawk Holisitic is an Australian made super premium kibble, packed generically and sold through the distributors, not generally through retail outlets. The price varies slightly depending on the distributor and freight costs, but to give you an idea, I paid $75 for 20kgs. They keep the price down by the plain packaging and the method of sale. It really is a fab product, a lot fresher than imported kibbles and made from local quality ingredients. The product is available in a couple of retail outlets near me. Branded as Holistic Lamb & Rice. How much is it from a retail store?

You can't distinguish. Most people would be very hard pressed to tell the difference between a backyard breeder, puppy farmer and ANKC registered breeder. The lines are very blurry a lot of the time.....some backyarders do a great job of raising and socialising their pups, some puppy farmers are registered with the ANKC and have a prefix, some ANKC breeders churn out lots of litters a year with the sole intention of selling all the pups. There's also the politics of the dog world to deal with...ask one person, they'll praise a breeder up, ask someone else and they'll have nothing good to say about the same breeder. So who knows?

Black Hawk Holisitic is an Australian made super premium kibble, packed generically and sold through the distributors, not generally through retail outlets. The price varies slightly depending on the distributor and freight costs, but to give you an idea, I paid $75 for 20kgs. They keep the price down by the plain packaging and the method of sale. It really is a fab product, a lot fresher than imported kibbles and made from local quality ingredients.

Did you ever sight the animals? What condition were they in? What were their living conditions like? It may be the case that nothing was done about it because nothing was wrong with it. It's not illegal to breed dogs and cats, and it's not illegal to live on a rundown property. Reporting it to the RSPCA doesn't mean they'll close it down, they'll just check it out.

Stacking my pup is like trying to stack an armful of jelly. I get the front end organised and the back end sags and collapses, I get that arranged and the front end bounces and licks.

Just keep in mind that it's only a dog show. In the grand scheme of life, a not very important event. Have fun, enjoy your beautifully groomed dog, show him off to anyone who'll take notice and let him have a great day out.

I'm showing a puppy at the moment and also doing obedience at beginners level. He knows the difference between sit and stand and it didn't take him long to figure it out. I now need to teach him "stand still, for goodness sake".