Gayle.

Yes, I'm not talking about how I felt or what might have happened. Just very glad she found a kind soul to take care of her, and very, very grateful. Piccies....well, she's still in bed. She apparently needs her beauty sleep to recover from the makeover. When Rick brought her home last night, the other dogs went to check on her and sniff her new winter-wear. She growled at them, like she was saying "This is MY coat, now back off".

Last night, we pulled up into the driveway at around 7pm, to find Benson there ready to greet us....on the wrong side of the gate! I could see Dusty in the backyard but not our old Lhasa, Kassy. My husband grabbed a torch and went to look for her, no luck so he got in the car and went for a drive while I organised the other dogs. He came back about 10 minutes later. He'd been to the local general store which is about 2 blocks from our place. He asked if they'd seen a little long haired dog with a coat on, yes they had, they saw her out in the rain wandering so went and got her and tied her up under their porch. As they are a food shop, they couldn't bring her inside but they gave her something to eat and hoped someone would come by and recognise her. We've only lived here for around 6 weeks so no one knows us or our dogs. Anyway, earlier that evening, a lady stopped in at the store and asked about the dog tied up. She apparently breeds Lhasas, and she left her name and phone number with the shop owner, took Kassy home with her so she'd be safe and warm. My husband headed out to their place to collect her and came home THREE hours later! He made new friends. And so did Kassy. She'd been bathed, brushed, blow dried and came home sporting a brand new pink puffy coat with the words SPOILT! on the back. Some people are so lovely. And it's nice to know we've moved to a village where people care about dogs and look out for the wanderers. Now we need to figure out how the brains trust of the doggy family let himself and Kassy out.

When Sheila Polk judged the 2008 Aussie spec in Vic, there was a huge turnout, it was the biggest gathering of Aussies ever seen in this country. She did not discriminate between tailed and non-tailed Aussies and out of about 22 classes, there were around 8 tailed winners. That is not at all bad considering the ratio of tailed to non-tailed entries was a lot lower than that.

Dear Jed, so good to see you back and on the road to recovery. My new baby Aussie, Isaak, sends his best and sweetest puppy kisses to help your healing.

Isaak is 9 weeks old and he's definitely mastered the art of being cute. Oh my god he is the cutest puppy ever. He eats chicken necks like he's wrestling a crocodile, and can sneak kibble from the big dogs bowls by doing a 'between their legs' ambush while they're busy eating. He has learned where his own bag of puppy kibble is kept and when he hears the pantry door open, he dives in there and grabs a piece out of the bag. He can wee on command but he hasn't quite got the other bit mastered yet. No time for trick training as I've been working ridiculous hours this week, but that's coming. The big Aussies absolutely adore him and they play with him til he's worn out and collapses on the floor with them for a big snooze.

My pups including my new co-owned one came to me chipped in the breeders name with signed paperwork to transfer to my name. They are then trf to my name with my contact details and no work number. I don't care who knows wher I work, I just don't want to be contacted via work phone numbers. Not even my daughters school can reach me that way. They have my mobile.

If a dog is living with me, the details on the microchip are my concern, not the breeders or anyone elses.

I ve bought pups from breeders and have never been asked to supply anything other than basic contact details and certainly not work phone numbers.they would have no cause to ever ring my work, they are given my mobile if I deem it's necessary. Even the breeder of the new pup I have, who is co- owned with her does not have my work phone number.

wow, i imagine you have trouble getting people who meet those exacting standards. i would not give my work number as i have a mobile which is on 24/7 so no need for my work number to be on a microchip. it is also a problem if i change jobs because i would then have to update the microchip info each time. the more i hear about rescue the less i would get a dog from them. same here. It would be a cold day in hell before I'd approach a rescue group about a dog after reading some of the conditions. And I would not recommend it to others either. Go to the pound or RSPCA instead.

When you said foster carer, I actually thought you meant children not dogs. I think some organisations need to maybe take a close look at their place in the world. I would have told them to take a flying leap but I'd use different words than that.

I don't take mine for check up's. The only time I've taken a healthy dog to the vet is when I needed a vet cert to enter an endurance test. If your dogs are part of your family life and you bath/groom them regularly, feed them a decent diet and exercise them regularly, anything untoward will be very noticebale to you before it gets out of hand.

Definitely not there. Bit of an oversight as they are a lovely, and much loved breed. Collie Smooth isn't there either. Another oversight as they are often recommended as being a great family dog for people who want an active, clever dog with an easy care coat.

If you have a public school in your neighborhood, approach the principal about the possibility of using their grounds outside of school hours for exercising your dog. When we lived in town, we had a primary school around the corner that my kids used to go to. When we got Benson, we needed something larger than our backyard to give him a run so I visited the school and asked the principal. He was happy for us to use the grounds as long as I left the grounds in the same condition I found them.....picked up dog poo etc. He told me he liked having responsible families use the facilities.....playgound, sports oval etc, outside of school hours as it deterred vandals. If we ever found kids belongings on the oval....lunch boxes, clothes etc, I'd pick them up and stash them somewhere safe where they could be found the following day by the teachers. It was the least I could do to pay back for the convenience of being able to run my dogs on a safe, flat, fenced grassy area most days.

We have a huge yard plus a paddock and my dogs use all of it. They don't have access to the paddock as that's kept for playtime with me.....I throw balls, frisbees and train them there, but the rest of the yard is their playground and they love it. We moved from a regular sized suburban block to 3/4 acre and it's made a huge difference to the dogs. But they are a breed that love to play and play, especially with each other.

They are amongst my favourite breeds to watch at a dog show. I have never seen one that didn't love being in the ring, they romp around like they own it, flirt with the judges, the onlookers and have a thoroughly good time. They are absolutely adorable.

Riddick is a cutie too. I love black labs, they are my favourite colour.

Any time Silvawillow or Binka Babe aren't there, she is most welcome to take him in the ring for me. You guys are at most of the KCC shows on Sundays, aren't you? We'll only show on Sundays, too much else to do on weekends, and it won't be every Sunday.

yes, it's a bit sad when members of a purebred dog forum are ooohing and aaaahing over pics of mongrel puppies when there are so many beautiful, thoughtfully bred pedigree pups being born. We need more pics of the purebreds and less of the mutts! so very very true and thank you again for showing us your beautiful boy. All puppies are cute and it is not their fault they are crossbred/mutts However, Aussie puppies are the cutest ever (just my biased opinion) All puppies ARE cute, no doubt about that. But this is a purebred dog forum. For a while there we had anawful lot of mutts to admire. And yes, Aussies are the cutest of them all ;-)

yes, it's a bit sad when members of a purebred dog forum are ooohing and aaaahing over pics of mongrel puppies when there are so many beautiful, thoughtfully bred pedigree pups being born. We need more pics of the purebreds and less of the mutts!

yes he is a black tri. He was sitting on a red blanket which is reflecting a red cast to his coat. He's got a very big fluffy coat for an 8 week old baby. I wonder if that's an indication of things to come.

My little man came home today. This is Isaak, Tuscamada Twist of Fate. He is utterly adorable and very, very calm about the big changes he's seen this weekend.

That's interesting. So an oversized toy, is still a toy even if it's the size of a miniature poodle?

Haha, yes I do....gimme time though. We've only been home 4 hours and we've already done a photoshoot.

Yes, in the dog world there is nothing nicer than a beautifully bred puppy who's breeder has put thought and effort into producing well conformed babies who look like they are supposed to look. It's the difference between a cartoon drawing and a masterpiece.

The sire fathered two litters before his untimely death and despite a lot of black and red tris, there was only one black tri boy and he's very much like his daddy. He's a big chunky puppy with a fabulous head and the fattest little paws I've ever seen on a pup. He's also very calm, very cool about all the changes this weekend. And Ithree black tri's together look amazing.