Gayle.

Well, don't they looked extremely chuffed with their new ride! I love the Astra's, I had a sedan and a convertible and am sad that they are no longer made. They are awesome cars to drive and they used to have a model to suit most circumstances for a small-medium car shopper.

I looked at them too, cos I love the profile of them. But yes, they had less room in the back than most of the smaller SUV's and they wouldn't have fitted our large crate either.

I bought a puppy sight unseen. Well, I saw photos from the day she was born right up til when she flew over to us, but we never met the breeder, never saw the parents, and our girl is everything we ever wanted in a pet. She is a beautiful, sweet, lovely girl and I totally adore her. She came from a registered, ethical breeder who has an excellent reputation within the breed. To be honest, I can't really see the point in looking at the parents unless you are interested in particular bloodlines for breeding or showing. As a pet buyer, you probably wouldn't know what to look for. The stud dog is not always there anyway, and bitches who've recently whelped may have very different dispositions than they normally would, especially around strangers who are handling their puppies.

Mine are outside during the day, with no access to inside. Including my 15yo Lhasa Apso, who thinks she is going to be reborn as a human princess. They have various beds, shelter in a small back porch and under a concrete ramp where they've made themselves a "den". Fresh water in two places (including their den), shade, toys, grass to lie on and a sandpit to dig in. They are also out there when I'm home a lot of the time, because they want to be there. My old Lhasa is the first one to line up at the backdoor in the morning and doesn't start asking to be let in until around dinner time.

If it were any of the pounds I've seen, I agree. A tiny baby is far better off in a caring family home than a concrete and steel pen where they don't even move the dogs to hose them out each day. For those of you who are standing on your soapbox and preaching to these puppy buyers, please keep in mind that they have done NOTHING wrong. Please don't make them feel bad. They have done everything they thought was right, and in the cases where they are contacting pet professionals, they are continuing to do the right thing by the puppy by seeking good food, vaccinations, info etc.

Naaah, that's in Tynong, around 1.5 hours from here. I haven't really ever heard anyone rave about any boarding facilities around here. If I have to board the dogs, I'd use an Aussie breeder who has boarding kennels in Longwarry.

Just wanted to say hi to another local. We're hoping to move out your way soon....as soon as we sell our house in T'gon which seems to be taking longer than any other house in the area to sell. Which boarding kennel did you end up with? I've used Pinefair, but not for years. Didn't like them at the time, I picked up two very matted little dogs after having left them there beautifully brushed and groomed. I haven't boarded the Aussies. Benson went back to his breeder for a weekend and since we had Dusty we haven't been anywhere.

At 4 months, it doesn't count. He still sees her as a baby. Babies get away with heaps of things that adolescents don't. It's good when it's like that, because you have a peaceful household. My animal pack are very peaceful, they all have their place, they all know their place and they know that I'm in charge, not them. Bigger and stronger doesn't necessarily mean higher up the order though. I watched my sons dogs when they were her at Xmas, his English Setter was very submissive to their little pound rescue malti-x. They are around the same age and they've had the setter for a few months longer but their little girl was most definitely in charge, and she could eat her dinner with the setter right next to her, practically drooling in her bowl and she knew he wouldn't touch her food. In fact, occassionally she'd flick a bit his way, which just cracked me up when I saw it. But he didn't dare take any out of her bowl.

Benson is top dog here, and he's the only neuter. I have a 15yo entire Lhasa Apso, and Dusty who is also entire and Benson is definitely top of the totem pole. But he's a benevolent dictator, he never snaps, growls or causes a fuss with the girls, He simply takes what they have and they let him. But ultimately he knows whoi's in charge and if he's heading for Dusty's dinner (we don't feed out oldie with the Aussies), I just have to say "Uh, uh" and he ducks his head and does a u-turn. I can usually tell when he's targetting what Dusty has, he assumes a certain posture and if I can cut him off I will. But sometimes I don't........it keeps the order in place if he IS allowed to be the top dog sometimes when I'm watching. (I don't let him take her food but sometimes I'll let him take a toy from her then I'll give it back to her later when he's dropped it).

X-trail here too. Absolutely love it.

I tried clicker training with Benson, and one click and he took of as fast as he could go and hid under the bed. So, that was a monumental failure.

A Furminator isn't suitable for an Australian Shepherds coat so don't waste your money. It skims the surface of their topcoat and doesn't even touch the undercoat. An Oster rake or a Mars Coat King is what will work, or just an undercoat rake from Kmart. I have an old one I was using for our Maine Coon, just a cheapie I picked up a couple of years ago, and I tried it on Dusty and it got loads out. The Furminator is more suited to dogs with thick, even-length shortish coats such as a husky, smooth collie etc. The Aussie coat is all different lengths and very different textures from extremely fine and soft behind the ears to coarse and fuzzy on their pants.

Dusty goes through that twice a year. She's dropping coat now. She sleeps on my bed and one night last week I had to get up and brush the hair off my pillow cos I kept breathing it in. Gross! I have an Oster undercoat rake, and I take her outside and strip as much as possible out. There's still a lot of hair inside though.

The breeder I bought Dusty from didn't ask me much.....just if I still wanted a pup, and when I said yes she asked which one. And then if I wanted the paperwork to travel with pup or posted to me. The breeder I bought Benson from didn't ask much either, although we spent the afternoon with her so she was able to get to know us a bit. She did ask if I was planning on taking him to obedience but that was about all. And she only wanted to know that cos she thought it might be an option for her to go to if the one she was going to didn't work out. Neither of them asked any real indepth questions, although Dusty's breeder knew I already had an Aussie.

I bought a pup form interstate. I was on a waiting list with the breeder for a month or so, she contacted me when the pups were born and sent me pics of the ones that were the gender, colour and markings I wanted. I made my choice, with the second pup as back up in case the breeder decided to keep my first pick for herself (she ended up keeping the second one). I knew the breeder only from her website and an Australian Shepherd email list. I had no qualms paying her a deposit when the pup was decided on, then paying the balance and the shipping fee when she was ready to come to us. We kept in touch by email right through, and I spoke to her on the phone once. The pup came to me with copies of the parents hip scores and eye tests. The pup herself was eye-tested before being sent, as well as vaccinated, m'chipped and wormed. All the things you'd expect. The paperwork was all attached to the top of the crate she travelled in. I didn't have to ask about it, it came as part of the puppy-buying deal. Australian Shepherds aren't dogs that are generally used as part of a scam though. I had no reason to doubt that the breeder was genuine as she has bred and shown dogs for many years and has an excellent reputation. She told us everything about the puppy as she was growing, including that she was scared of the vacuum cleaner, and so to get her out and about and used to loud noises (at 2, she is still scared of the lawn mower and that's never going to change). My puppy was everything I ever wanted and hoped for.

Kelpie, Smooth Fox Terrier, Flat coated retriever (bit bigger than small-medium), Beagle (not offlead though), Border Terrier, Dalmatian (bigger than small-medium), Manchester terrier (might be hard to come by), German Pinscher (another one that might be hard to get), Australian Shepherd (could be a bit hairier than you'd like but easy to groom). That's just a selection of very different dogs that might suit your criteria, but they are all very different, all require very different types of handling and it comes down to what you, as the potential owner, like.

Yes I do, and yes it's very good and the pins don't fall out like they do on the cheaper brushes. It gets right through the Aussies thick undercoats.

Dogs don't need the finest cuts of meat, nor do they appreciate the expense. Mine get a pet mince from the butchers, which is basically all their offcuts and offal minced together, no preservatives added. I bag it into serving sizes and add eggs, raw veges, rice, oil and other goodies to it. They also get raw meaty bones.....lamb and chicken mainly as well as the occasional treat of ox-tails. Ask your local butcher about pet mince. Mine charges $1.49 kg. I purchase it in 6 kg lots.

Both the cat breeders I bought my cats from had the same ethics as the best dog breeders. Kittens came desexed and microchipped with all vet work done. They offered support for the life of the cats, and I'm to return the cats to them if ever I can't keep them.

Dusty is so funny and so expressive I almost expect her to start talking. Yesterday I had the day off work and was trying to have a sleep in. Benson was outside as he prefers sleeping out there during the summer. Dusty was on my bed as usual. Taking up most of it. She jumped up to go out and off she went out with Benson. Immediately she started barking at the early morning walkers, and I yelled out to my husband to bring her back in. Back she came and I told her to get back into bed. So she hopped on the end of the bed and proceeded to lick her bum. Scratch her side. Chew some non-existent fleas. Lick bum again. Lick me. Eff off Dusty!. Then she jumped over me. And over me again. Then she sat at the door, then came back to me and stared closely at my face. She was willing me to get up and let her back out so she could go and bark with Benson. She does this open and closing thing with her mouth that looks like she's trying to talk. She did that. Got back on the bed, jumped over me, poked me with her nose, licked me again. She was like a goddamn teenager........just present the most annoying behaviour possible and don't stop it until you get your own way!

Good post. Everyone needs a wakeup call occasionally. We live on a very busy highway and it never ceases to amaze me the amount of people who walk their dogs offlead around here. Especially on the grassy/bushy area by the railway track opposite our house, which I know is a haven of wildlife......lizards, rats, rabbits, snakes. We've seen them there. However, we got a bit slack about letting our dogs run from the car to the front door when we got home from somewhere. Pull up in the driveway, open the backdoor, dogs would jump out and run up the steps to the balcony and wait to be let in. Then I found my brain, planted it back in my head and realised it would only take one dog to be walking past our house at that precise moment when my well-behaved dogs would just do a u-turn and run out to say hello. So leads on all the time now. Glad to hear everyone survived unscathed.

I have pedigree dogs and pedigree cats, and I'll admit to being extremely breedist. The only pets that ever come into our house will be pedigree animals from registered breeders. I have had moggies, and they were awful. One was a pet shop kitten that got progressively more feral and nasty as she got older. The other one was a "rescue" from my sons friend who got a dog and didn't want the cat. She wasn't very friendly either. Our pedigree cats are lovely animals, very friendly and they grew up to be what I expected. Except maybe Kate, our Maine Coon who is far larger than I thought she'd get (but I did expect she'd be enormous as far as cats go). Rescue? No, never. I know I'm a good and responsible pet owner who is willing to adapt to the animals that come into our lives, but I absolutely will not have someone else making that judgement on me.

Lagotti aren't new, they are actually a very old Italian breed....bred for truffle hunting, among other things I believe. They are quite new to this country though and relatively unknown. I definitely wouldn't call them a newly popular breed as they are still quite rare. The breeder I got my first Australian Shepherd from breeds Lagotti too, and we met her first one when we bought our boy. I was super impressed by the friendliness of the dog and she is fabulous looking. Very "poodly" textured coat, but different dog altogether to a poodle. They are an active, outgoing dog.....according to this breeder, the pups are a lot more active than Australian Shepherd puppies. Intelligent and fun to be around too. I would love one, someday.

Oh, I'm so glad to hear that it works on the smoothies! I had a feeling it would. And happy that it's now being put to good use instead of kicking around in my junk drawer.

Benson was desexed at 4.5 months and started cocking his leg at 10 months. He's now almost 3 and our walks involve a lot of sniffing and pissing and dirt flinging with his back legs. He's allowed to pee on council trees, grass, power poles. He is not allowed to pee on private gardens, fences, letterboxes, cars or buildings. If he tries to, I say "Leave it!" and I get a big huffy sigh but he keeps walking.