Thursday, June 21, 2012

Fun in the Sun

My friends and I took our doggies to the beach today. 4 dogs and 4 people in total. We ended up having to take 2 cars to get everyone there (only because my friend forgot to renew her inspection sticker on her SUV). It went pretty well considering how excited our dogs can get when they get to go traveling. You'd be amazed at how much excitement a lab mix, a Swiss shepherd, a malitpoo, and a cockapoo can cause, lol. My little one barely barked at all, which is good. She's gotten a lot better around strangers. The only time she flipped out was when this guy came running at us trying to catch a frisbee. She was only trying to protect us four girls from the guy and his flying disk, lol.

We walked along the shore for a few hours and then we went to eat dinner. Bringfido.com is a really useful site to find dog friendly restaurants. I saw one of the restaurants listed right across the street so we decided to eat there. Yum burgers! Quite an adventure getting the dogs across the street, up the stairs to the patio area of the restaurant, to their drinking fountain, and finding ways to tie them to the chair/table/fence/whatever we could find. We ended up tying the 2 younger dogs on the side closer the fence so they were farthest from the walkway and then the 2 older dogs were tied on opposite corners (we found out that the 2 older dogs get cranky when they get too close). We had this system going where 2 people would order food/potty break while the other 2 watched the dogs and then we switched off.

Afterwards we went in hunt for a grass patch for the doggies to go potty on. Remember kids: always pick up your doggie's poo 'cause that's the nice thing to do! Then we went home. My doggies slept the whole say back and then went on sleeping once they climbed into their beds. Yep. I would definitely qualify today as a successful adventure!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Australian Shepherd

Fluffy!! Super cute and very pretty, don't you agree? I have a 3--almost 4--month old Aussie puppy in one of my classes. She has a red merle coat and is super super sweet. Aussie's also come in other colors.


I've seen this coloring more often. Here's an excerpt from dogbreedinfo.com:

"The Aussie, as it is known, is a medium-sized, robust, well-balanced, rustic dog. The ears are set high at the side of the head, triangular and slightly rounded at the tip. The coat is of medium texture, straight to slightly wavy, weather resistant, of moderate length with an undercoat...Australian Shepherds are easy-going, remaining puppy-like even in their adult years. This courageous dog makes a good watchdog for the home. Aussies are excellent with children, even with an active child, as they love to play. A devoted, loyal friend and guardian, for they are naturally protective. Affectionate, very lively, agile and attentive - they are eager to please, with a sixth sense about what the owner wants. Australian Shepherds are highly intelligent and easy to train. Though aggressive when at work with livestock, the Aussie is gentle with human friends. Australian Shepherds are not the kind of dog to lay around the living room all day or live happily in the backyard with only a 15 minute walk...Working lines may be too energetic for people who only have a moderately active lifestyle...
Height: Male 20-23 inches (52-58cm.) Female 18-21 inches (46-53cm.)
Weight: Male 50-65 pounds (25-29 kg) Female 40-55 pounds (18-25 kg.)
"
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/australianshepherd.htm

Good for people that are active and like exercise and has a backyard. Not so much for the people that have small apartments and don't like to take long walks. As it mentions above, VERY trainable, but you do have to keep it occupied or else the puppy will go find its own fun which is no fun for you. They do have a tendency to herd, so it's very important to teach them that humans (and other dogs) are not ok for herding.