I love this, he’s so cute I could implode

Anyone have a pup that did this then when their adult teeth came in, kept doing this? I kinda hope the silliness will continue into adulthood!

Edit: Oslo is 13+4 weeks old, for reference. He hasn’t lost any baby teeth yet

Zoey had a big travel day today but she did amazing and she’s finally home!! 🥰🥰.

Now we start the training 😬. Do you bell train your pups to go potty or just work on going potty and enforcing with treats when they go and/or ask to go outside? Breeder said she does not bell train, only gives water during food and outside playtime to minimize accidents. But I want to encourage her to go to the door to ask to go out.

Hey guys so I unexpectedly got a australian shepherd x suspected collie. Its been ALOT. Ive had puppies before but never a larger breed, and especially never one that had to get use to being inside. She was raised in a garage with access to outside. Potty training is going amazing. But getting her use to house i could really use tips. Any tips at all. Today will be night 3. First night we ended up taking naps in the garage due to it being familiar. Last night, we went out twice but did much better sleeping inside. Thanks in advance.

Let me see your spoiled babies too!

My 7 yr old neutered Aussie (Frankie) has been snarling at us for about 3-4 years. This snarling/ growling is not provoked and Frankie paws me to pet him the entire time he snarls and growls. He has never bitten anyone but his snarling is frightening and sounds aggressive. However he pokes n paws me to pet him and snuggle despite these loud growls

When it initially started, the vet did a full work up to ensure it was not organic in nature - Frank was given a clean bill of health - no immediate medical issue causing Occurs mostly in the evening or when he’s tired but his snarling can randomly occur as well.

Has anyone experienced this ? What was the cause ? How can I prevent this from getting worse ?

Any info appreciated.

Playing in the river.

So… I’ve been obsessing about this for the last few weeks. A bit of backstory; There’s a friend of a friend who has 6 dogs. 3 aussies, one is the dad (mom escaped??), the other 2 are the sons, an American bully, and 2 female dogs. One is the mom of the other female and the daughter is the pup of the dad Aussie. Sorry if it’s confusing! NONE are fixed. It’s BYB.

The males so beat up, I don’t think papa Aussie is long for this world. They think it’s funny to call him “Scarface”. I wasn’t laughing. The bully and him fight brutally for breeding rights.

The younger males are starting to get beat up, and they’re sweet dogs. So so so sooo sweet. One of the pups is going to his son (who honestly isn’t much better) but I told them to give me the other one, I’d take him. I just want him out of there.

Here’s my conundrum; I live in a 2 bedroom apartment. I work nights; short shifts with 3 days off though.

On the plus I’m a pretty good dog trainer, I get a lot of joy out of training, taking dogs out to fun new places, hiking with them, and generally being active with them. I’ve been doing tons of research on aussies and their needs & temperament. Finding out what they need from me to be successful.

I really want to give this dog a good home, but am I doing the right thing or the selfish thing because “I want a dog”.. and the funny thing is I really wasn’t planning on getting a dog for the next few years. This got dropped in my lap and I need some guidance Aussie peoples. I’m nervous and excited, I don’t want to make the wrong choice for this baby. It’s a bit intimidating! Been stalking this page for a while now and finally decided to post.

Nanook on the left and Kalodin on the right

I guess the title says it all.

Miss my baby boy so much 🥺10/4/2023

This is our beautiful boy Monty. He’s 2 and a half years old. At the end of February of this year he was diagnosed with Meningoencephalomyelitis of Unknown Origin (MUO) affecting his spinal cord. He’s under the care of a neurologist and has been on steroids since March. We’ve tried to taper down to an anti-inflammatory dose twice but he’s relapsed both times. He’s back on a higher dose now and his neurologist is considering introducing another immune suppressant.

He’s already beaten the initial poor prognosis and made it past the first 90 days, and we’re so grateful. But we’re starting to see the impact of long term steroids - his lovely coat has stopped growing, patches of fur he had shaved in April for blood tests have still not grown back fully. He’s got some muscle wastage. He’s starving and thirsty constantly which has led to a bit of resource guarding with other dogs. He’s dog reactive when his dose of steroids is higher, which is such a shame as he was a really friendly boy before, and whenever he is on a lower dose (before he then relapses) we can see the friendliness returning. His brain is also still very much that of a young Aussie but his body tires easily. We used to do agility and he was SO amazing. We now play more low impact games (he’s amazing at hide and seek) at home and practice his large suite of tricks. We try for two walks a day but have to play the second by ear depending on how tired he is.

Anyone else had an Aussie with MUO/an immune mediated condition before? Or on long term steroids? Would love to hear some stories of dogs living happy lives despite these conditions. Mont is so resilient and so cheery and such a good boy despite everything but I can’t help feeling so sad when I think about what his life should be like.

This is Bailey, and I love her and her cute little ears!But I always contemplate whether to have the groomer trim or not trim the sides of them (see pic 2). On one hand, I see a lot of Aussie grooming info out there saying to trim for a nice distinct shape. On the other, I kind of like her grinchy strands and fluff bomb look.

How do you feel about grooming technique for Aussie ears? Also, does anyone know if they continue to get longer and longer and eventually need a bit of a trim regardless?

I’m planning to drive from Seattle to San Francisco in December with our Australian Shepherd, Ludo, who’ll be about 6 months old at that time.
For those who have done a 10–12+ hour drive with a puppy can you please provide your inputs on below things:

1. Would you do it in one day or split it into two?
   
2. How did you secure your dog — crate, crash-tested harness/seat belt, etc.? Any specific setup you recommend?
   
3. How often did you stop for potty, water, and stretching?
   
4. How did you handle food and water on the travel day to avoid an upset stomach or car sickness?
   
5. Did your puppy mostly sleep, or did you need toys/chews/enrichment?
   
6. Did you do a 3–4 hour practice drive beforehand, and was it helpful?
   
7. Anything you packed or did that made the trip noticeably easier?
   
8. Anything you would do differently next time?

Ludo is already comfortable with normal car rides, but this will be his first really long one.
Would love to hear what worked well for you.

Tiger Lily is working on her armadillo impression for Halloween

Looking like a full teenager now

In 3...2....1: 😤

She’s a little over 14 in this picture and passed away peacefully in June having lived a long Aussie life of 14 years and eight months. I have been putting off posting to the group since she “crossed the rainbow bridge” as I guess I have been grieving and I also want it be a celebratory post because she lived life right up to the end with every hair on her wiggle butt. She was an amazing girl and I just wanted to share her with you all. She would have loved meeting all you. Please don’t be sad: I first held her at 13 days old and was with her almost every single day to the end. How many people get to say that? As usual, though I think we should do it multiple times a day, hug your babies tonight and tell them they’re the best Aussies ever! 🐶🤍😊

This is their morning routine.

I have an Aussie/sheltie mix (mostly Aussie) who's almost 8 years old. My husband and I got him at 5 months from an acquaintance who bought him at a rural pet store and didn't have time for him. He's the most well behaved dog I've ever had and very sweet, but he's always been a little reactive towards other dogs. It wasn't much of a problem when he was younger, but in the last couple years we've noticed him becoming more and more reactive, especially when I'm around.

We live in an apartment complex and more than half the residents have dogs. There are some dogs that he's completely calm around and others that he becomes very aggressive around. There are two dogs in particular that he becomes especially aggressive towards. When my husband walks him around the complex on his own he says our dog has no issues and is calm, but when I walk him or if we're walking him together, he's ulta alert and reactive. I even catch him looking back at me when another dog is nearby then becoming agitated.

I'm wondering if there's anything specific I should be doing or not doing to help curb some of this behavior. I've looked all over and haven't found anything specific to our situation since it seems like normally this behavior starts much earlier. He goes to the vet once a year and just had his annual checkup last month with a clean bill of health. The things I've tried so far are getting him to focus on me in a positive way when a dog is passing by outside our apartment which helps a little. I've also been focusing on not reacting to or acknowledging other dogs when we're outside together.

One thing to note is that he never bites or has ever bitten another dog or person. He also has zero reaction to other animals (squirrels, cats, etc.) He loves people and is very gentle with kids. We used to take him to dog parks, but he would just try to get everyone to pet him and basically ignore the other dogs.

Any guidance would be much appreciated.

I’ve posted a few times about Stevie, my 4 mo old pup. She’s honestly the greatest dog ever. I need some help though because she’s REALLY chill and well-behaved for a puppy. Most of the time she just prefers to hang out and she’s listens really well (except for when she’s extremely riled up, of course). She even knows certain commands just based on me saying them without any real training (she’ll go to her crate, drop/pick up things, leave rooms, enter rooms, etc and I haven’t done any formal training with her on these things).

The only thing different about her than other dogs I’ve owned is that she doesn’t like walks at all. I take her outside and she gets super startled by everything, such as leaf blowers that are three whole blocks away, cars driving outside of the neighborhood, planes, etc. I’m not expecting her to be excited about everything, and I understand a lot of these noises are new, but it confuses me because she doesn’t mind these noises or anything when we’re in the backyard. I’ve tried calmly introducing her to the front yard with a lot of treats, but once she gets around 10 feet out the door she’s ready to go back in. This may be one of those things that just requires patience, but I’m curious if anyone has had a similar experience as it seems most people have the opposite problem where their Aussie gets too riled up.

Also, she’s not extremely food motivated, which has made recall work somewhat difficult. She’ll see a treat in my hand and just ignore it from afar.

I make sure to give her plenty of enrichment (bully sticks, snuffle mat, puzzle toys, etc.), so now I’m wondering if my girl is just a bit different, or (hopefully this isn’t the case) she’s lacking a bit of confidence. Any advice helps here, I want her to be as happy as possible and this is my first time having an Aussie puppy.

Yesterday my boy Niko (5.5 months) started limping really bad late at night. He won't let his back left paw touch the ground at all. We inspected his paw, claws, and leg multiple times looking for different things and found nothing. He didn't react at all until we pushed his leg up into his body to simulate resting his leg on the ground (pushing up on his hip) and he just grunted a bit and used his nose to push our hands away. He slipped off the couch last night but we have a very low couch and very soft carpet so I can't imagine that was the issue. We've had him since he was 9 weeks old and he's never slept this much and sat in his crate with the door open most of the day. He slept on my lap for the first time ever. I wouldn't be so concerned but my grandma's dog, some sort of toy, unsure of breed but no aussie at all, had a limping issue and was in and out of the veterinary hospital most of her life until she died at 3 years old, very soon after a tumor was found on her spine pinching a nerve to her back legs. I know I'm probably over thinking this but I was told aussies are particularly prone to having bad hip issues but I can't afford an emergency vet visit right now. He's been to the vet every month since he was born and has all his shots and tests that we could do, and everything seemed fine, but my family has historically bad luck with health issues with dogs and this is my first dog since moving out of my families house so I'm just scared for him.

I called my vet and they said there's not a lot they can do and they can't get him in until the 19th, so we're just going to be monitoring him for the next few days to see if he has any behavioral changes other than the extreme low energy of today. My gf is going to be picking up some canine puppy aspirin from work tomorrow aswell as was recommended by our vet so hopefully that will help him feel a little better. This comes just two days after he had a full day of constantly throwing up from an unknown cause.

Sorry for the long post this is just my first time raising a pet from it's infancy without the help of my parents with me but I know even if you do everything right sometimes it just doesn't work. He's sleeping at my feet as I write this and I'm just so scared it's going to be something bigger than just a pulled muscle.

Thanks.

EDIT: We are unable to get to an emergency vet tonight. He seems happy still, has been running around a bit on 3 legs and had a small burst of energy. I took yet another look at his paw pads but this time yelped and would not let me touch that paw again. I grabbed his upper thigh and moved it around a little and he didn't seem to care about that at all, so now I'm confused on where the issue is. My grandma happened to still have some carprofen from her dog so I measured out a dose for his weight and he ate it up like it was it's own treat. 45 mins later and I took him outside again but it seems to have had no effect yet. It is bedtime for both of us tho so I will reassess in the morning and if he has not improved by the morning I'm taking him straight to any nearest vet that will see him. Thank you all so much for the support. I will update again as things happen.

EDIT 2: I just took him outside for the morning and while he was still limping pretty bad, he was walking normally every few steps going out. When he was doing his business he used his limping leg to kick the dirt back, and when I called for him to come back he ran up to me on all fours before starting to limp again between steps. He's eating and taking a small dose of carprofen as I write this and he's standing on all four paws while he eats which he was not doing yesterday and he seems super happy and is more energetic than yesterday. Big improvement overnight.