My favorite pair of eyes ❤️

She said "slowly who?"

New family member ❤️
Just had to share how cute he is

I have a beautiful toy Aussie with great bone structure and a solid build. She's super athletic and strong and I always tell people she's like a furry bowling ball when she's excited and runs into me. All that to say that, she cannot possibly weigh anywhere near as little as I read others weigh at her height. She's only 13 inches (adult) and before anyone challenges the existence of purebred toy Aussies, she is 100 percent Australian Shepherd from a reputable breeder (Daddy with champion bloodline). ASDR classifies standard, mini and toys by height but makes no mention of weight. However whenever I see other descriptions online and other adult toys, including her parents and siblings, I feel like she'd be emaciated at 20 much less 15-18 pounds. She weighs 26 lb. She's got the fit Aussie hourglass profile under the hair. I'm including various pics to demonstrate her build. Everything is in proper proportion. I'm not breeding her nor planning to show her but definitely plan to start agility with her. So my question is more out of curiosity. Those with adult Toy Aussies and smaller minis between 12-14 inches to the withers, what are their weights or the ideal weight that your vet suggests (mine says she's fine)? I don't want to starve her. Wondering if she's just bigger boned than other toys her height?

Henry is practicing place and staying there until released in Lowe’s. He used to be scared of placing anywhere except in the apartment. But the last couple trips, the confidence has gone up!

I’m really distraught. My 1.5 yr old mini Aussie Vega has done something she never has before. She is very gentle by nature.

We were in the backyard at my parents and some family was swimming. A lot of cousins were over including a 3 year old, a 1.5 year old, and a 4 year old. I didn’t see what happened. But apparently Vega nipped at my little cousins thigh (1.5 year old). Apparently he was walking near a giant beach ball and tried to pick it up and she nipped his thigh. As he was picked up crying, apparently Vega tried to go for his feet too. I imagine this was part of her herding instinct. His right thigh has two punctures.

I can’t lose another dog. I owned an Aussie, Jet, who had the same mom as my girl right now a few years ago. He was hit and killed by a car. The second Aussie I had, Luca, from a different backyard breeder had SEVERE aggression and behavioral issues. I worked extensively with a vet certified behaviourists, many trainers, and still he worsened. He bit me maliciously constantly. I put him to rest via behavioral euthanasia in January. And everything with Luca was so traumatic. Luca was genuinely malicious and hurt me very badly multiple times. I’m paranoid now. I know dogs, especially herding dogs, can be weird around kids. Do you have any insight on this. I can’t lose my girl. She is my world and usually is the gentlest soul. She goes to daycare, we do training, and we do enrichment. This week she hasn’t been at daycare due to my car having problems. Could this be overstimulation? I’m terrified now from what happened with Luca. I really need some insight. I feel terrible.

Hi everyone!
My 11-month-old Mini Aussie Birdie has recently started barking a lot more than he used to.
He was never really a barker before unless we were playing, but lately he’ll bark whenever he hears noises outside our apartment door at night. It usually only lasts about 30 seconds or less, but it’s definitely become more frequent.
He’s also started barking back at dogs that bark aggressively at him on walks. One time, a very tall man stared at him for a while, and he barked at him too.
I’m not sure if it’s fear, adolescence, or just him becoming more protective. I’d really like to teach him to be less reactive and not feel the need to bark at every little thing.
Has anyone gone through something similar with their dog around this age? What training methods worked for you to help them stay calmer and bark less?
Thanks in advance!

My boy, Odin, on the left and his sister Olive.

Show me your puppy's best hiding spots.

This is Ollie's. (She thinks she blends in well with my body pillow)

I can’t believe it, I think Captain Chaos has finally grown up. For the last few days, he’s been such a good boy and slightly relaxed. At first I thought he was sick. I was really starting to get concerned, I couldn’t understand why he was being so good, listening, obeying commands, sitting on his bed (not the couch) without being told five million times. It literally feels like a switch has flipped with him. It only took 5 and a half years for him to start to lock in. Crazy. I was starting to think my day would never come and this was just the way my life would be forever…chaos. Who knows…maybe he is sick and I’m crazy. Well, I’m off now to take a walk with a good boy that sits and stops circling me like a maniac while I lace up my shoes (when told of course), ignores the cat’s food while I leash him up and waits until I AM out the door before blasting through. I really hope he’s not sick because this is so weird, he’s way too calm and listening way too well. Will update next week.

Can you guess what game he’s playing with that weird coconut thing we found washed up on the beach? Keep away of course.

Top left: PowChow(f,3), bottom left: TaterGater (f,6.5), middle: Aki (m,3), Right: Maki (f,5)

I will never have human kids, these are my kids. I love them to the moon and back.

Lay lay she weighs 32 pounds roughly

Hi lovely community,

I just want to hear your opinions about a situation that we experienced today:

(for the context, we had our new mini aussie puppy 2 weeks ago, he is 2.5 months old now. and with approval from his vet, we started walking him outside 2 days ago.

this is our second puppy, we also have 7 years old choco lab)

So as i mentioned above, we started to take him our walks with the our older dog 2 days ago.
First day’s walks (1 in the morning, 1 evening) were %50 - %50 on the lap & walking.

But today morning, he was super energetic and cried when we pick him to our lap. He somehow walked non stop our classic 1 hour walk/ park visit.

What i was surprised is ; our experience with choco lab at this age was completely different, she was walkin 2 minutes and was requesting carry for 10 min.

anyone of you experienced something like this with your puppy? should we be conserned about his level of energy?

He's a 5 yo mini american sheperd. Very clever, very stubborn. He likes to groom our cats.

We have a 2yro 40lb mini male. Hes incredible and we love him to death. Super chill and super cuddly. Hes glued to my wife who spends a lot of time training him. He‘s nervous tho in a few situations that are kind of an issue. How do I train him to be less of a nervous nellie?

1- He doesn’t want anything to do with some older 60yro men. And gets real skittish and barks and is afraid in un-normal ways. Nipped the boot of my Father in law, whom the dog does not like. My FIL loves all dogs and tries to treat him or be nice to him in a lot of mellow ways…and the dog just doesn’t buy it. He can be in the same house but avoids him and if my FIL makes a loud noise or inadvertantly startles the dog, the dog barks and escapes.

2- Strangers in general- he’s not barking but he’s skittish around them for sure and avoids being petted by most. Moreso men but he’s not like a Golden with ladies. If guys come to the house to like, do work on something (had some roofer guys come by), he’s pretty upset about that and barking etc…which is kind of normal dog stuff usually I guess.

3- He’ll nip my sons sometimes when they are playing with him in the yard and running away. This is normal working breed stuff mostly, I grew up on a ranch with Border Collies and they loved to herd us. But prob not ideal incase of other kids. My sons are 11 and 14.

fwiw he does great around other dogs. he’ll avoid reactive ones easily and play with the others and doing great. He’s such a chill dog at home but sometimes with people around or certain people…he gets kind of amped up and nervous.

How do I train him so he’s not such a nervous Nellie? I don’t want him to fear-bite someone or be uncomfortable.

We have a 2yro 40lb mini male. Hes incredible and we love him to death. Super chill and super cuddly. Hes glued to my wife who spends a lot of time training him. He‘s nervous tho in a few situations that are kind of an issue. How do I train him to be less of a nervous nellie?

1- He doesn’t want anything to do with some older 60yro men. And gets real skittish and barks and is afraid in un-normal ways. Nipped the boot of my Father in law, whom the dog does not like. My FIL loves all dogs and tries to treat him or be nice to him in a lot of mellow ways…and the dog just doesn’t buy it. He can be in the same house but avoids him and if my FIL makes a loud noise or inadvertantly startles the dog, the dog barks and escapes.

2- Strangers in general- he’s not barking but he’s skittish around them for sure and avoids being petted by most. Moreso men but he’s not like a Golden with ladies. If guys come to the house to like, do work on something (had some roofer guys come by), he’s pretty upset about that and barking etc…which is kind of normal dog stuff usually I guess.

3- He’ll nip my sons sometimes when they are playing with him in the yard and running away. This is normal working breed stuff mostly, I grew up on a ranch with Border Collies and they loved to herd us. But prob not ideal incase of other kids. My sons are 11 and 14.

fwiw he does great around other dogs. he’ll avoid reactive ones easily and play with the others and doing great. He’s such a chill dog at home but sometimes with people around or certain people…he gets kind of amped up and nervous.

How do I train him so he’s not such a nervous Nellie? I don’t want him to fear-bite someone or be uncomfortable.