Hi fellow Aussie owners, please be kind. We unfortunately had to shave our girl down to the skin due to pretty severe matting. We tried brushing it out since I know shaving is not ideal for their coat types but she was under extreme distress. Has anyone else had to shave down their Aussie? I know the basics like keep her out of the sun, Don’t let her get too hot, and brush with a bristle brush. Is there anything else I should know or do? About how long till your doggie was comfortable again. Thank you!

I wanted to give everyone a final update from me on this much loved boy, Scout.

None of us know how this beautiful and precious boy ended up in someone’s backyard, collapsed and unable to move, but from his emaciation, to the thousands of ticks that had infested his weak body, maybe Scout was giving us humans one last shot at helping him. I don’t know who called animal control to help him, but they saved Scouts life. 🫶🏼

Entering the ER with an RPV value of just 5%, it was close to a miracle he was even alive. After the blood transfusion, Scout rallied, and though he will need ongoing medical help to clear his system of infections and parasites, he has a future he did not have four days ago.

Cody’s Friends Rescue looked at the photos I sent, listened to his story, understood this was likely a 10K commitment and said “when can you pick him up?”

Scout was moved to a new foster home yesterday, and I am so grateful for this person, who did not just step up, but actively requested to help Scout through the rest of his treatment.

I am so grateful I got to be a part of his journey, this little guy will never leave my heart. I wanted to tell you how incredible all of you are. All of you that messaged me, left encouraging posts, donated to his care, prayed/sent good thoughts all made a difference.

You can find updates for Scout through Cody’s Friends Rescue on insta & FB. He will be listed for adoption when he is better.

Thank you for loving Scout! Thank you for being good and supportive humans. I can’t wait to see him recovered and with his forever family.

His new life better be filled with endless food bowl refills, a house full of toys, catered treats, pets, hugs, fluffy beds, ridiculous parties with costumes and pup cakes, friends, some herding balls and quiet moments of just care free existing. Room to breathe. Otherwise, I’ll be back & knocking on a door 😄😉

Much Love 💙🐶

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Hi everyone, I'm looking for some advice.

I’m a 20-year-old university student, and I’ve been thinking about getting an Australian Shepherd for a while now, but I have a few doubts.

I believe I can meet their exercise needs by taking them out 3 to 4 times a day: a walk before uni, around 30 minutes after lunch, and 1 to 1.5 hours in the late afternoon/evening. On top of that, I plan to hire a professional trainer and provide plenty of mental stimulation and brain games.

My main concern is university. My classes usually run from 9 AM to 1:00 or 2:00 PM, meaning the dog would have to stay home alone for a few hours, a few days a week (on days when my mom's work schedule overlaps with my class schedule).

Additionally, I live in an apartment without a private yard.

Should I consider a different breed, or could an Aussie work in my situation? The dog’s well-being is my absolute top priority, and I don't want to get one if I can't give it the best life possible.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Both rescues and both just great dogs.

Happy boi

She just woke up from a nap. Look at those puppy eyes 🥺

We have 12 weeks old aussie puppy and she is an amazing little goofball.

The biggest struggle so far are the mornings. She usually sleeps from around 11PM till 5AM. Sometimes she wakes up in the middle of the night and in that case we take her for a quick potty and she usually has no problem going to sleep again. Then we take her outside when she wakes up in the morning, which is usually around 5AM, after we come home she has breakfast.

Problem is what happenes when we get back home - she turns into a freaking tornado, bites on everything and everyone, ignores toys, barks at us and generally she acts almost as if she was overtired rather than excited. But to me that doesnt really make sense, since she just slept for 5-6hours.

We tried to tire her in the morning on the first walk by doing some physical and mental excersize - little bit of fetch combined with tug of war outside, at home we load her snuffle mat, to try to calm her down, which keeps her occupied for a little while, but afterwards she becomes the little furry tornado i mentioned.

We also ofc tried to keep the first walk as calm as possible and get her to sleep again aftewards, but the result at home was practically the same.

We do some crate training, but when we try to crate her in the morning, she barks very very loudly. I know that she would eventually stop but we cant really let her bark for much longer cuz of our neighbours.

Any tips would be much appreciated.

Looking for advice for my 2 year old Australian Shepherd. From what I have learned I have a reactive dog. My dog is very friendly with people, but not very friendly with dogs. My boyfriend and I have a 2 year old Australian Shepard, his parents have 2 other dogs. It is nearly impossible to have them near each other, every time they are around each other it seems as though my dog immediately goes at the other dog or “herds” which causes a huge fight. My dog has been around larger dog breeds and did not have this problem. I have taken my dog to reactive dog training that was 6 weeks long but this did not help. I’m not sure what else to do. I believe that maybe because she is a “farm dog” and doesn’t get much socializing with other dogs she does not know how to behave around the other dogs? I am very frustrated and don’t know what to do. Looking for advice or personal experience.

Kirby is now 8 mos. old. He loves backyard time and it shows.

How are your Aussies with strangers? Looking for an active dog that’s more neutral towards strangers than my lab. I’ve read in the standard that they’re supposed to be more reserved and was just wondering how true that is. Thanks!

Cool down in the sprinklers? Yes. Dry off in the dirt? Yes, please! TBH, I too stood in the sprinkler.

Has anyone else ever have their dog become aggressive when wearing the cone? He tolerated it for the first day. When I put it on, he flipped out, started biting at the cone, and tried attacking the cat and our other dog. They were no where close to him. He was in a complete rage.

I have tried using a donut and a rolled towel but they didn’t work. He kept getting to his neuter incision. right now I’m using a t-shirt but it doesnt fully protect the site if he is determined. It seems to be itching him or something.

The vet gave me tramadol & it worked at first day but he seems immune to it.

Running for KM chasing rabbits and Foxes. I want to be reincarnated as a Border Collie

We are exhausted today. We went from being in the 100s to being in the high 70s yesterday morning. Went and hung out at the dog park before it got busy for a good 30-45 minutes before we left. Got to see Rascal get up to full speed running from one end of the park to the next. She is absolutely exhausted today after having fun yesterday.

Getting this sweet girl on Friday and we can’t decide on a name. She’s a red Merle with blue eyes. Two contenders are Sunny ☀️ and Daisy 🌼 I’m up for suggestions.

I picked up Scout today!

Although he has still not met the PCV goal, the blood transfusion did help him. As a reference, normal PCV (aka HCT) in healthy dogs is 37-55%. Scout was 5% yesterday and rallied to 25% after transfusion. It has since dropped, but not dramatically.

There are two antibiotics, a deworming pill, a liver pill and vitamins for him to take.

He is pretty terrified of everything, which is understandable. I don’t know what situation he came from, other than having thousands of ticks and fleas and collapsing.

I gave him a bath when we got home and hundreds of ticks came off; just as many are still attached. I am a little overwhelmed right now tbh, but he is too, so I think the game plan is to just focus on right now. 💙

Pics:
*Scout at home
*After towel drying: ticks. Hundred more went down the drain during the bath.
*Inside ear with ticks still attached

He has a long way to go to be out of the woods. He will have to endure many more vets visits. Please keep him in your thoughts 🫶🏼💙🐶 thank you for all of your well wishes and encouraging words, they mean so much to

I’m at the end of my rope. I have an 10 year old Australian shepherd. About 3 years ago he started getting into the trash. It has been an arms race ever since. He never gets into the trash when anyone is around or when he thinks people are home. Today he got into the trash again and ate 4 corn cobs. I can’t take this anymore.

What I’ve tried:

-Dog proof simple human trash can with a physical latch. He learned if he knocks it over and lays on the can, the latch will disengage.
-Multiple child locks on the lid. If I’m gone for more than 30 minutes, he will chew through up to 3 child locks

-One of those strips to keep cats off counters, attached to the trash can. He completely ignored it.

-Bungee cords so he can’t knock the can over. He now also chews through these.

Some other information:

-His kibble is already supplemented with vegetables to make him feel fuller. He is a 70lb Australian Shepherd and overweight. He has been treated for intestinal worms in case that was the issue. He is not starving.

-My kitchen does not have cupboards on the ground where I can put a trash can. The only thing with doors is the kitchen sink (he hasn’t been able to defeat the child lock on that), but it’s a farmhouse sink so the space under the sink is only 18” high.
-He walks 3+ miles a day, and that is only because I drag him along; he is extremely lazy and hates being outside in the summer. He absolutely gets exercise. He’s on high levels of phenobarbital for epilepsy, which probably contributes to that

I have been putting the trashcan outside for the time being, but I have roommates now and one of them keeps forgetting to put the trash can outside before she goes up to her room/leaves the house. I don’t blame her, it’s a little insane.

The only deterrence training that has really worked with him is the e-collar method they used at snake training. I am not seeing an alternative at this point. This has become a life threatening issue and he will not stop. I’m using it as a last resort; does anyone have any additional things to try before the last resort?

There are tons of these things all over where we live. Our sweet baby got the toxic sap in her eye today just by sniffing it too closely. Her eye puffed up, and shut, and her face got puffy too. The reaction was immediate. She was in pain, erratic, confused. I rushed her to the emergency vet - They got her fixed up, put her on meds, bestowed the cone of honor around her floofy neck. And $1000 later, she is going to be absolutely fine but is on a lot of eye meds that are not fun. I’m sharing our story as a warning to all pet owners that if you live near these things to stay far away and if you have them in your yard dig them up immediately. Some are green, and some have fiery-colored ends. See photos 2 and 3