I am so obsessed with my girls multi colored freckles.

Shes a sweetie too 💜 Our first dog as a family and my first aussie. This breed really has expressive eyes! I want to get her those talking buttons one day.

Hope everyone is having a good day! 🐶💕

We got Ruby at 8 and a half weeks. She was
Our first puppy and first Aussie. Would I recommend getting an Aussie as your first puppy? Probably not lol but what a way to learn!

I’ll never forget walking into a pet store with her at 8weeks old and a very nice lady told me I would “hate my life at 7 months” she was right and I was NOT prepared.

I was shocked that she actually started to settle at 18 months I really didn’t think we’d ever get there 😭

But she is fabulous, bossy, smart while also being a little ditsy and my best friend 🫶🏼

If you are ever in doubt with your puppy just remember redirect, redirect, redirect! 😂

I’ve commented about her here before but never made a post.. so here’s the story of how we got her, some pics of her and her brother, mats in her fur, and my late Aussie mix, Rezzy, who made me fall in love with the breed. I totally understand if you don’t want to read the story and just want to look her pics lol!

TW: pet loss, pet hit by car, neglect, matted fur.

After losing my late Aussie mix, Rezzy, in late 22, I wanted another Aussie in my life so much. Early this year I saw an Aussie mix at a shelter. She was about 6, very sweet, but incredibly overweight, and couldn’t get around easily because one of her legs had an old injury that healed improperly. Husband and I debated getting her.. if she would be a good fit, and if our pyr/gsd/rotti/chow/ACD mix would be too much for her, as he can be very rambunctious. We decided against adopting her.. but decided to get an Aussie puppy!

We had her for two weeks before deciding to return her the the breeder because she was stressing my senior cats out so badly they wouldn’t come out of hiding for days. I couldn’t put them through that for weeks or months while we trained her. It just wasn’t fair to them. (She has since gone to a good home with a family with another dog and kids to keep her busy!) The night we returned her.. we were driving down a busy road, literally boxed in on all sides, and a small dog ran in front of us. We tried to swerve as best we could but it didn’t matter. We went back to find it and the poor thing was long gone. No tags or anything. There was nothing we could do but report it to animal control. We cried the rest of the night. I was convinced it was a bad omen for not going through a shelter or rescue, and returning the puppy. And I decided my next dog would be a shelter or rescue Aussie for sure!

A few weeks later I checked a local shelters website and saw her. She looked identical to the puppy, but she’s nearly 5 years old. I had to go meet her. Turns out she was still on stray hold. Her second time in the shelter in 4 months. Owners came to get her the first time. They said they would this time. But JUST IN CASE I said “put me down to adopt her if they don’t come back.” They didn’t come back. We brought our boy to do a meet and greet, and they had no issues, so we brought her home!

At first I felt awful thinking “what if her family just couldn’t get there to get her?” But she was in awful shape. In her intake photo from her first visit she had a HUGE mat on her back end that was still present four months later when I got her. She was so dense with compacted fur and mats that she looked twice her actual size. She had what appeared to be paint in her fur, and something that looked like some kind of bug egg sac? My best guess is that she was bought as a puppy and tossed out in the back yard when she stopped being little. She has no leash walking skills, and acted so confused on the first walk we went on. Doesn’t understand how to play fetch, (but loves to chase toys!), and has next to no stamina for playing and walking.

She’s been with us for four months now, and has been such a joy. She doesn’t like when her brother has toys, but is learning to handle that better with time. She had some minor issues with resource guarding toys and myself at first but has gotten over that quickly. No food aggression, but she will steal food from anyone and gobble it up as fast as she can. She sleeps next to our other dog on their sofa.

She has no interest in the cats, and they’re unfazed by her. She’s learned sit, down, and we’re working on spin. She’s got the concept of the tricks down, but doesn’t understand commands. So when I get the treats out she’ll sit, lay down, and spin all unprompted and just do them randomly no matter what I say lmao. She’s skittish with new people, especially men, and tried to run away from a little kid that wanted to pet her. We’re socializing her as best we can and letting her learn that people can be wonderful. She has SO much more confidence when another dog is around.

I love seeing how much she’s changed in the last few months and come out of her shell and gained more confidence. It makes me so happy to see her get excited to go on walks and car rides and to the park! She’s taken to being spoiled quite well.

How are y’all relocating across multiple states (17 hours by car) with your Aussies?? I have two sweet wiggle butts and one of them is in her later years. She HATES the car and even while taking multiple sedatives she’s a nervous wreck the whole ride. I refuse to fly them in cargo via commercial and I can’t find an RV rental one-way from Sarasota, Florida to Springfield, Missouri. I was thinking an RV would be awesome because we can take our time and we can stop for the night at campsites instead of shuffling in and out of hotels. My husband got a job transfer and we have to move in January and I’m freaking out. I know they’ll both be fine as long as they’re with us but my husband, two kids and both dogs won’t even fit in one car. The company is shipping our vehicles anyway. Looking for suggestions!