Meet Oscar, Our New Puppy

This is Oscar. Our new puppy. His dad is 100% Australian Shepard, and his mom is 50% Aussie, 50% Heeler.
I joking say I'm going to sue him for false advertising. Every time we went to see him, before we could bring him home, he was either sleeping, or calm and loving.
Then we brought him home.
I don't think he has stopped bouncing off the walls since.




He does look so cute, when sleeping


Now, when we lost our bulldog last October, we knew we wanted something different. Something smart. (no offence to our boxer intended, lol)
I had read up on a few different breeds, and an opportunity came up to meet these farmers, that were going to have these mixed pups. I know that heelers can be a heck of a handful, but we went and met them. The dad and mom of the pups were both sweet as could be, and tolerated 6 kids mauling and manhandling all of them.

And he really is a sweet puppy, for 5 minutes a day, and when he is sleeping. LOL And he is gorgeous, with his 4 colors. He is a merle, mostly, with red legs, and a bit on his face, and a white collar. And I need to get a pic, but he has a perfect 8, or infinity loop, on one ear, over an inch high.

We have been training hard, using both verbal and hand commands, and he picks things up very quick. But he is stubborn as all get out, and likes to run. And has currently chewed up our boxers dog bed, while not touching his one. And chews on poor Abby as well. We really can't believe how patient she has been.
We have found that he is HIGHLY food driven, and will stop in his tracks at the word treat, so we are working with that. We are also going to have him fixed on the 19th, he will be almost 5 months. We, and the vet, think he is the alpha of the litter, so we have been doing dominance training as well.
A few people in the neighborhood that have had Australians, have said he will calm down when he gets bigger. I really hope they are right. I'm guessing Abby does too. LOL (He seems to like jumping off the furniture, onto her, her, not so much)

So, any advise for training an above average intelligent dog?

a reply to: chiefsmom

Smart dogs are trouble. It's like having a smart kid, they get themselves into more trouble than you could even think of. My friend had an Australian Shepard and he used to say he thought it was smarter than he was. Just keep training and take him for a walk every day. Bull dogs and boxers get tired pretty easy, working dogs have lots of energy and if you don't get it out they could be a handful.

I just wanted to say how bloody adorable he is, that second picture, just doesn't get any cuter lol

a reply to: funbobby

LOL yeah, our bulldog would have 1/2 hour "energy" bursts a day. And at 80 lbs., you better get the heck out of his way when he did, or he took you out at the knees.

We do live in the country, so we do perimeter walks every night, because I want him to hopefully learn to keep coons and opossums out the yard, since we have chickens and ducks.

a reply to: chiefsmom

Agree with Valiant, bloody adorable pup. It makes me wish I had one but my cat wouldn't like that much.

originally posted by: chiefsmom
This is Oscar. Our new puppy. His dad is 100% Australian Shepard, and his mom is 50% Aussie, 50% Heeler.
I joking say I'm going to sue him for false advertising. Every time we went to see him, before we could bring him home, he was either sleeping, or calm and loving.
Then we brought him home.
I don't think he has stopped bouncing off the walls since.

So, any advise for training an above average intelligent dog?

Fetch a cricket ball and return it to the bowler, grab a stubbie of beer from the fridge, roll a smoke, cook up a BBQ, bark at grubby ferals, change the oil in the ute, open a can of Woolies dog food, fill his own water bowl, take a dump in the neighbors yard, crikey! and the list goes on. Smart looking dog. Good pup.

Nice color.

I'd be interested in his progress.




Kind regards,

bally

a reply to: chiefsmom

Taking a bulldog for a good walk is going out to the mailbox and back.

my dog has "killed" a couple of possoms which thankfully were just playing dead. maybe he can herd your chickens and ducks. Those dogs like a job to do. you might have to get some sheep.

a reply to: bally001

If I could teach him to fetch a beer, my hubby would be the happiest man alive! lol But I don't want to teach him how to open the fridge. Already had a dog that could do that, and ate 4 lbs of venison.

Smart dogs need a job to keep them out of trouble, they need to stay busy I am a K9 handler with our local search and rescue. There are several of dogs in our area like yours that love tracking, finding human remains, area search, and rubble pile. They excel at these jobs. You could also raise sheep for him to herd. You could setup an agility course to help burn off all of the emery. Also work on obedience, remember you are the boss.:a reply to: chiefsmom

a reply to: cyberiankhatru

Yeah, teaching him that I am the boss, that is the dominance training. My sister works at a vet hospital, and had the same advise for that as our vet, so I've been doing that.
But I have also been watching his "normal" behavior, and although he is young, and I know I have to watch out for his joints, he seems to LOVE jumping. So I think that he will excel at that behavior, when he gets bigger. I only encourage small heights right now, but man, he tries to jump really high, to get at the boxer.
I'm going to take him to the gravel pit, not far from us, this weekend, because I want to see what he thinks of "big" water. Maybe jumping into the water will be his thing?


Beautiful dog in your Avatar, btw!

a reply to: chiefsmom

Congrats on the pup!

We just got a new one ourselves.
Went on a family vacation, ended up crossing paths with a German Shepard breeder.
Before I knew it we were coming home with a $1200.00 puppy.

The 2 cats waiting at home....were NOT impressed.

I’d post a pic but I’m not at home.

What a cool dog...its going to be a non-stop energy radiator....I love Heelers lots of energy and spark..and that fella looks to be something special.

a reply to: chiefsmom

You have a very adorable puppy!

I have to admit though, when I first saw the middle picture, I thought he had bandages wrapped around all four legs. LOL!

Congratulations!

He is adorable!

I absolutely love dogs.

a reply to: chiefsmom

Since your first picture is a blurred dog, I'm assuming you are going to have a little bundle of energy on your hands...

Such a cutie though!

We have a Aussie/Mutt mix that we rescued and his first 8 months or so he had all the energy and attention span of a hummingbird on crack.

In the last 5 years he hasn't really slowed down at all.

Smart as a whip though.

With him we took the time to get him into agility classes and then we compete in agility sports with him and he's a winner with the judges. He prances in all the right moments...

Wish you luck!

a reply to: chiefsmom

Oh my dog! So adorable. We just lost our 15 year old blue merle Aussie two months ago and she looked an awful lot like Oscar as a puppy. She was so smart and loving; I'm sure Oscar will give you many years of happy puppy love.

He will calm down. Aussies are hard workers and so long as they get exercise and are given tasks they are easy to deal with. He will like walking. If you can do it off leash in the woods where he can herd you and the family that is even better. Hide treats, toys and balls around the house and give him commands to find them. He will pick up words quickly and will hide them on his own to re find. I had puzzle treat balls for our Aussie which she really liked. Also super stuffed Kongs which have larger items stuffed in which will require him to manipulate and squeeze, drop, and roll to get stuff out of.

These dogs are also very good at agility courses and frisbee. But you can also throw a rolled up piece of cloth or rope in the house for him to snatch out of the air.

Have fun.

Our little ACD steals stuff. He thinks that the funnest thing in the world, and he loves to steal socks! He'll grab them and look at you, then run away, looking back the whole time. He wants you to chase him and tell him he's a "thief".

Your little guy looks like our ACD (more than our Australian Shepard). He's got more heeler in him than shepard.

Cisco, the ACD, when we first got him, would not eat facing the wall. We had to move his plate out from the wall so he could eat facing us. He was the cutest boy ever!

Congratulations on the newest member of your family. That is one adorable puppy. Enjoy!

a reply to: chiefsmom

Adorable little puppy

I especially like the colors.

S+F

Kind of looks like a dog. A small dog. A baby dog.

Verified it is a puppy by looking at the picture. I cannot tell if it is going to be viscous, is the head still on that stuffed animal?

We got cats, Our cat Wifi is on my chest and she is not enthused with the puppy pictures, she is getting old and she does not tolerate pesky kids anymore.