# New Puppy



## Mike CHS (Mar 31, 2014)

We added an Australian Shepherd pup to the family yesterday. The 1st name that came to mind was Sassy from the way she was acting when we picked her up from her Momma.    She was 3 weeks old Friday and we will be bringing her home around the 1st week of May.  She comes from working parents so we are hoping she can help us move the sheep when she gets mature.  At the worst case she can help us share a warm spot on the porch.


----------



## OneFineAcre (Mar 31, 2014)

Very nice.


----------



## SillyChicken (Mar 31, 2014)

very cute!!


----------



## HoneyDreameMomma (Mar 31, 2014)

Absolutely adorable!  Congratulations!  Look forward to pictures of her growing up.


----------



## kinder (Mar 31, 2014)

sweet.!


----------



## happy acres (Mar 31, 2014)

Awww! How precious!


----------



## SA Farm (Mar 31, 2014)

Aw, she's adorable! Love her name too


----------



## elevan (Mar 31, 2014)

Cute!  I hope you keep us updated with pics as she grows


----------



## Mike CHS (Apr 1, 2014)

Thanks everyone.  I think I've shown her picture more than I did my children's.


----------



## Miohippus (Apr 1, 2014)

i absolutely love ausie shepherds! They are so sweet.


----------



## Prairie Farm Woman (Apr 5, 2014)

Wow - I don't think that pup could be sweeter looking!
I bet you can't wait until it comes home!


----------



## Mike CHS (Jun 16, 2014)

Here she is at 14 weeks - 22 pounds and gaining about 2 1/2 pounds a week.
Not the best update in the world but she never stays still long enough to get a decent picture when we're outside.  She really loves the freedom on the farm but we were pleasantly surprised to see that she does ok as a city dog also.

She has been the easiest pup to train that I have ever had.  She does the basic herding commands already and loves to play frisbee.  She will go out to whatever direction we signal and stay down even with a neighbors dog trying to get her attention. We will introduce her to sheep sometime in July.  We have  some training set up for both her and us as I want to do everything I can to not ruin her with our inexperience.


----------



## happy acres (Jun 16, 2014)

Gorgeous pup! Sounds like you got a winner!


----------



## meme (Jun 16, 2014)

She is beautiful! I want a rescue puppy so bad now that my dogs are 14 and 8 years old. I guess my time will come eventually- I will just have to admire everyone else's pups for the time being.


----------



## Southern by choice (Nov 14, 2014)

@Mike CHS 

I cannot believe I missed this. I saw the photos scrolling through at the top (@Support I love the feature) and saw the pic and thought "that is cute" and clicked on it ... and it was YOUR pup!  
   

When I saw the dates I realized I was not "online" so to speak for many months and that is how I'd missed your awesome news. 
I'm kinda a little bummed out about it 

But anyway I am so happy for you! Nothing like a great dog! 
Glad you will be working with someone that teaches herding, will she start with ducks? 
You have to get lots of pics and let us in on all your experiences with training her.
 This is just so exciting!


----------



## goats&moregoats (Nov 14, 2014)

Beautiful pup! Glad things are going so well for you.


----------



## Mike CHS (Jun 15, 2015)

I figured it was time for an update using her I AM A GOOF BALL AND WANT TO PLAY BALL look.  

We had her at the sheep farm for some good one on one time with our trainer for flanking commands.  She has gotten fairly good in the bigger pen but needed some serious correction on her flanking commands.  We did several short sessions in a small round pen over a 3 hour period and she went from needing a lot of work to doing perfectly during the sessions.  I didn't get pictures since I forgot the camera but figured we could get some Sunday when we went back up.

Sunday morning she was so stiff from the heavy work in the turns that we postponed until next weekend. 

She did get some work in what the trainer called the Pack10.  She put me and 10 mature sheep in this small circular pen and then put Sassy in.  You start giving flanking commands and of course the sheep are in the way.  She got so frustrated that she started running into the sheep and barking to get them out of the way as well as a few nips to get them moving .  I do wish I had pictures of that but we will next time. I am glad I had steel toe shoes on since I was in the middle of the gaggle and they were trying to stay away from the edge of the pen.


----------



## Hens and Roos (Jun 15, 2015)

Very nice looking pup- is one eye brown and the other blue?


----------



## Mike CHS (Jun 15, 2015)

Yes it is.  Her mom has the same eye colors but reversed.


----------



## Southern by choice (Jun 15, 2015)

So cool! I think it is great you are taking her to a trainer and working with her!


----------



## samssimonsays (Jun 15, 2015)

She is absolutely beautiful! I wish we had that sort of service around here for herding dogs but we just don't have the demand. I have been trying to teach myself how to train our collie in this LOL! things are going slow but I have found she is doing everything she "should", just in her own little way, and is easily corrected on those she shouldn't.


----------



## Mike CHS (Jun 15, 2015)

They are fun to work with and watching them flank with a wave of the hand gives you big smiles. 

We had all of the obedience commands down pat before we started on sheep so the rest was natural for her.  I think the neighbors think I'm mean to her since I had her going "down" so much when she would be chasing her ball. On the way and on the return.  

Samantha - I used the videos on Youtube with Ted Hope to get us started with her.  The training she has gotten followed those videos pretty close.


----------



## samssimonsays (Jun 15, 2015)

Oh thank you ! I will have to check those out! I did not find those! I went old school and have books... Just whatever I could find locally, which isn't much. I never thought to check youtube.... WOW. Talk about a case of the dumb LOL! Stella has issues with repeating things... If she learns it and does it once she is bored. So we are constantly looking for something new to teach her. We were blessed with a dog meant for the movies, and by blessed i mean it can go one of two ways, She is an awesome dog or she acts out when she'd bored. Thankfully the goats have helped a TON with her boredom. I was really hoping a job would help work her mentally because we were running out of new ideas for tricks and she had gotten tired of her dog puzzles...  I sound so ridiculous talking about her that way don't I? 

I hope to see photos of your sweet girl in action soon!


----------



## Mike CHS (Jun 15, 2015)

[QUOTE="Samantha drawz, post: 394398, member: 13096 I sound so ridiculous talking about her that way don't I?
[/QUOTE]

Not at all - I think the herding dog folks run a close second to the LGD owners.


----------



## samssimonsays (Jun 15, 2015)

Mike CHS said:


> [QUOTE="Samantha drawz, post: 394398, member: 13096 I sound so ridiculous talking about her that way don't I?



Not at all - I think the herding dog folks run a close second to the LGD owners.  [/QUOTE]
HAHAHA! Lucky me, I have both....  Our LGD is RUINED for any hope of being in the field because of me... We bought him before we thought about goats seriously... and he is meant for a rug in my home and a blanket on my couch... That is about all he knows to do but he is great with the goats. He thinks he is one of them and grazes with them. My collie looks at him with disgust


----------

