Happy now?

I mentioned a while back on my Facebook page that China was on a diet. She's too good of a "vacuum cleaner" and has put on a few pounds (I can relate  *wink*). So unfortunately, in order to keep her from scrounging for tidbits, she has to stay in a dog run.

The highlight of her day then is our morning walk!

Here we are heading down the trail. We are blessed to live in an area where there are safe places to walk and the dogs can be off lease.

This was cute. All I said was, "Hey!" to get their attention for the picture and this was their reaction. Good dogs!

Usually these three (Echo, Moriah and China) are out ahead scouting things out.

Pooh likes to scout too, but he also keeps an eye on mom. Can't get too far fro her!

Heading home.

Are you happy now guys?

Cookies!

I don't know about your dogs, but my dogs get treats everyday. At our house, the dogs all know what the word "Cookie" means!

So I go through a lot of cookies and am always looking for some that look halfway "healthy". One day I decided to do some internet perusing and find some recipes to make my own.

Today was the first test recipe that I found on Pinterest. They are called "Homemade Pumpkin Dog Treats" and found on http://blog.doggievogue.com.

I decided to try a double batch since I have more than a couple dogs ;) And I did substitute some unrefined white flour and rice flour for some of the wheat flour since I didn't have enough. They still turned out fine.

Here they are ready to go in the oven. And yes, it did take a while to make all those! The recipe says to measure the dough out by teaspoonfuls then flatten with a fork. Doubling the recipe got me over 120 cookies.

They puffed up a bit with baking.

Now to see if the "taste testers" will eat them. This cookie is disappearing!

Number two cookie going in!

The cookie monster looking for crumbs.

Yep!  I think we'll make these again.

The developing of an Aussalier

First you start with an ASDR Reg. Toy Australian Shepherd named "China". A true Aussie, with a spitfire personality and herding instinct packaged in 10" tall, 13 lb blue merle colored, blue-eyed body.

Then you add in a AKC Reg. Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, "Noah". A gentle, sweet soul, happy, playful in a gorgeous coat of black, tan and white. Weighing at 20 lbs and standing a bit taller at 13".

And what do you get? Viola' this beautiful bundle of gorgeous Aussalier puppies!

 Today we're following one of those sweet babies as she grows up. We call her "Concho" and she is the beautiful blue merle with the big white face in the front left side of the picture.

Here she is looking sweetly into the camera at four weeks of age.

Looking more grown up at five weeks!

Taking a ride at six weeks!

At seven weeks we have lots of pictures of her playing outside with her littermates!

(Sorry, not a clear shot, but I love how it shows her "in action")

(You can see from previous pictures that the pigment on her nose is filling in all black:)

And here she is today at eight and a half weeks of age!

She is definitely an Aussalier; a wonderful combination of both mom (Aussie) and dad (Cavalier). Her body build is more like her mom with the Aussie coat and coloring. I'm guessing she should mature around fourteen pounds as an adult. She obviously has the beautiful Cavalier ears and her temperament is more like the Cavalier; sweet, cuddly, but still playful and happy!

She is here waiting for her perfect, forever family!

Will it be you?

Something new and different!

We decided to try something new and different and are super excited to tell you about it!

For those of you that love the Australian Shepherd but you've hesitated to get one because their personalities can be a bit "intense", (most herding/working breeds are.) We'd like to introduce our new litter of Aussaliers! Yes, that's right, they are half toy Australian Shepherd and have Cavalier King Charles Spaniel!

The mother, China is a blue merle toy Australian Shepherd about 10" tall at the shoulder and weighs about 13 lbs. She is a high drive dog (wants to herd the horses, is the best "mouser" around, etc.) a one-man (woman) dog, smart, energetic and we think, beautiful. She is CERF eye clear. This is a picture of her when she was a bit younger so her coat is not as full as it is now.

The father is our beloved, Noah. He is a gorgeous tri-color Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (heart checked clear). Noah is 13" tall at the shoulder and 19 1/2 lbs. Noah completed basic obedience this spring and earned his AKC Canine Good Citizenship Award. He is a typical happy, fun, gentle, sweet, more laid back, but playful Cavalier.

Puppies arrived on June 29 (so these pictures are at one week of age). We have two blue merle boys, one is mostly white with blue patches! Three girls round out the litter, with two blue merles and one beautiful tri-color. We guess that these pups will mature in the 15-20 lb. range (but will have a better idea when they reach 8 weeks of age as we have a puppy formula to guess adult weights). Dewclaws have been done and tails are docked like the Australian Shepherd. Some could have blue eyes, but of course we'll have to wait a bit longer to know about that:)



I'm excited about this litter and hope they will be a wonderful combination of mom and dad's personalities in a beautiful colored package!

 These pictures were taken in the afternoon sun, so unfortunately it kind of makes their colors look "bleached" out. But we will be making an album for these guys and doing new pictures weekly. Please contact us if you are interested in one of these unique puppies!