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!

He passed!

About eight weeks ago, Noah and I started our basic obedience class. 

Now, I had been a bad dog "mom" and the poor guy wasn't hardly leased trained at that point. Noah has what we call a "soft" temperament. Another word for "wimp" *wink* Usually when you leash train a puppy/dog and it's not used to the pressure of the leash, they will hit the end and stop or some will turn into bucking broncos! Noah on the other hand, would hit the end of the leash and yelp! Which made training a bit of a challenge.

So we started Noah off the first half of the class on a flat collar instead of the usual training collar. He seemed to catch on quickly to what was asked of him. I had to be careful with my corrections though, because of his sensitive nature. And use a lot of praise and encouragement!

Class gave us the basics; sit, down, come, sit-stay, down-stay, stand for exam, walking on a loose leash making different turns and staying together as a team. The teacher always likes to throw in some fun stuff too; relays, Simon Says, and fun agility courses. (I highly recommend basic obedience and CGC testing (if available) for all our Pinewood puppies and families!)

Last week she gave us a sample test of the basics that we had been learning and scored each one on how we did. Noah did really well and got in the 1st place category along with quite a few others.

Last night we received our graduation certificates (and treats for the dog!), plus the chance to go through the CGC test. For those who don't know, the CGC (Canine Good Citizen) is a test that the American Kennel Club (A.K.C.) puts on all over the country by various instructors.

Here's a quote from the CGC pamphlet:

"The AKC's Canine Good Citizen Program is designed to recognize dogs who have good manners at home and in the community. This rapidly growing nationally recognized program stresses responsible dog ownership for owners and basic training and good manners for dogs.

The AKC CGC Program provides an excellent foundation for training in other fun activities such as Rally, Obedience and Agility and results in a well-mannered dog who is a joy to live with. Some therapy dog groups require passing the CGC Test as a prerequisite, some insurance companies recommend CGC training, and and increasing number of apartments and condos are requiring CGC training for resident dogs."

So you can see what a benefit passing this test can be. There are 10 parts to the test that the dog must pass. Test 1: Accepting a friendly stranger. Test 2: Sitting politely for petting. Test 3: Appearance and grooming. Test 4: Out for a walk (walking on a loose lead). Test 5: Walking through a crowd. Test 6: Sit and down on command and staying in place. Test 7: Coming when called. Test 8: Reaction to another dog. Test 9: Reaction to distraction. Test 10: Supervised separation. (AKC has a pamphlet with more specifics about each portion of the test. Contact them at cgc@akc.org)

Well, I was worried about Noah not passing the "down". This is one thing we've had trouble with. And I'll be honest, I hadn't practiced it as much as I could have. But, he passed that part and every test before it! The last part; "Supervised Separation", was the part I didn't think we'd have any problem with. You hand your dog's leash to another person and they hold it for you while you go out of sight for three minutes. He almost flunked! Whiner! But thankfully, he passed that portion also.

So now Noah's official title is "Rose City's Noble Heir CGC" (pending AKC approval)

Waiting our turn!

Test 1: Accepting a friendly stranger

Test 2: Sitting politely for petting

Test 3: Appearance and grooming

Getting ready for Test 4: Out for a walk

Test 5: Walking through a crowd

Part of Test 6: Sit-stay

Test 7: Coming when called

Test 9: Reaction to distraction. (She used the walker around him and now is slamming a book shut). Test 8 (Reaction to another dog) was in this area too. We didn't get a picture of Test 10: Supervised separation.

Ahhhh...testing is over. Noah takes a break to play with his friend, Little Bear.

Good job Noah!