Question for Aussie Shepherd folks

I will be getting a female Aussie pup in a couple of months or so. We are waiting for mamma dog to go into heat which should be sometime this month. I have had lots of contact with grown Aussies but never puppies. Is there anything specific I should be prepared for, outside of the usual puppy things like chewing and such?

I am very excited, I have waited several years to be ready for an Aussie and now I am finally going to get to have one of my very own. I already have two crates, one for when the pup is little and one for she gets bigger. Of course since I am home all day, she will only have to spend the night in there just to keep her out of puppy trouble. Once she is older and has some training on her, we will despense with the crate.

I have two energetic boys(who know how to treat animals. Nothing ticks e off more than kids who are allowed to be mean or tease pets)who can wear down even our border collie mix, and she will be joining us on our walks with Molly. Of course at first her walks will have to be shorter at first until she gets big enough to make the three miles in the morning and evening. She will probably start out going on the half mile mid morning walk with the pekes first.

Anyway, I realize that I am babbling now, so I will shut up,LOL.

Sorry, but we bought our dog a year and a half so I can't speak to aussie puppies except to say they are incredibly cute.

I have the MDR1 test kit sitting on my desk. If you don't know anything about it yoou should look into it.

http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/depts-VCPL/

I knew about the problems with things like ivemectrin but I didn't know there was a way to test your dog and see if it was sensitive to those drugs. Thanks for the link!

My Aussie was really bad about chewing things up as a pup, my couch, some of the carpet in my living room, the front door frame, a few shoes, etc......Also, with them having so much energy, it was really hard to keep her from jumping around too much, which can be dangerous for a pup....

If you have a Border Collie, I wouldn't think an Aussie would be much different, although I've never raised a BC pup....

congrats on your new puppy! Definately have the MDR1 test done. There is a long list of drugs on the "no no" list should your dog be affected with the gene.

I have two aussies, one who is "mutant/mutant" with the gene, which means she is a carrier and could possibly die from the drugs listed..No problems tho, as I'm aware of it, and we work around it should something arise.

Both my aussie puppies were actually pretty good, no chewing on stuff, just appropriate things. They are herders tho, and tend to like to get in that mode, so that's what I would watch for with your kids.) Kids are good herding material )

Definately socialize socialize socialize, I see to many adult aussies who are dog aggressive for my taste. My female can "hang" with any dog friendly dog, but my male tends to not like dogs in his face . I don't let them run with 'groups" of dogs I don't know just to be on the safe side.

They are smart, funny & energetic, and tend to be bull headed when they want to be) I've found they really respond to positive (clicker) training, and are very easy to train "trick dogs"...BUT if they don't want to do something, believe me, no way no how, are you going to get them to do it with force..

Good luck with your puppy, they are the CUTEST little bears ever.
diane

Thank you for all of the info guys! I would say I can't wait, but I have to unless I can somehow circumvent the laws of nature,LOL. Wel I suppose I could go out and buy one out of the paper real quick, but I want to know mre about my pup than most owners in the paper know. Most of them are just back yard breeders looking to make a quick buck, who knows what issues the pup may have.

I have waited to long to be ready for an Aussie pup to screw it up now.

Herding the kids was something we had to teach Molly about. Now she just runs with them rather than trying to herd them. I know its something that the pup will have to learn and may take longer learning it. Molly is already somewhere between 6 months and year, her memory retention is longer. The pup will prolly have a longer learning curve. I don't mind the training or the puppyhood blues like chewing.