My Fur Babies

Okay the two dog fur babies anyway. The old man, BlackJack, spends most of his time in this position lol. He is old (13) and really prefers to watch what's going on but still loves to come over for a snuggle. His eyes are really a pale blue but I have yet to really get a good picture of that.

My other sweet pup is his daughter Ella, she is almost 6 but still very, very active lol. This is very typical of Australian Shepherds, very high energy and need lots of exercise! Putting up a privacy fence was the best thing we ever did so they could chase each other all over the yard on a regular basis! Ella has her daddy's big blue eyes and blue merle coat but her mama's tan markings.

Update on our Puppies (Finally)

Well it is New Years Day and I finally have a small breather as I am waiting on the turkey to finish cooking so I am going to do my long overdue update on the pups. We have sold four puppies, Zeke our smallest puppy, Hope and Bluto went to the same home, and Mo was the first to go. While I do miss them, being down to four pups is much easier to manage.

Zacharia is our teddy bear, both in looks and in personality. He is a great big ball of four and since he has a naturally bobbed tail when he is running away from you he really does look like a bear cub. Must be all that fuzzy fur. He just loves for you to love on him and is usually the first to greet you.

Lizzie (Elizabeth) is the only female left and is also the smallest. Her fur is more sleek than the rest of her siblings so this also makes her appear smaller (She is not as fluffy lol!). She is a very happy go lucky dog and very active. She has no fear of anything either. I can't decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing. And if you are wondering yes she is behind my vegetable garden fence. They are still little enough to squeeze thru the "bars" and seem to take great delight in doing so.

Alexender (the Great) is another sweetie. He looks up at you with big brown eyes and you just melt lol! (Have I told you how spoiled they are?!). Always willing to please he also has an adventursome spirit and is often the first one to get into something new. As you can see in this picture he is trying to figure out what this fountain is and of course he has never seen a fish before.

Last but certainly not least is Boo. He is a blue merle and he has one blue eye and one brown eye. He is our most gently and laid back puppy and he is also the biggest puppy. He has such a sweet personality just kind of waits to see what the rest of the pack is going to do before joining in.

They are all paper trained and have just introduced them to the outdoors. They absolutely love it and went out in their very first snow storm today. They love being outside and don't willingly come in on their own even when it is snowing. We have to train (bribe) them with treats and occasionally chase one down to get them all back into the house. They really needed the exercise, the kitchen is just not enough space anymore. Much easier to do with four than eight though. This also cuts down on the amount of mess I have to clean up which is of course a good thing for me. We are hoping that their new owners show up soon because every day I get a little bit more attached. However we live on a city lot and seven dogs is out of the question lol! Three is really pushing it. I am very glad our back yard is fenced! This will most likely be our last litter also so that makes it a little harder. This is Liberty's third litter and I think she probably doesn't want to do this again either.

Update on the Puppies 4 weeks old!

I apologize for not updating on the pups sooner but as they grow they become a HUGE amount of work. I spend more time cleaning up newspaper and mopping my floor than I do anything else. (not really true because I spend more time playing with the puppies than cleaning up after them, which means I spend most of my free time on the kitchen floor doing one or the other lol!). Any way they are growing by leaps and bounds and have started eating semi-solid food. This is a real relief for Libby because not only are their tiny claws like razors they now have teeth and are NOT afraid to use them. We have succumbed and named all eight of them. We have Zachariah, Lizzie, Hope, Zeke, Mo, Bluto, Boo, and Alexander. Zeke is still the runt and half the size of his brothers and sisters, but he more than makes up for this with attitude and will cheerfully jump into the pile every time even though he always ends up at the bottom. We have introduced them to chew toys, however they still prefer to chew on each other most of the time. We do frequently pull Zeke out and carry him around when the rest get to rambunctious because despite his attitude he just cannot defend himself all that well from the some of his much bigger brothers. Bluto and Mo are both just BIG puppies but so sweet and cuddly. Hope is the talker, she just is always making noise about something. Boo is just a sweetheart and Alexander is a huge bundle of friendliness. Lizzie is a sweetheart and loves to come over and cuddle and Zachariah will do anything for attention. Needless to say they are all terribly spoiled already. I will have another update soon. From the top left we have Zachariah, Lizzie, Alexander and Hope. Next week I will have individual pics of the other four.

Update on Puppies

As you can see by the pictures the puppies are doing quite well. They are growing by leaps and bounds. They are about 2 1/2 weeks old now and their eyes are starting to open and they are starting to toddle. Some of them are starting to bark and growl (which is hilarious coming out of something so small!).
As you can see, after eating it is nap time. Pure bliss if you are a puppy in a pile on a pillow! We have finally named them all (okay my fourteen year old daughter named them all) so I will try and take individual pics the next time and let everyone know
their names. As you can see it is hard work taking care of puppies and hard work for the puppies to grow so here is Libby and one of the pups napping together. And yes we spend way too much time loving on these puppies but who can resist warm fuzzy cute things to play with? Will have another update soon.

The Puppies are Finally Here!

Well, the puppies have finally arrived. Quite frankly I was pretty sure that they were never going to get here! We have a total of eight puppies. Two are blue

merles (the speckled ones) and six are black and tans. We have six boys and two girls. She had the first one at 3:45 am and the last one at about 8:30 am. They are all healthy and doing well.

As you can see Liberty is being a good mommy. We keep the puppies in a box with a heating pad when she is not nursing and cleaning them. Since we have two other dogs and not enough room to just keep them separate this works the best for us. Although Liberty is a pretty laid back dog she has decided that she really doesn't want Blackjack around the babies. (This is actually a bit amusing as he is terrified of the babies and runs whenever we show him one) So he is hiding out under the computer desk at the moment until she calms down a little.

She doesn't seem to have as much of a problem with Ella being around the pups as long as one of us is close by. As you can see Ella is making the acquaintance of one of her siblings. She is very interested and VERY cautious. Fortunately she has had experience with a prior batch of siblings so she is not totally freaked out. Well I will be posting an update on the pups next week and probably every week until they go to their new homes.

Puppies On The Way (Any Day Now!)

Well, we have three Australian Shephards. Blackjack (9), Liberty (3), and Ella (2). Ella is a pup from Libby's first litter. I absolutely adore this breed and my three in particular. Blackjack and Ella are both blue merle's and have ghost eyes (bright, light blue eyes). Libby is a black and tan. Ella got her eyebrows and brown points from Libby and her gorgeous coat and eyes from Blackjack.

I origianally wanted a Sheltie (you know something that fits on your lap and doesn't take up the whole couch kind of dog.) We went and looked at Aussie pups because we didn't know what kind of dog it was and we were curious. One look at that speckled ball of fur was all it took and our love of Aussies was born. We like him so much that we decided after about 6 1/2 years that we wanted another one.

LIBERTY SOPHIA STARFIRE RUBY (LIBBY for short)

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Libby is affectionately called moo cow in our house. Not because she is fat, although she is big for her breed, ( and in this pic taken today she is very, very pregnant, and we could quite possibly have pups tonite.) but because of her completely placid nature. She is the most mellow, loving, and lovable dog ever.

Last but not least is Ella. Also know as Miss Ella, Ella Bella and Twit. Happy go lucky and hyper with loads of personality, she is the only one allowed to sleep with us. (The other two sleep on the floor next to the bed.) She was born in our house and is totally and completely spoiled beyond belief. Now all Aussie's have a high activity level and are extremely smart but she really is a bit hyper. She also is quite nearsighted which makes going to the park a real adventure. Because she can't see far away she usually hears people and other dogs before she can see them. We have been working hard to make her trips a little easier on her and I think she is getting more calm as she gets older. All I can say is thank goodness we have a fenced yard so that can work off some of that energy chasing each other around the yard

I will be posting an update on the puppy watch and will update on them once a week until they go to their new homes in December. Hopefully we will get some more that look just like this.