GingerGunlock

Oh, look at the fuzzy girl! How do you get anything done? I would just be snuzzling her all day.

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Chelse

She is super super cute!! Congrats!

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avianantics

Oh yea.... water, they LOVE water. Funny story (not at the time, tho), was in the California Central Valley somewhere (Stockton area) at a dog show, had my blue merle with tons of white bitch on the grooming table for last minute touch up. Juniors were just coming out of the ring. Turned to ask my son how he did and Honey was off the table, lickety split and in the River which was about 50 feet away. Didn't have a blow dryer with me, this was a local show for me, so just drove back and forth. Found a dryer and was able to get her mostly dry, but she did go in the ring damp and frizzie!

A huge favorite at my house during the summer was wading pools, one for each dog. They would lay in them, hang their heads over the side and nap.

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Shelly Wing
AKC GCH/UKC CH Lyndobe's Wheel of Fortune, "Wheeler"
AKC Ptd Lyndobe's Loquacious Charm, "Lola"

Lori Z

All my aussies have been swimmers. Sierra would sneak into the lake and just swim around even if we weren't playing fetch. Somewhere I have a picture of the three of them swimming together in the lake return a stick, all holding on to it. LOL. I taught her to shake off with a hand signal before she returned to me with the stick or ball. Sebastian loves the sprinklers. I have to tape his ears more frequently because of it.

bubsy

Ahhhh she's so cute!!! Congrats!!!

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barb0604

This is a great tip!! Very handy behavior to have on a command, especially with a double-coated, water-lovin' puppy!! How did you teach it? I'm sure my neice will find this information quite useful too!

HarvestMoon

Oh what a fantastic story! Oh my goodness, you must have been livid. LOL. The whole grooming thing with Aussies is kind of a trip! haha! So different than dobes. I know I am going to be cursing it at some point! .

I love that idea about the wading pools. Gidget seemed to be kind of looking at the pool today going "hmmm". I knew Aussies liked the water more so we pulled out the old kiddie fence for the pool that we had never used before - thank goodness it was still functional!! It's such a relief to not have to worry about her trying to dive into the pool until we are ready!

Aww what a cute image I can see them all three swimming along.

And I'm with Barb, how did you teach that shake command?!!

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Lori Z

First off Sierra was gifted in the way she learned hand signals. She knew many and it only took me showing her once really. When she would come up out of the lake I naturally put my hand in front of me as in a wait, palm spread out, laughing as she shook off. She got the wait and somehow it morphed (I'm sorry I know it sounds funny) to me sort of waving that hand from side to side as she shook off, arm straight out. She learned it right away and learned to shake off when I made that hand movement. So it was a wait at first with hand open and arm forward then a side to side movement. I taught it to Ginger Sierra's daughter but it took much longer, she got the wait but instead of waiting and shaking off she just stood there dripping. LOL Sierra was one of a kind doggie, she sure was. Anyways, Gin did learn it but I had to let her shake as I did the open palm wave. Gus my male never learned it. He didn't watch me like the girls did. It was a great trick for a dog who is coated and swims a lot! I could also direct Sierra in the water, back out farther, to the right and to the left. I would cover her ears and have her back turned away from the lake then have husband throw the stick out as far as he could and I could hand signal her which way to go to find it. She was such a fun dog, she was amazing.