Oh God! Aussie Shepard’s are also working dogs, who like the border collie must be worked all the time lest they develop mental problems.
I got a Lab because I know I don’t have that kind of time to work with the dog.
Aussies and BC’s are good dogs and highly intelligent but they can not abide having nothing to do or not being the center of attention.
I have finally become the alpha over my Moms Aussie and he is a good boy, but they are a LOT of Work.
Labs are pretty smart and love to wok too, but they can kick back too.
Pook can say his prayers. I say say your prayers and he puts both front legs across my lap and bows his head.
I say “Amen” and he snaps his head up and gets a treat.
I feel bad that I don’t work him more often, He would be a great bird dog.
She’s a bundle of fun, that’s for sure. We had her in obedience class, and she excelled above every other dog in the class. She’s very smart, and we mentally train her all the time. That’s never enough, of course, but it’s a good start.
We take her out daily to run around. She either gets to run with me on the bike, usually for 5-10 miles; or she goes to my mother’s house to play with her catahoula leopard hound, who works her pretty well; or we take her out for 30-45 minutes to “dot” with the laser pointer. On the weekends, we often have to do at least 2/3 of those tasks daily.
She’s calmed down quite a bit now that she’s out of her puppy years, but she’s still very amped up. We feel bad we didn’t research the breed before getting her (she was an outside-the-pet-store purchase), but we’d never trade her for anything. She’s a fiercely loyal, intelligent dog.