Meet Gus, Our Baby Daddy

It’s not even his fault.  This was a case of a pretty, naive girl going to visit her boyfriend next door.  And we aren’t certain, but it’s highly likely that we will be welcoming a batch of puppies this summer.

I’ve talked about us adding a second dog to our household not quite a year ago. We got an Australian Shepherd puppy, and named her Ella.  She’s an non-standard color of gold, with a white stripe down her nose.  We love her desperately, even if she did turn out to be gigantic and quite likely has a wee bit of undisclosed Great Pyrenees blood in her heritage.

Two Huge Dogs in my House

After over a decade of Golden Retriever ownership (best dogs ever), we decided it was time to let Daisy show a new pup the ropes around our house.  We’ve had fun watching the adage “let the old dog train the new one” play out, right before our eyes.  Although skeptical at first, I was surprised at the truth of those words.

Ella the puppy would follow old Daisy around the yard, learning the boundaries of our property to stay within.

And this is where we sleep on the cool tile, by the front door.

And this is how we ask for chew bones.

And this is how we jump into the way back of the car, so we don’t get left behind.

And this is how we leave the backyard chickens alone (it took her awhile to pick that last one up).

The initial goal was “Oh hey, aren’t miniature Australian Shepherds awesome?  Maybe we should try that for our next dog.”  Turns out those are quite spendy.  And once we met a local farmer with three generations of family-owned, healthy Australian Shepherds, it was game over.  We decided to go with the little yellow fluffball, Ella.

Now I have two, huge gold dogs inside my house. 

And most days I scratch my head and wonder, “Wait, what?  How did we get to this place, again?”  Oy. That’s a lot of fur.  And poop.  And dog food.  And chew bones…

When the First Heat Goes Awry

Back to Ella, who is now around 9-10 months old.  We’ve been told by a veterinarian that if you allow your female dog to go through one cycle of being in heat before getting her spade, it improves her long term health and cancer prospects.  Ok and also we’re really busy and lazy, and just hadn’t gotten around to it yet.

Which isn’t a huge deal. Unless you’ve got an un-neutered stud like Gus living next door.

Again, totally not his fault. He stayed in his yard likka good boy.  It’s our little hussy that jumped the fence and went over to have a “play date”.

Australian Boxherd Puppies…?

Gus is a beautiful boxer, with that gorgeous marbled coat that I love in dogs.  And as luck would have it, he’s small.  He was the runt of his litter.  At least she didn’t traipse around with the Saint Bernard down the street.

After I caught the furry troublemakers, I began the process of acceptance.  I really didn’t want to tackle having a litter of puppies.  My biggest fear is how hard it will be for the kids (and me!) to give away adorable pups.

So I Googled “Australian Shepherd and Boxer mix” and was pleased to discover there’s a name for them:  Australian Boxherd.   We’re having “Australian Boxherd” puppies!  Hahahahha.

Hey, designer mixes are all the rage these days.  I’m hoping it means we won’t have any trouble finding them good homes.  Anyone want to bet on how many dogs I’m going to end up with… once this is all said and done??

Stay tuned for Australian Boxherd puppy pictures!

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