A great story about dogs

[auburngrad82]

http://www.thedailytimes.com/sited/story/html/183109

Blind dog has a seeing eye companion.

I have two ACDs (Australian Cattle Dogs) and they are one of the smartest breeds I've ever been around.

[Mandate My Ass]

1. That was a sweet story

Interesting about the signals and tactile cues the sighted dog used to guide the blind one.

My pet passed away earlier this month and I miss so much about her presence but one thing I never really realized until she was gone was how much she used touch on me. It took over a week for me to realize how many times she would tap, nudge or poke me with her nose to communicate because I wasn't feeling it anymore. Of course there was the nose flip of my hand that meant "pet me now!" but there were so many more nuanced ones I didn't realize until they stopped.

Do you have pics of your doggies? I've heard ACDs are quite intelligent. Do they do herding behaviors with you guys?

[auburngrad82]

2. Here are links to their Dogster pages

http://www.dogster.com/pet_page.php?i=21738&j=t

http://www.dogster.com/pet_page.php?i=21758&j=t

http://www.dogster.com/pet_page.php?i=52076&j=t

We have Petey, the old boy, and Tillie, who is just 1 1/2 years old. We used to have Jessie but we traded her for Tillie with my parents. Tillie was way too much for a couple of retired people. My father wanted a dog that could go with him in the truck to pick up feed and hay and help with their dairy goats. Tillie was (and still is, to some extent) an absolute beast and they couldn't control her. ACDs are not for everyone. They are VERY intelligent and strong-willed.

There's a photo of Petey and Jessie "herding" Petey's boomer ball around the yard on his page. He and Tillie also like to herd our lab mix, Porkchop, around the yard as well.

Sorry to hear about your loss. Three of our dogs are nine years old. We can see them aging and I'm not looking forward to the day that they leave us. We made a mistake by getting three that are the same age (within 3 months). It's never easy. They're our "kids".

[kslib]

4. As a certifiable cat person

all I can say is

WOW what great looking dogs!!!!

That puppy could make a convert out of this cat-girl!

:loveya:

[Mandate My Ass]

6. They're all adorable

You can kind of see the mischief in Tillie's face and eyes. LOL. Good luck with that one.

[Orsino]

3. I love my ACD

Got no papers, but she is obviously pure-bred. We suspect she's an escapee from a breeder in the area where she was found.

Sadie's coming up on eleven years old. I don't know that she's particularly smart. In recent months, she's developed a couple of odd habits. She gets excited or angry at the sound of a can being opened (pop-top Fancy Feast cans in which we hide medicine for a cat with cancer), though she has never had canned food, and does some howling a while after her last trip o-u-t at night.

[auburngrad82]

5. Ours are purebreds but no papers on one and the other is far from "show"

quality. He has a couple big black spots and he's a little over-sized. But he's a great dog. He lives to play.

Tillie, the "pup" is a holy terror. She counter-surfs, considers the trash can her "buffet" and in general harrasses all of the other dogs. But she is getting better. I hope that she matures soon. She's driving me crazy!

:crazy:

That being said, we have hope that one day she'll be a good dog.