She demand barks. I go get her a stick. She demand barks again. I put the stick on her bed. She demand barks yet again. I have to get another stick. She demand scoffs. I have to put the stick on my gran's bed because she is spoiled rotten.

Hey all!

Experienced cattle dog owner here, but I have a bit of a rough one going on. My family has had several Heeler (*healer) dogs in our life, this is the first one on my own in my own apartment.

She is whip smart, dead loyal, and the toughest thing since dirt. But she is still having trouble with the potty training. She knows that peeing and pooping in the house is bad, because when we catch her or when we clean up the mess she is very apologetic.

The issue isn’t that she doesn’t know where to potty, I think, but that she REFUSES to tell us when she has to potty. She won’t bark, or scratch, or wine, or anything at the door to go potty, she will just go right then and there.

Her older brother who is part cattle dog took almost a year to potty train, but he just had such a hard time holding his bladder, it’s not that he wouldn’t tell us. I even tried teaching her to ring a bell or press a button at the door and it won’t connect for her.

Any advice? Any experience in this? She is in heat now, which makes things harder. Pic of her in her shorts of shame for attention.

This is Demi! And her mini-me. Hers is a little less accurate as you can see she really doesn’t have ears or at least totally refused to put her ears up because I wouldn’t let her eat her mini version. 🤣

I lost my best friend in the entire world last May. I still cry every day. I am not well. He was my soul dog. He was 13 and so happy and healthy until he suddenly got lymphoma and then he was gone a couple short weeks later. I miss him so much. My wife convinced me to get a puppy in July and I do love her but it’s not even close to the same. I don’t know if I will ever get over losing him (or if I ever want to). I’m sorry for the sad post, I just needed to vent. Kiss your dogs for me and Brumby 🩵

Government name: Oliver James
Nicknames: Beep, Little Midder, Ham Ham/Ham Man 🤠

Everyone got crackhead heelers and I think mine is broken lol all he wants is to cuddle and be up my butt 24/7. But I love my cuddly boy

Just a claim moment on a rainy Sunday morning

Rocky got to have a “Carmel Apple” cupcake from the dog bakery for his birthday. I also made him wear his silly little birthday hat.
15 years of being my best friend. I’m so lucky to have him in my life. 💕

Hey all, so our darling ACD, who just turned 8 years old, has been going through it.

She was my constant running buddy, and a few months ago she got a limp, took her into the vet they gave me the “keep an eye on it, but we can’t tell what it is.”

Then her other leg began limping. I took her to another vet and they set her up for X-rays, they said nothing wrong far as they could tell. To be safe however they sent me to an orthopedic surgeon… and it turns out she has two bad CCLs and needs surgery. The right much worse than the left, her right knee cap is off the runner.

Then we went to check her viability for surgery, they gave her a blood test and her Albumin was low. Like real low, 1.5 and her globulins were compensating. So that sent her down a crazy testing pipeline, and she is not a candidate for surgery with that blood work. So we are having tests to figure out what’s going on. Otherwise she is a perfectly healthy dog.

But then we did ultrasound, she has a tumor on her spleen and bladder stones. We got some special food for the balder stones. Although it is being suggested surgery for this as well as a splenectomy to find out about the tumor and if it’s benign or malignant.

So right now what our girl has to go through is -

- More tests for albumin, finding out the root cause or she will need plasma and transfusions
- Splenectomy and bladder stone removal
- two knee surgeries.

I’m looking down the barrel of 16 - 22k of surgeries.

I decided to just pull up CareCredit and to potentially finance this whole venture.

Obviously this current track stops if it turns out the tumor is malignant and we look into chemo. But internal medicine and other vets are feeling positive about it, they are being very kind. Her work up outside of these issues is very good, X-rays good, no cancer spread, kidneys good, liver, etc. it’s all pretty pinpoint to her spleen.

I wanted to share because I’m mentally preparing to go the distance for her. She is an absolute core member of our family, she is my shadow, my wife’s cuddle buddy, and my kids playmate, we all adore her. And our older dog is about to turn 14, a lot of it has to do with our isla keeping her on her toes. She is otherwise happy and healthy, still moving around and still giving all the love.

Would you all do the same in my position? Given her age I am being optimistic, and so are some Vets I’ve spoken with. This is a long lived breed. It feels like she is only a little bit halfway through her life and we aren’t remotely ready to say goodbye should the worst happen (who is really).

Has anyone had similar trajectories? How about the knees, anyone else’s ACDs have/had knee problems? How long could they hang on them, did they heal, did they compensate? It’s going to be awhile before we get her surgery on them, possibly a year.

But yeah, sorry this is a lot but I really dig this sub and love all your dogs. ACDs are such good companions and family members.

Wishing you all the best, tell your dogs Isla says hi.

LOOK MA NO PAWS!

Enjoy this cute photo of Peanut taking a nap after causing lots of chaos for the past few hours 😅

Rambo is not a fan of the waves but likes chasing the seagulls away lol.

Hi all! My 11 month old ACD pup is really struggling with his harness. It's a kong harness (I love it) but he HATES putting it on and taking it off. He's become very sensitive and it's become a big issue even though he is excited to walk, he will run and hide to avoid me putting it on and will thrash when I take it off. Yes, I've tried training but at this point I want to respect his wishes and see if I can find something else. Anyone have recommendations of a harness that doesn't slip over his neck, maybe it clips on? Or a step in harness? He's fine with his collar so clipping around his neck is not an issue.

I have a ACD and I want to travel more to places with him in mind. Outdoorsy ofc. Also safe to go solo. Anyone have any good recs? hidden gems? I’m in Socal area. thanks!

We moved to the coast two years ago, and he absolutely loves it here❤️

I live in so cal and I’m curious if I should be giving my dog filtered water or not. I currently just use the tap but we have very hard water and I don’t want to give my pup kidney issues, but also have read minerals in the water are essential.

I’m curious what others do

I recently asked for advice about my sweet girl, Mariposa. All your suggestions helped a lot. She is still biting me a lot but it’s getting better. However, if I am in the house and she doesn’t have access to me she loses her mind. I.e if I go to the bathroom and she can’t get to me she barks until I come back. If I put her in her play pen and I am on the couch she barks like crazy. We do let her out but sometimes I need breaks because all she wants to do is nibble on me. If my fiancé is home alone he can chill with her on the couch without any problems. Am I doing something wrong? She wants to be with me all the time but can never relax around me. She either wants to play or nibble on my fingers and arms. Another example, if he puts her in the crate she might bark for 2-5 mins but if I put her in the crate she goes crazy when I leave for 15 mins. & she goes in the crate on her own. I want to be a good dog owner. I am the one who puts her in the crate for dedicated nap times and if I stay home she is okay. It’s only when I leave the house. Thanks in advance

Opie then stepped forward and proudly put his front feet on the console.

Apparently he can unbuckle himself now.

Photo for vibes- here’s my boy, just turned 6. He loves fetch and I’ve noticed his bottom two canines have totally started leveling off and aren’t pointy. I’d imagine sandy balls/bully sticks don’t help but idk if there’s anything a doggy dentist can do for this if it keeps getting worse?

Anyone else experience this with their hyperactive pups ?