risk of coronary heart disease. Without even realizing it, when a person puts time into exercising, grooming and feeding a dog, he also puts more time into his own personal health care. Dog owners establish more routine schedules for their dogs to follow, which can have positive effects on their own health. Dogs also teach us patience, offer unconditional love and provide the joy of having a furry friend to pet!
SOCIABILITY
Possibly the most interesting attribute of Aussies is the manner in which they relate to strangers. They are, by nature, reserved toward those whom they don’t know. They are not openly aggressive toward strangers, as is common with many of the working breeds. Rather, they choose to ignore those they don’t know, providing that they (the strangers) do not threaten their masters or families.
Even Aussies need to relax! Quiet time with his owner is just as important to the pet Aussie as regular activity.
Devoted to their owners, Aussies constantly keep track of their charges while ignoring others in their environment. Take an Aussie out among people and he will, in all probability, focus his attention on his owner while acting as if there is no one else present.
However, if the owner chooses to speak to or interact with another person, he merely has to introduce his dog to the stranger and the Aussie will accept the person’s attention. Aussies are polite, reserved and non-aggressive dogs who openly demonstrate their loyalty to their owners while exhibiting restrained good manners to others.
AFFECTION
Along with loyalty, the Aussie demonstrates great affection for his owners. He loves a scratch behind the ears or a hearty pat on the side. If allowed, he’ll nuzzle next to his owner and will often use those expressive eyes to beg for attention in return.
INTELLIGENCE
Perhaps the most valuable attribute of the Aussie is his intelligence. If we define intelligence as being genetically engineered to perform tasks for and/or with humans, then the Aussie is among the most intelligent of breeds. He can work side-by-side with his master at such chores as carrying things, fetching objects and even pulling small carts containing farm supplies. He can also herd cattle at great distances from his master, who may be a quarter of a mile away. Often an Aussie will be sent to search for an errant sheep who has wandered away from the flock. He will have to search for the animal and, once located, he will have to find the quickest and safest route back to the flock.
DO YOU WANT TO LIVE LONGER?
If you like to volunteer, it is wonderful if you can take your dog to a nursing home once a week for several hours. The elder community loves to have a dog with which to visit, and often your dog will bring a bit of companionship to someone who is lonely or somewhat detached from the world. You will be not only bringing happiness to someone else but also keeping your dog busy—and we haven’t even mentioned the fact that it has been discovered that volunteering helps to increase your own longevity!
Speaking of decision-making, my own black and white Aussie named Fancy was a living example of a dog’s working away from her owner’s side and making decisions without assistance. She was a tracking dog. Her story exemplifies the versatility of the Australian Shepherd.
She was originally owned by her breeder. Kept as a brood bitch, she produced two litters of puppies, both of which produced several breed champions. However, following her second litter, Fancy developed a medical problem and she had to be spayed, thus ending her puppy-bearing career.
I met Fancy when she was three years old and her owner was looking for a home for her where she would be loved and possibly worked in obedience to keep her busy. At the time, I was looking for a new tracking dog and decided that Fancy and I could give it a try as a team. Fancy needed something to do and a family to love while I needed a new tracking partner. I knew that I would love her.
At our first meeting, Fancy was polite but paid me very little attention. Gail, her owner, suggested I put her on a collar and leash and take her for a walk away from their property. At first, Fancy kept looking back toward home as we headed down the road, but I ignored the behavior and kept talking to her. As we got further away from her home, Fancy began to look up at me as if to say, “Where are you taking me?”
GUARDIAN INSTINCTS
There are some confirmed reports about some Aussies that have taken action to pull children in danger out of harm’s way. In each case, the dogs acted alone and without the direction of humans. Their genetic traits of guarding and protecting have been so strong that they made their own decisions to save their young charges. They are independent thinkers in their work and beyond!
TAKING CARE
Science is showing that as people take care of their pets, the pets are taking care of their owners. A recent study published in the American Journal of Cardiology found that having a pet can prolong his owner’s life. Pet owners generally have lower blood pressure, and pets help their owners to relax and keep more physically fit. It was also found that pets help to keep the elderly connected to their communities.
I just kept up a soft-voiced conversation and reassured her that all was well. Finally, we came to a field where I found a large stick in the grass alongside the road. I picked it up and tossed it a few feet away.
As I did, I showed it to Fancy and said something like, “See this? Want this? Fetch it, girl!”
To my astonishment, Fancy ran forward and grabbed the stick immediately. “Wow,” I thought to myself, “this is a natural-born retrieving Aussie. I bet she’ll make a great tracker.”
By the time we reached Fancy’s home and breeder again, we were friends and Fancy kept asking with those big dark brown eyes to throw the stick “just once more.” I knew then that we’d make a match and I think Fancy knew it, too.
The story of Fancy ends many years later when she died of old age. She had become an excellent tracking dog and was able to find people who had been missing for several days and were miles away. How she did it, no one will ever know. She used her nose to follow the person’s scent trail and her bright mind to decide what was and what was not pertinent information in the environment where she was working.
One of the most valuable lessons I ever learned came from Fancy and some of my other tracking dogs, which was to never doubt what your dog knows. He cannot tell you what he knows or how he knows it. Just trust that because of his phenomenal scenting and hearing abilities, he will always know more than you do. I have honored that lesson for over thirty years and it has never failed me. Unfortunately, because dogs can’t speak our language, we must learn to trust them and believe what they tell us by their behavior. That’s a difficult lesson for most humans.
VERSATILITY
The Australian Shepherd is a most versatile breed. Though happiest when working with sheep or cattle on the ranch, the Aussies that don’t live on ranches find fulfillment by adapting to the lifestyles of their owners in other settings
