Australian Water Dog

Annie went to the dog park last night! We love this park since there is a big stream in it that the dogs can play in. Annie has a blast! She was a little scared of swimming at first, but got used to it quick enough. She loved fetching sticks in the water. If she couldn't find it right away she'd throw her head in the water and play scuba dog searching for it-thinking it was on the bottom.

Bike Ride

We took Annie for a jog today at Haines point- its a loop on a peninsula in DC- near the monuments etc. It is a paved road where a lot of people ride bikes, few cars - and a big area between the road and gulf course perfect for biking with a dog! Surly (my dog) ran with me- and Annie ran with my boyfriend- although not as long :) She is still young and it was her first time out! She caught on very fast though and had a blast!

To see video of her running check out -


With the warmer weather Annie is really loving laying out side in the sun. But since we only have a front yard on a busy street - and with construction going on next door she sometimes wants to bark too often at people so we have to come in. She definitely has a distinctive warning bark, there is no growl, its just a short 'woof' as if to say 'hey, too close!' to protect the house. I tell her quiet and she will usually put her ears down and sometimes even roll over-- saying 'sorry!!!'

Puppy Annie

Annie is improving my leaps and bounds!

She now pees pretty much every time we let her out-although she does want to just sit next to me and not actually go to the yard to go.

Annie also is eating wet mixed with dry- she really likes Evo venison wet. Evo is a great food, grain free! So just the stuff dogs actually need.

She got her spay stitches out today and her incision looks good- it is a little irritated from the stitches but I think that'll clear up quick, esp as her hair grows in.

And most notably, is her playfulness. Annie's energy level is certianly picking up. She loves to spend hours throwing toys to her self. She usually tossing it straight up and tries to catch it... but if we're say, eating or on the computer its uncanny how good she is at throwing it onto our laps or the table.

Is she housebroken?

On petfinder, there is a little box we can check so under their profile it will say "This pet is already house trained" I always wait a few days to make sure before I check this box. But with Annie, we haven't been able to tell- you see Annie is terribly 'pee shy.' She won't even potty outside for us usually.

We though she may have a urinary tract infection, so we started her on antibiotics and made a vet appointment for Friday. She shows no signs of infection, and when she does pee she empties her entire bladder (it takes forever!) - the vet told us that dogs with UTIs will only potty in short spurts because it hurts, and have a hard time holding it sometimes. Since she pees everything at once, they believe she is just very scared to potty in front of people, likely from being beaten for it. See, when she had an accident in the house, and she was beaten/yelled at- all she (and other dogs) learn is- "when I potty in front of people I get in trouble. Don't potty in front of people" without proper training they don't always get that what people mean is not to potty in the house only- that that potting outside is fine. We're making a lot of progress the past few days, and I think it will just take time. Every time she potties we give her TONS of praise and treats (she looks so confused at first!) and each time is a step forward. If she isn't potting like normal by the end of the week the vet told us to bring her back in.

Annie has another insecurity- eating! I've never met a cattle dog that didn't LOVE their food. But Annie is shy to eat. She won't eat dry food (even soaked), or the raw food my dog gets (its a dehydrated food that when reconstituted looks sort of like oatmeal but smells really yummy)-- nope Annie will only eat canned wet food :) Even then, she doesn't like to eat more than a can at a time (when she should be eating up to 3 cans) Again- just another thing that will take time and coaxing for her.

On the plus side, Annie has become more and more playful by the hour. She now goes to the toy box, shoves her head in to pull out a fun new toy. She tosses them around to herself, and will fetch any toy, ball or stick. Her and my dog, Surly- even started to wrestle and play today. Her cuddling is getting a little too demanding so we're using NILF techniques to limit how bossy she is allowed to be with us. We have to invite her on the couch, or invite her over. This doesn't mean we don't ask her to come over for pets all the time! It just means that when she is looking at us and barks (its sort of a quiet yelpy/bark? just another odd cattle dog noise) we ignore her, if she comes to try to shove her head under my hand while I'm typing (ahhem!), I shove her away--- and in 10-30 seconds later I ask her, in a very happy voice to come over.

Here I am saying it again, Annie is a great dog in there. Cattle dogs are awesome, but they aren't for everyone. For someone wanting to do lots of training and lots of play/exercise time, theya re great buddies who will be there until the end.