Now I know that Aussies are versatile, that they were originally farm dogs and would help the farmers etc etc - but I think that Vinnie is just trying TOO hard!

Ade, the Other Half, has been busy today, digging up the rest of our potatoes, then leaving them on the ground to "ripen" (apparently they keep better if allowed to do this!!) Anyway, the dogs are enjoying racing around the garden, trying to herd themselves and cats & kittens up - when all of a sudden, Vinnie realises that something else is happening in the garden! So she sits down, looks at what Ade is doing, then carefully, goes over to the potatoes, noses through them, then picks one up, trots over to where Ade is digging, then carefully digs a little hole, pushes the spud in, then nudges earth all over it!! Satisfied, she trotted back and was going to !plant thenext one!!

Usually, they just dig things up..........

Very funny! I am in a dreadful mood this evening and this really made me smile.

Stacey

why are you in a dreadful mood Stacey? or should i ask :)

Hmmm........
Is she a typical aussie?? :-) I wonder what Scarlett's excuse is then..... If she has dug up my back garden once this week, she has dug it a 100 times, and not a potato in sight !!!!! Nicely bathed for a show on Sunday, feet trimmed, blown dry and then dig, dig, dig....... and through the door came one very dirty red tri bitch........:-(
Aussies..... like chocolate, you can't just have one!!!!!!!!!:-)
Hope you are ok Margot,
Gabrielle and the Aussie gang (and the GSD) x

:D :D :D

Yes - know the feeling Gabrielle - but usualy ours have a cunning plan - they wait until they are ALL bathed, groomed and gussied up, THEN shoulder barge the back door, out into the garden - then rush for my globe thistles! I think the game is to see who can get the most burrs in their coats in 3 minujtes!!

See you for the Aussie Show a week Sunday?? We're even bringing Thor - and I think we'll be having a puppy reunion as well!

Margot

Hi Margot,
The favourite trick in this house, is for the four of them to go somewhere where there is a river, and they all go ''selectively deaf'' and are drawn to the water to go swimming, it doesn't matter whether it is clean or dirty water, they feel a huge need to swim....... the last time they did it, it was half way through an exemption show, when we went for a quick walk on an ajoining field.... needless to say, we couldn't go bak in the ring.. :-)
Yes, am hoping to be at A.S.C.U.K's show, although I am ''on call'' for work that weekend, so will be praying, that I don't get half way down the M6 and have to go back!!!!!!!
I have Scarlett and the gorgeous old boy Bubba entered, he is looking really nice and healthy, so we figured he would enjoy his day out.... he still moves like he is a 2 year old :-)
I am leaving Gabby at home, she doesn't show, and is butt naked at present after being spayed... I thought spaying her might increase her volume of coat, so here's hoping when the temps finally start to drop for Winter, that she piles a huge coat back on !!!!!
Granny Jade sends her love to all her Grandchildren :-)
Gabrielle x

Hi all know just what you mean about Aussies I found out months ago that I cannot bath Arwen till the night before a show as she loves water and the more dirty it it the more she loves it. We have a beck very near the house ad she just goes deaf!! Fleur is following her lead. So now its a bath the night before and walked on a long lead !! She got her own back for our last show, got my Rough Collie nice and clean 2 days prior to show ( she hates water) Arwen jumped in beck then jumped all over nice clean Rough Collie!!! She then looked at me as if to say thats looks better.
Sheila

Hi Sheila,
See.... what did we tell you, you wouldn't just stay with one aussie!!!!!!! :-) You are like the rest of us now, up to two, there will be more, trust me!!!! :-) I said one dog, and now have four... Scarlett will have her puppies, and I will be tempted and of course the two red ones I love in the U.S... (sigh)........
Are you coming to the Club show??
Hope Fleur is ok, and Arwen too, her half sisters and Uncle Bubba send love and licks...
Gabrielle x

This all sounds strangely familiar :) Tara is a gardener - last year she 'helped' dig up all our potatoes (we grow them in tubs). This year she is too big to sit in the tubs, so she has taken to digging up our french beans and 'replacing' them with bones :D She also has a selection of hideouts round the garden - large holes dug at the back of shrubs where she hides. Sometimes we can't find her and I am sure that she is playing hide and seek :D Fortunately, this year, the lawn has escaped her attention :)

Daisy

Well, they are obviously bred to ''help'', that is all I can say :-)
Mine don't dig anything 'up' as such, as there is nothing left in the garden to dig up !!!!! but I have only a few patches of grass left here and there now....... I give up with it....... between Scarlett digging, and Bubba chasing both daughters round and around, my lawn is sadly depleted, but never mind, I wouldn't be without my furkids.....heck, it's only grass!!!!!!! :-)
Gabrielle x

Fortunately, Bramble isn't a gardener :) He just likes lying behind us, waiting to trip us up when we step backwards :d

Daisy

:D:D If only we could train them to pull weeds as well as dig and plant potatoes! At least your lot only dig up your garden. Morse investigated a molehill in a Nature Reserve the other week and was up to his elbows in no time...... then theres open plan estates he just dosent understand why hes not allowed to re-turf em.

:D LOL

Daisy

Hey Lorelei,
Have to say, not only has she dug up the garden, she has dug up a wooden border, the flowers and the weeds, so I guess in one sense, I could say she is an expert gardener !!!!!!! :-)
Don't know how many times I have said it, there is nothing smarter than an aussie !!!!!!!
Gabrielle x

I see a bright future for this clever dog in the construction industry! just call her Mrs Rotovator:D

Lorelei,
Now she has mastered digging the entire garden, I am going to train her to paint, strip wallpaper, polish, hoover, make tea........;-)
They say aussies are multi talented, so we will see !!!!!!!
Gabrielle x :-) :-) :-)

Well we're having to untrain Vinnie in her other "chosen" occupation as laundry maid/clothes designer!! On a couple of occasions (when she was smaller), I've gone into the utility room - to see her jump OUT of the washing machine. I've thought that someone had left the washing machine door open - moaned at every one, etc etc (one of the labs, years ago nibbled the seal around the door & we had to replace it).

Just lately, the washing machine has been opened AFTER the washing has finished - and some of the wshing in Vinnie's bed! A couple of tastfully "distressed" teeshirts and ripped shirts has meant that we're working on how to teach her to fold the washing .........

PS - woke up in the night with the thought running through my bran - isn't a nickname for an Australian "Digger"???

Margot

Hi Margot,
I wonder what it is with washing! Our Cody (another mad Aussie) had a funny little habit of removing buttons of hubby's clean shirts! Guess who got to sew them all back on! (no, not the dog!!). Keep them out of his reach now. I'm sure he'd be a digger if he had the chance, but our garden is all like a big patio area now (not because of the dogs, but just really bad drainage when it rains). So what he does do now, as I've got a few wild looking bushes in the borders, thinks he has to go and prune them! Who needs shears when he's around! Just have to teach him now, to put the branches and bits in a bin bag!!
So why can't I wait for the day I get another Aussie?! No, seriously, I absolutely love them, they are such great characters, always full of fun and life!!
Hilda

Hey Hilda,
You saw what my house was like when you came over, do you really want that??:-D
Well, they can't be that bad, as I keep going back for more.....
Speak to you soon,
Gabrielle x

Hi Gabrielle,
Sorry cannot come down to the club show due to work , but good luck from all at Kayosville. Arwen and Fleur are well, Fleur has fitted in nicely. They have re-shaped our garden between them, and we are beginning to realise they dont like grass LOL!!! As for the washing Arwen brings it down stairs ( wish she would sort colours first) and Fleur brings it in from the line although still needs to learn to wait till its dry so it doesnt pick up so much mud!!!

Sheila and a couple of mad Aussies

Ok - we've established that not only are Aussies gardeners, but they are also laundry assistants - are they any good at ironing?? :D :D

They are also excellent washers & wipers of kittens - at the moment, I've got 7 kittens - and the aussies insist on washing faces & bottoms - so enthusiastic with the bottie washing are they that the kittens finish up standing on their front paws!!! One kitten does not like this very much, and it is so funny to see a 6 week old kitten, virtually STANDING on the tip of his tail, fur all fluffed out, all 4 paws flashing around, trying to keep 4 enthusiastic, cat-loving aussies in order!

If they can iron, send a gang to Edinburgh please :D

Lorelei,
I am the ironing freak in this house, the dogs will never be able to learn how to do it, as it never stays in a pile long enough !!!!!!!
There is nothing more therapeutic than doing a basket full of ironing.....
Told you, you had to be mad to own aussies... :-D
Gabrielle x

Gabrielle, I would love a gang like yours!!! Just got my playpen out to give it a good wiping down - a bit premature, I know!!
Hilda

not an aussie but jack our sprocker is trying to bcome the first to grow a pigs ear tree :) . he recently lent a hand or paw when i was concreting the garden he decided concrete was too plain and needed decorating with paw prints :)

Hmm, a pigs ear tree....
I like the sound of that, when your has grown, can you send him to Manchester please, to plant one for us?? :-)
Gabrielle x

Ah....... the nesting instinct Hilda,
All ready for a December baby??
Will it be blue or red or black?? :-D
Gabrielle x

It sounds as if we'd better teach the Aussies to knit baby booties for the patter of tiny paws:D :D
Margotxx

Margot,
Hoping the paws are not that tiny....... :-)
Gabrielle x

The patter of big paws! Does that sound right?!!
Hilda