Here's my niece, Maile:
She was just a young'un then, and now she has gone on to have young'uns of her own. Here they are, freshly born this Tuesday:
Here they are in a group audition, hoping for their big break on 2+2:
You can see the colors vary dramatically in Australian Shepherd litters. We got a high percentage of one of my favorite coats in the doggie kingdom, the blue merle. That's the silvery/blue look. Generally these dogs have a brilliant white chest setting off the rest of their coat. The coats in the last few pics look less than dramatic because everyone is either a newborn or wet or damp, or just kinda beat up from giving birth to eight puppies in the middle of the night.
Here's another one of my niece when she's looking more of her robust and gorgeous self:
The other fellow is her friend Buddy. He's not the father of this litter, or related to Maile, but he has grown up to be an unusually large, good-looking dude. Since they were raised together, they may or may not eventually breed. Who can account for the mysteries of love, after all?
These dogs are both ridiculously spirited and happy all the time. Every day and almost every moment seems to be the very best one yet. So they make my parents very happy. And they keep them active, spurring them to go on long daily walks. My mother also has them compete in agility and obedience trials, and they do very well and seem to get a kick out of it. You know how dogs just ache to please. Long story short is, they bring a lot of happiness to the family, and everybody wins.
Last edited by Blarg; 02-12-2010 at 02:29 PM.