You’re probably wondering what I’m doing with “not” a Cavapoo 😉 It’s a long story.

If you read the “About Us” page, you know that my first dog was an Aussie mix and that I use to raise, show and rescue Shetland Sheepdogs. One of the dogs I raised for Dogs For The Deaf, was an Australian Shepherd also. I’ve always had a thing for “herding” dogs (Aussie, Sheltie, German Shepherd, Belgian Sheepdog, Australian Cattle Dog). Yes, we’ve had a “few” over the years.

And even though the Poodles and Cavaliers (hence Cavapoos) have wormed their way into my heart. Part of it will always be reserved for a herding dog too.

I few years back I found (after much research) a nice toy-sized Australian Shepherd that we added to the Pinewood family. She was a handful. Definitely all Aussie in a pint sized package. We had a struggle with our mom-dog relationship for quite a while. But she grew on me and we became quite the team.

We decided one year (kind of on a whim) to breed her to our Cavalier, Noah. What she produced was something spectacular! We called them Aussaliers. I researched if there were any breeders and found only one random ad on some classified. I contacted the American Canine Hybrid Club. They didn’t have the breed listed in their data base. So we went through the paperwork process to have the breed recognized as a new “hybrid”. Then we filed paperwork to register our litter as the first litter of Aussaliers with the club!

All of our puppy adopters were smitten with their puppies! We’ve had rave reviews from them as they’ve grown into adult dogs too. And I’ve been contacted by many more people wanting to know when we would have more. In fact, we had a waiting list for our next litter.

Tragically, it wasn’t to be. On March 22nd, 2014, my feisty China and her faithful sidekick, Pooh (our male Poodle) were savagely attacked and killed by coyotes in the woods next to our house. Losing those two in the midst of some other difficulties we were going through at the time was one of the hardest heartbreaks I’ve ever endured.

But God is good and time helps to heal. Months later with my heart starting to slowly heal, I began contemplating the idea of getting another Aussie.

And that brings me to this little rascal. I found her (from an experienced breeder), things came together and she was supposed to fly in on Wednesday after I met my puppy people. But as most of you know from my previous post, she was delayed overnight in Denver.

So back to Spokane I went on Thursday. And finally, had her in my arms!

I’m sure you can all appreciate that feeling when you finally physically have that long waited for puppy actually in your arms. <3

Crashed out on the way home.

I’m not sure what’s in store for this little girl at this point. Maybe some Aussaliers someday, maybe pure Aussies. We’ll see. For now, I’m just going to have fun and try to train her into a decent doggie citizen.