I got a puppy! Meet Pixel, the Mini American Shepherd.

[Pyxis]

Just starting a thread for Pixel, somewhere that I can share the fun stuff - and vent my frustrations, haha.

This is Pixel! She is a Mini American Shepherd. Her birthday is 1/23/22. I brought her home last Saturday.

We are of course still working on potty training, basic training, and crate training. So far, aside from potty accidents and her eating my phone charger last night (sigh) things are going well. She is doing pretty well on learning Sit, and she knows her name and will come when called (for the most part, lol).

No one seems to know this breed. I had to get pet insurance for her under 'Mini Australian Shepherd' which yes, is what the breed used to be called when it was first being worked on, but is not the real AKC name. The vet didn't even have it! I had to argue with them about it. Her health certificate from the breeder's vet lists her as Australian Shepherd, not even Mini, because that's probably the only option that clinic had too, so my vet tried to say "Well that's what her health certificate says so that's what she is" and I was like, I literally have her AKC papers right here, she is NOT an Australian Shepherd. So I can see this will be a recurring theme, sigh.

Anyway, I hope to eventually get her herding training, and her job will be to herd my waterfowl for me. No more of me chasing the ducks and geese around to get them in at night, once she's trained! And this is a very smart working breed, so she WILL need a job.

 

[HappyClucker7]

Aww, she's adorable!

 

[_-Captain BRM-_]

Yaya!!! Congratulations! What a cute baby! We recently got a puppy, too, so we will have to share our adventures

 

[Pyxis]

Puppy log day 7:

Got woken up at 6 am. Took Pixel out for the bathroom. Slowly gave her her morning water in increments so she didn't gulp a whole bowlful at once and then pee on the floor every five minutes. That was successful, will do that again. Gave her breakfast. Did laundry - she had an accident in her crate overnight. Guess we'll have to do a middle of the night pee break, even though she'd been making it through before.

Got the crate mat out of the laundry, put it on the floor for her to investigate - in the middle of playing with it, she peed on it. Sigh. More laundry. Lots of bathroom breaks.

Froze a Kong with turkey baby food in it to keep her busy. That was a hit.

Went out to do farm chores and errands, left her with my parents. Dad says she has a bunch of accidents while I'm gone, maybe he wasn't taking her out frequently enough, not sure.

Get back, very tired from being up so early, decide to take a nap. Haul puppy into bed with me, she settles right away, we nap for a few hours.

Wake up, bathroom break, she drinks a ton of water, another bathroom break, make myself some food, bathroom break (again, a lot of water). Give her her dinner while I eat mine.

Right now I am eating Spaghettios because that's all I have time to make, and she is chewing a pork chomp.

 

[HuffleClaw]

I have an 11 week old Great Pyrenees puppy! Her bday was 1/15/22. She’s the sweetest. Her name is Willow, I got her a few weeks ago. Pics are from days ago, and it feels like she’s grown more already. Congrats on the puppy!!

 

[addctd2plnts]

Just starting a thread for Pixel, somewhere that I can share the fun stuff - and vent my frustrations, haha.

This is Pixel! She is a Mini American Shepherd. Her birthday is 1/23/22. I brought her home last Saturday.

View attachment 3046776

View attachment 3046778


We are of course still working on potty training, basic training, and crate training. So far, aside from potty accidents and her eating my phone charger last night (sigh) things are going well. She is doing pretty well on learning Sit, and she knows her name and will come when called (for the most part, lol).

No one seems to know this breed. I had to get pet insurance for her under 'Mini Australian Shepherd' which yes, is what the breed used to be called when it was first being worked on, but is not the real AKC name. The vet didn't even have it! I had to argue with them about it. Her health certificate from the breeder's vet lists her as Australian Shepherd, not even Mini, because that's probably the only option that clinic had too, so my vet tried to say "Well that's what her health certificate says so that's what she is" and I was like, I literally have her AKC papers right here, she is NOT an Australian Shepherd. So I can see this will be a recurring theme, sigh.

Anyway, I hope to eventually get her herding training, and her job will be to herd my waterfowl for me. No more of me chasing the ducks and geese around to get them in at night, once she's trained! And this is a very smart working breed, so she WILL need a job.

I have a reservation for an English Shepherd, which is another little known breed, although UKC, not AKC. English Shepherds are more of an all around farm collie, but very smart and willing. I had one as a child. Now that we have a farm and my Borer Collie passed away, it seems like a good time for another.

If you get the chance to go to the National Specialty Show for the American Shepherds, you should go! It's a lot of fun to hang out with everyone from your favorite breed and get to know them. I've had Leonbergers for 22 years, and we go to all the National Specialty shows when they are in the Midwest or South. The people in the hotel freak out with 200 massive dogs running around, but Leos are all very friendly. We have play times where 50 are playing and they all play nicely.

 

[21hens-incharge]

AWWWWWW!!!! Super cute little stinker! Congratulations on such an adorable addition.

Puppies are such fun!

 

[SacredWaves]

I must say, I am looking forward to this thread. What shenanigans we will see. Thanks for the post! Be well.

 

[Pyxis]

I have an 11 week old Great Pyrenees puppy! Her bday was 1/15/22. She’s the sweetest. Her name is Willow, I got her a few weeks ago. Pics are from days ago, and it feels like she’s grown more already. Congrats on the puppy!! View attachment 3047874View attachment 3047875View attachment 3047876

She is adorable! She's gonna be a lot bigger than my girl, haha.

I have a reservation for an English Shepherd, which is another little known breed, although UKC, not AKC. English Shepherds are more of an all around farm collie, but very smart and willing. I had one as a child. Now that we have a farm and my Borer Collie passed away, it seems like a good time for another.

If you get the chance to go to the National Specialty Show for the American Shepherds, you should go! It's a lot of fun to hang out with everyone from your favorite breed and get to know them. I've had Leonbergers for 22 years, and we go to all the National Specialty shows when they are in the Midwest or South. The people in the hotel freak out with 200 massive dogs running around, but Leos are all very friendly. We have play times where 50 are playing and they all play nicely.

I love English shepherds! I have a friend that has a male named Windu and he is such a good dog. She also about three years ago got a female, with intent to possibly have a litter out of them. But then covid happened and we haven't seen each other much. I'll have to ask her if she did have a litter.

 

[Pyxis]

In today's puppy news, mildly concerned she has a UTI. She's been peeing very frequently and licking at herself. I'll call the vet in the morning and see if they want to run her urine. Better safe than sorry!

We had some playtime this evening.