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| Home | Breeding & Puppies | Meet The Crew | |||||
How did we get our start? Well, I asked for a pony, and I got a dog. How's that for being born under a bad sign? When I was young, my parents adopted a stray Doberman, which my Mom took through some obedience classes so she could get some control over him. I was immediately drawn to these classes, but unfortunately, good ol' Max weighed as much as I did, and had a tendency to run away when he was off lead (he was a former stray, after all!). Mom promised that our next dog would be small enough for me to train, and fast-enough maturing to not destroy the house. Enter the Aussie. Meeka, specifically. We got her in October of 1985, an early present for my birthday. Purely by coincidence, one of Max's trainers at obedience class was Chic Acierto (the former and longtime ASCA Treasurer), so when we did the puppy-search, Chic and his wife Marty directed us to a litter that Deb Gower had. We went to see them when they were 8 weeks old.
RULE #1: DO NOT GO SEE 8-WEEK-OLD PUPPIES IF YOU INTEND TO BE DILIGENT AND "SHOP AROUND".
If you can, make arrangements go see the puppies while they are still too young to come home with you.
It's a little-known fact, but 8-week-old puppies posess an additional organ that isn't in the anatomy books and few Vets will
tell you about. They come equipped with a tractor-beam. Or maybe it's a hypno-stare. I don't know, but when the Thomas family
showed up at Deb's house to "just look" at the litter, my Mom's immediate comment to my Dad, upon walking through the
door to the back yard, was, "We're sunk. One of these guys is coming home with us. TODAY." Sure enough, one of the
puppies snuggled into Mom's lap, and wouldn't leave her alone. Meeka. An hour later, we walked out of there with signed paperwork,
small bag of puppy food, and one very excited 10-year-old kid, about to wet her pants unless Mom would let her ride in
the BACK of the Scout WITH the puppy.
Fast forward six months. The now 11-year-old has successfully taken the puppy through beginners obedience training (thus proving that Aussies are exeptional learners, to be handled by such a novice and still do OK). Chic & Marty have rail-roaded Mom into entering Meeka and I in the local Aussie show, in Pre-Novice obedience. Hey, our first time out, and we scored a 189!
RULE #2: DO NOT HAND A GIRL A PRETTY PINK ROSETTE WITH A "FIRST PLACE" ON IT.
YOU ARE RISKING INFECTION.
I caught it bad. The Show Bug. I'm not sure what it's scientific name is, but show up to a dog show, and watch the people showing. There's no other explanation for the feverish flurry with brushing, the fixation on the poor schmuck in the middle of the roped-off area, who keeps pointing and counting the dogs running around him. In my particular case, I noticed that in the next ring there were kids MY AGE who were showing their OWN dogs in conformation! You see, Mom had called dibs on any conformation activity with the new puppy, and had been taking handling lessons from Deb...Meeka wasn't entered in conformation at this show, but I started prodding. I laid down one of those pre-adolescent "use it or lose it" ultimatums that parents hate, but Mom very quickly after that began showing Meeka in the puppy classes. And of course that wasn't good enough. I started taking handling lessons too. By September I was ready, and entered my first junior showmanship competition against those other kids. 
Well, to make a long story short, I began a very successful Junior career, that eventually expanded from
Showmanship and Obedience to include Working. Meeka and I went on to capture several National titles and awards. And
Mom got herself a dog, Harley. And then she got my sister a dog, Abbi, who was a half-sister to Meeka. And we got a lot
of miles out of those girls on the show scene. They did everything from Pee-Wee Handling to cattle work. My sister Em did Agility
with Abbi before Agility became so popular, and in fact was the first Junior to put ASCA/NADAC agility titles on an Aussie!
At home, our dogs were (and still are) our constant companions, playmates, and partners in crime. And even now, almost
twenty years later, all of our dogs trace their lineage to either Harley or Abbi, and we still see their funny and endearing traits
in their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
What is the point to all this story? Well, aside from the rules
above, we developed a deep love for the Aussie, and an appreciation of dogs that can "do it all." All dog-events aside,
our dogs' primary function in life is to be members of our family. They live indoors, in the house with us. We only breed our
girls occasionally (once every several years--most of them whelp two litters or less in their entire lives), but when we do, we
look for prospective homes for our puppies that will provide the same kind of environment, and people who will enjoy the wonderful
personalities and antics of our dogs!
Claire Gustafson
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