Sydney - three dogs

We are just about at the end of our five week stay in Sydney. During that time we have been fortunate enough to have enjoyed the company of two Australian cattle dogs in the house which we have been sitting.

Here are the two girls, Sparky and Sunny. We met them last year when we were looking after the house next door. They are 'red heelers'.

Their owner was concerned that we got on well with the dogs, in particular this one, Sunny. They both come from the same litter and both are rescue dogs. It takes Sunny a while to trust strangers and she has been known to indulge in nipping which is the way cattle dogs herd cattle by nipping at their heels. We took it slow and easy to gain their trust and there has been no problem.

Sparky is initially more friendly.

Sunny is quite talented and can cross her legs. 

Their paws are quite small. The bigger dog, Sparkey, is about 50 lb.

Both are interested in dish washers.

One of my jobs has been to take them for a walk each day. I usually do the walk at 9 am when the streets are quieter. They have been reasonably well behaved but Sparky is inclined to dawdle and want to smell everything. In the afternoon a bloke who has another cattle dog comes and takes all three dogs on a longer walk. With two walks a day, the dogs have been losing weight and have become increasingly svelte.

Cattle dogs are working dogs so they are designed to be on the go all day and not lazing around on couches.

Within a few days the dogs became very friendly and trusting. Sunny loves to curl up in our suit cases. She has become the more affectionate of the two, but not by much. 

We have really enjoyed looking after the dogs and they have really come to like and trust us. We shall miss them when we leave and I suspect they will miss us.

We had mentioned to Phil that we really like Airedales and he came across this one a few streets away. Naturally the following day we had to find it.

Oscar is just over a year old and is still a big puppy. A seventy pound puppy.

The old woman two doors away said that she was in love with Oscar. She used to have two German Shepherds and now has two small poodly type dogs.

Oscar has a little platform to stand on to greet people. He is really friendly.

I love the 'boof head' look of Airedales. We have owned two Airedales and our hearts always leap when we see them. When we eventually move to Oz, we plan to get a couple of rescue Airedales from Wombat Bend.

To see more about Airedale Rescue, look here.