We have three dogs at present, Zues, Bingo Dingo, and Amber. They are outside all day and mostly come in at night. Zeus and Amber sleep in crates very happily. Bingo kinda freaks in a crate and often gets let back out in the middle of the night. He is a moderate barker (whereas Amber would gossip and chat all night long) and so this works out ok for everyone.

Breeds

All three of our dogs are herder types. Zues is an Australian Shepherd. Bingo and Amber are mutt litter mates who are half Aussie Shepherd and half Red Heeler from what we can tell. Zues and Bingo both have naturally cropped tails (born that way) and Amber has a long Heeler tail.

Apparently Aussie Shepherds are named for the Australian variety of sheep they were often used to herd, but they are in fact dogs of Spanish bred origin.

They all like to run with Bingo being the pokey one of the three. Zues is the most serious runner, he can go all day. We've watched the three of them work together to take down a wild jack rabbit on more than one occassion. They also do a lovely job gathering cows up together in a bunch. They'll keep them standing there all day if we don't call them off.

Shortly after we brought Zues home and named him, we learned that he loves thunderstorms. He will cock his head and listen for the thunder much further off than we can hear it. When it gets close enough, he sets about running to catch it. He absolutely can not be kept in when it is storming outside, he loves it.

Zeus also likes to sit on the corner of our porch and beg for pets from the human standing on the ground next to the porch so he can lick their chheck and chin at his own eye level. He especially loves to have his chest rubbed and gurfs appreciatively.

Amber is a sly foxy dog, always scrounging, hunting, or up for a rough game of growl and tackle. Bingo is a big love sponge, low dog on the totem pole, but he stays home and guards the place the most consistently while the other two go walk-about. Amber has had to be called down from chasing our chickens, but after a few rounds of correction I believe she has truly stopped doing it. The boys are very well behaved with the chickens, but Bingo knows how to steal, carry off, and crack eggs to eat.

Acquiring Canines

We adopted Zues based on a sign posted in town. The folks we got him from said he wasn't a good cow dog and that he was too hyper for their little kids, apparently he jumped up. He jumped up on us some after we brought him home, but in a matter of a few weeks we broke him of that habit. He seems to round the rancher's cows up just fine when they wander over onto our property. In any case he is a lovely animal, very smart with a gentle temperment. He doesn't play any games that humans know, but will happily escort or herd you around the property depending on if you are moving fast enough for him. He is Jonathan's best buddy and we are very glad to have him living with us.

Bingo and Amber were adopted for $10 total from the Animal Shelter in St. Johns. They needed a home before they were put to sleep and we thought Zues would be happier with a friend (or two). Indeed they all three get on famously and play rough together constantly. Bingo and Amber play more relentlessly as they have been together since puppyhood and Queenslands are more apt to this kind of foolery than dignified Aussie Shepherds.

Rural Dogs

With 40 acres and more to run around on, our dogs are in bliss heaven. Sometimes we don't see them all day while they run the perimiter and check out all their favorite haunts and bark at cows and so forth. They always find their way home and seldom stay out after dark.

The dogs get dog food most days, but sometimes get to dine on rabbit butcherings which makes them ecstatic. Their coats are shiny and they are in great shape. We've learned that a rural dog is a happy dog... at least until they find a porcupine!

Zues came home one day in Dec 2004 wearing a porcupine beard. It was really bad. Spines sticking out of his nose, pierced all the way through his jowls, stuck inside his mouth. Poor fella. We pulled quite a few, but the next day we had to take him to the vet and have him put under in order to get the rest of them out. Even after that we've pulled eight to ten more that have appeared sticking out of his jowls and nose as they work their way back out of his skin. That porcupine made for a very expensive and painful venture. We hoped he would have better sense the next time, but we got a repeat performance only worse about six months later. It took him another six months to heal up before he would really let us pet his head and touch his face again. Maybe he has really learned this time.