Durango the Australian Cattle Dog ~ Adopted
Durango is a lovely brindle Australian Cattle Dog puppy, born around the 4th of July. ACD’s don’t usually come in brindle so she may have a touch of something else in her, I think perhaps Italian Greyhound, but if so, it is just a touch! This little girl has all the heart and intelligence for which ACDs are famous! She’s at that funny stage where some days her ears stand straight up and other days they flop over ~ I love it!
Durango and her littermates were rescued from a kill shelter in south Florida. Their mother must have been brilliant because, although their were five puppies, about five weeks old, they were bright-eyed, healthy, and not skittish at all. How she accomplished this living in the wild is a testimony to the capabilities of ACDs! This is a video of the litter shortly after I got them (originally set to the song “Rawhide”, Youtube deleted the audio ~ bummer). You’ll see that the other puppies have traditional ACD markings. But also take special note of how interactive Durango is with my husband. She has been very people oriented from the get-go!
Durango likes to play with balls and will chase them but hasn’t quite figured out the bringing it back part. She is fully crate trained and well on her way to being housetrained as well. She does fine with cats and knows to leave them alone ~ my 17-pound orange tabby Maine Coon take particular delight in teaching this lesson to all the puppies! Whenever I get a new puppy I like to team it up with Durango as she tends to have the sweetest, most welcoming spirit. She simply adores large dogs, especially Tippy the Old English Sheepdog. I wonder if Tippy reminds Durango of her mother.
This is a very loving puppy who will bring joy to any home ~ yesterday my husband was sitting at the kitchen table when Durango sat at his feet then perched herself up high enough that she could rest her head in his lap! She really is special!
You can read the original post of Durango and her littermates on their combined blog page.
There are more videos of Durango on our Facebook video page ~ any videos of the puppies playing will include her. And of course she has quite the photo album going as well!
22 September Update:
I’m laughing because Durango just dashed across the yard with a deflated handball in her mouth. It looked so silly swinging back and forth, and she looked so proud of herself!
Someone asked me if Durango has ChowChow in her because she has some black spots on her tongue. No, not at all. Black spots are just excess pigmentation, like spots or freckles. According to vetinfo.com, any dog with tan and black fur can have black spots on it’s tongue. ACDs are among the breeds specified to fall into this catagory. Others listed include:
Airedale, Akita, Australian Cattle Dog, Australian Shepherd, Belgian Sheepdog, Belgian Tervuren, Belgian Malinois, Bichon Frise, Bouvier de Flandres, Bull Mastiff, Cairn Terrier, Chinese Shar-Pei, Collie, Cocker Spaniel, Dalmatian, Doberman Pinscher, English Setter, Eurasier, Fila Brasileiro, Flat-coated Retriever, German Shepherd, Golden Retriever, Gordon Setter, Great Pyrenees, Irish Setter, Kai Ken, Keeshond, Korean Jindo, Labrador Retriever, Mastiff, Mountain Cur, Newfoundland, Pomeranian, Pug, Rhodesian Ridgeback Rottweiler, Shiba Inu, Siberian Husky, Tibetan Mastiff, Thai Ridgeback.
September 30 Update:
I have posted on our Facebook lots of videos of Durango playing with the other puppies, but I just love this one. My advice for fostering lots of dogs and puppies is Play Hard, Sleep Hard! Here they are all, crashing out in the living room. I grabbed the camera to capture the moment. They tried to keep their eyes open, but to no avail. So cute!
Three new dogs arrived at my home, giving me an excuse to make a new video. Yeah, like I need an excuse! Little Bit the Papillon is a one-year-old wild child, dashing around trying to get the other dogs to chase her. Durango is so cute because she really tries to keep up, but she’s still so young she doesn’t have the same coordination as Little Bit. It is cute to see them together!
Durango – now known as "Molly" a/k/a "Guaca-Molly" or Munchkin Molly is adjusting very well to her new home. She was renamed as our 9 year old son and 6 year old daughter kept forgetting her name. Then one of our older daughters started calling her "Dorito" and then we knew we just had to rename her!
Charlie and Lola have made her feel right at home – Charlie as always being the gentle, loving one and Lola now having to learn she must play more gently or those razor sharp puppy teeth will let her know to back off! She is just as Holly described her: sweet, gentle, attentive and seems to be a quick study. She slept all night in the crate with not one peep, even when our teen girls were making all sorts of noise and woke me up. She is learning the meaning of "outside" and when she goes "potty" there is always a treat. Then it is back inside to "sit" on the rug for a treat. I bet she will have these simple commands down before the end of next week.
Thank you, Holly, for encouraging us to meet her. And, thank you, Gisele, for making sure that your dogs are well fostered. You two make a great team!
Pictures of Molly's ride home are on my facebook page…. I did not know how or if I could post them here.
Lynette and Kevin Bryant, Chocolate Charlie, Lola Lion and Munchkin Molly