Riot - AKA

by Adrienne
(Nova Scotia, Canada)

Riot is my 5 month old blue merle pup, he has the blue and brown eyes (the colours are marbled together) and along with his beautiful looks he has an even better personality to match. Riot loves playing fetch, trips to the local dog park, and playing with his best friend, an eight month old Border Collie owned by a friend of ours. He's also a cuddle bug and takes advantage of any excuse to give hugs, kisses and snuggles to anyone who will let him. My husband and I have affectionately nicknamed him "Trouble" because he's very much a "velcro" Aussie which causes a bit of trouble, especially when he is convinced that he simply must hop in the shower too because he can't stand to wait in the hallway, even if that means getting caught in the shower curtain and dragging it down rod and all.

While he can be a bit excitable with adults, he seems to have that classic Aussie love of children. He's always dependable around my 4 year old daughter, always 4 on the floor with kids and really seems to understand that he needs to be gentle and not tackle the little ones despite his eagerness to give hugs to his favourite "tiny humans". His favourite place to sleep is on top of my husband and I.

Riot is currently working on obedience, everyone comments on what a smart and well trained guy he is for being so young; however, it would be dishonest of me to take the credit. He is the easiest dog to train that I've ever come across. I did a bit of dog training with 4H when I was younger and used to teach some dogs basic manners for extra pocket money in the summers and none of them got it as quick as Riot has. I was worried about getting an Aussie at first because I was scared I wouldn't be able to do the breed justice but now that I have him I am so happy I decided to go with an Aussie! I can't imagine life without him now and I have learned that while Aussie's are high energy (we keep Riot's "go" in check with daily trips to the dog park for free play, rain or shine, and two half hour brisk walks around the neighbourhood daily) they aren't nearly as high strung as I had been led to believe. When he's not full out playing fetch Riot can be found snoozing as close as possible to whoever is closest :).

In the future Riot and I will work on some agility together (I hope I'm as easy to train as he is) and maybe some tracking or therapy dog work in the future as well. :)

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