New URL

The BonaDea blog has moved! Thus far the blog has been hosted on the free wordpress.com site, but since I’m using DreamHost now I wanted to move the blog over so it would be hosted through them. It is still the same blog, and has all the old posts, comments, etc, but this should allow me to do more with it in the future (once I learn how to do all the cool things, that is). This will also get rid of any pesky google ads you might see (especially ones about buying “Toy Aussies,” ack!). I will not be posting on this URL anymore, so to go to the blog now, please go to http://blog.bonadeaaussies.com or go to http://bonadeaaussies.com and click on the “BonaDea Blog” tab. I hope you follow me. Thanks for reading!!

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Meet Molly

So, I know I promised a blog post today about my thoughts on all this breeding, working/structural mumbo jumbo. And it is coming; it is. However, it probably won’t be until later tonight, or maybe even tomorrow. I got all caught up in watching some old DVR’ed movies this afternoon and before I knew it the whole day was gone. So in the meantime here is Molly, my herding instructor’s new livestock guardian puppy. She’s some kind of Great Pyr/Anatolian mix. Sweet as can be and HUGE at 5 months old!

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Why You Don’t Get To Sell Your Dog

Warning: I have been having neck problems all week and finally gave in this weekend and took a muscle relaxer. As I type this I’m all Jello-y and happy and foggy, so I will try to be coherent, but I make no promises.

I don’t know if it’s something about summer time or what, but I’ve been noticing a lot of people the past several weeks that are posting ads to sell their dogs. Not rehome, but actually sell. Depending on the person, sometimes they use the word rehome, but it’s still selling. This is actually disturbingly close to one I saw not long ago:

“8 Month Old Peke-a-poo for Sale!: I have an 8 month old Peke-a-poo named Schnookums. Schnookums is the bestest puppy in the whole wide world but I just don’t have time to give her the attention she deserves, and she’s not potty trained, and she chewed up some wires, so my husband said I have to find her a new home. I paid $500 for her, but I will let her go for $300. Price firm.”

There are so many things wrong with this I don’t even know where to start, but the most important thing I can stress is you don’t get to make money on a dog you don’t want. A dog is not a car. When you are done with it, it doesn’t have a “used value.” You do not get to try to recoup your purchase price on it. You don’t get to sell it to make money to go buy a new iPhone. It is not a thing. It is a dog. Thanks to you maybe a poorly trained one, but a dog nonetheless. If you want to sell something to make money, sell your TV, it won’t feel abandoned and confused.

Anyone who takes that dog and is kind enough to give it a home is doing you a favor. A really big, stinking favor. They are cleaning up your mess. I guarantee they are going to spend a lot of time and a lot of money fixing the problems you created. They probably should be charging you. In fact, many rescues do. I know a rescue around here that charges $200 to take in your animal. And that’s a steal when you consider what you would have spent on that dog for the rest of its life.

Charging a genuine “rehoming fee” does not bother me. Especially if you’re using a venue like Craigslist or the like, something, anything, tends to weed out the people who want bait dogs for fighting or pets they can turn around and sell for money.

Legit rescues will often charge a much higher prices, sometimes a few hundred dollars, to adopt a dog as well. They give a dog they take in a lot of care. Again, fixing that owner’s mistakes be they health or training, before sending them on to a new home. They also usually carry out the spay and neuter surgery and go to a lot of trouble to make sure dogs (and cats) are going to good homes. Usually what you pay for even the more expensive rescues is cheaper than what they spent on the dog during the time they were there. (Now there are some uber-expensive rescues that seem suspect to me, but that’s not what I’m talking about here)

There are also very responsible breeders who will place retired dogs for a fee. That is different. That isn’t a dog that they don’t want. They would be happy to keep that dog for its whole life, but think the dog might enjoy being the center of attention in a family. Most breeders I know still only charge for the price of the spay which the new family would have had to do anyway. I know other breeders who have absorbed the cost of the spay and given the dog away completely.

But the people who are selling their unwanted dogs are the ones who, when someone suggests contacting the breeder to see if she’ll take the dog back, clam up or “lost her number.” They don’t want to give the dog back because they care more about making a few dollars than making sure that dog really goes to a great home. They don’t want to be out that purchase price.

Too bad! You don’t get to sell your dog! YOU made a choice to buy a dog, maybe even when you knew you shouldn’t have one. YOU failed to housebreak/train/occupy it. YOU don’t want it anymore. Man up and do the right thing. If you really can’t/won’t keep your dog, spend $200 and take them to that rescue you know will find them a great home (or contact their breeder if they came from a good one). Trust me, that is a heck of a lot less than you would have spent on your dog over the rest of their life, or the rest of the year for that matter.

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It’s Not Pretty…

… but at least I’m getting somewhere. I have it online right now just to bask in the glory of an accomplishment, but it will probably be coming down again this weekend as I try to do some major overhauling and master the mystery of Joomla templates!

www.BonaDeaAussies.com

And while you’re there, be sure to check out Rudy (available in Oklahoma) and try to convince someone in your life to give him a good home!

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Official BonaDea Site Coming….. soon….. ish???

I have been trying valiantly for the past 48 hours to put some semblance of a website together so BonaDea will be able to grace the world with its “Aussome”-ness. The issue is I know nothing, absolutely nothing, about how to create a website. I have lots of really cool ideas in my head, but getting those ideas onto my computer screen is so not working.

I’m hosting through DreamHost which offers this nifty one-click software install download for lots of web programs. One of these is Joomla. Joomla is apparently a CMS that allows you to design a site so easily, a piece of cheese could design a website that rivals the big corporations.   I, my friends, am dumber than a piece of cheese.

I’ve tried reading tutorials and ebooks, watching youtube videos, and good old fashioned “what happens when I push this button.” I have gotten absolutely zip accomplished in the past 6 hours. Around the time I pushed a dog off my lap out of frustration, I decided it was time to give it a rest.

A normal person would give up. Unfortunately for my mental health, once I set my mind to do something, I must do it… myself. I probably won’t even sleep well until it’s done. My goal is to have something, anything, presentable to put online next week. I’m going to interview the piece of cheese…..

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What’s in a name?

My journey into the world of showing and breeding Australian Shepherds has been a long(ish) and interesting one thus far.

First, there was picking a breed. That was easy. I love Australian Shepherds and always will. Then there was picking a breeder. That was hard. Luckily, just as I was about to give up I stumbled across the absolute best person I could have met at this phase in my travels (Hi Jess!). I wouldn’t be even this far without her guidance and answers… and her dogs!

I think one of the hardest, most frustrating parts though has been choosing a kennel name. It doesn’t sound big and hairy and scary, but it is. This name will follow me around for the next, how ever many years I stay in the sport of dogs. And let’s face it, all the good ones are taken!

I had a name I liked from very early on, but there were some drawbacks. It was unique but hard to pronounce, and memorable but in a “I’d know it if I heard it” kind of a way. I tried to come up with others. In the end, they were either taken too or just didn’t “feel” like my name.

So, I’m going with the one I’ve loved from the moment I saw it. The one that made me smile when I said it out loud for the first time. The one I will be proud to hand out on business cards (because that’s going to be the only way people will remember it to look me up!). Without further ado, welcome to the world of dog….

Bona Dea Australian Shepherds

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