Bonnie
I mentioned Bonnie last week without explaining that she is Thomas’ almost 2 year old doggie. (Although that was probably obvious when I talked about her shredding my shoes.) We’ve been having a rough time this week because she is so shaggy and the heat index has been in the 100′s. We know that she is part Blue Heeler (a.k.a. Australian Cattle Dog) but I had been a little confused about the difference between Australian Cattle Dogs and Australian Shepherds. I figured they both have “Australian” in the name, so they must be the same. Wrong. Australian Shepherds are actually not Australian, and the two look completely different! Below are links to the AKC pages for each, and a picture of Bonnie (who is part Blue Heeler, possibly part Australian Shepherd).
Blue Heeler/Australian Cattle Dog
It’s fun to look at pictures of all the Blue Heeler mixes on Google Images because they all look like the shape of the other part of the mix, with the coloring of a blue heeler. I’m still a little fuzzy (no pun intended) on whether Bonnie might be part Australian Shepherd because she has a long coat, but I think she may just be part Border Collie.
If anyone is an expert on Blue Heeler mixes, let me know what you think!
Whatever her pedigree is, it has been hard work keeping her occupied this week. After she chomped her way through my Delta Gamma flip flops (which I have been tempted to wear anyway) and a pair of Laura M.’s ballet flats I decided I needed to keep her busier. So, off we went to Movies in the Park on Wednesday. They were playing the 1989 Batman, and it was really crowded. Katy and Christine were there early to save a spot, but it was right in the middle of the crowd. We managed to work our way in, after much curtailing of friendly overtures in the form of slobbering. People kept asking what breed she was and saying how pretty she was. After we took a short run to burn off some energy this little boy who had asked to pet her (then been too afraid to) came over and rubbed her belly for a long time. The whole while she just lay next to my feet with people, dogs and food all over the place! When we got to our spot (after getting attacked by a really mean big dog) she lay down right in the middle of everyone and stayed there.
We’ve also been to the Centennial Dog Park, the Williamson County Dog Park in Franklin (also called Maggie’s Bark Park) and for several walks around the area South of the zoo. We met a doggie named Chloe at the park in Franklin who showed Bonnie how wonderful baby pools are for hot sweaty dogs, but she still doesn’t seem to care for the one in her dog run.
It’s going to be another long week for her while I’m at work, but at least Laura M. is here and Thomas will be back on Thursday night for a visit!
