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Adopting A 6 Year Old Aussie To Accompany Our 13 Month Old

by Rob
(Melbourne, Australia)

Zola

Hi folks, We have an opportunity to take in a 6yo spayed male Aussie named Gunner, who happens to the be the Uncle of our 13 month old pup Zola.

Zola is a great dog, with that infectious puppy energy and is eager to please. She's mostly well behaved and doesn't get up to too much mischief due to a routine of morning walks and evening games with a backyard to roam around in during the day. The other dimension to this picture is that it is both my partner's and my first Aussie and it's my first ever dog, so it's been quite a steep learning curve for me. Owning an Aussie is a rewarding and life tilting journey... and I've made major adjustments... one seems like a handful... now I'm looking at the potential of two of them.

Sooooo, here's an open question, what can I expect? Can I expect Zola to play up since she's sharing the pack? How long will it take Gunner to settle in?

Gunner is a nice natured boy that's had a bad run of luck moving through a couple of homes for various reason (including the death of one owner). He's now back at the breeder's place (a working farm) crated for part of the day but otherwise hanging with the pack of dogs the breeder already owns. He loves to fetch and the hour we spent saw me getting a sense of his nature and he got along well with Zola. The breeder would like Gunner to have a home... My partner is super keen... I'm looking for some encouragement and my engineering side is looking for some data! lol

Looking forward to your comments. Thanks in advance.

Comments for Adopting A 6 Year Old Aussie To Accompany Our 13 Month Old

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6 year old and 13 month old
by: Anonymous

Hello - I say go for it! Aussies love being part of a pack. I have a 2 year old and a 13 year old living happily together right now. Cousins. When the puppy first came I also had a third older Aussie who is now deceased but all three of them got along famously from the start. I think it all depends on how well socialized each dog is from the start. Enjoy!

I say yes
by: Anonymous

I have two Aussies, 11 year old female and a male almost three. We got him when he was 8 weeks old. Your prospective male is past the difficult puppy stage, so I say go for it. They will be company for each other, and your pup will learn from him.

What we've learned about our 1yr old Aussie
by: Candace

We have a 15 month old neutered male Aussie We got him as a puppy and it's been quite a learning experience.

We learned, that he is super smart! loves to retrieve, he's very protective of his family and property. He gets along well with our 7yr old German Shepherd. It was rough in the beginning, the Aussie wanted to be the alpha male. He also got in a nasty fight with our GS, and our neighbor's Aussie, who is a brother to our dog. The neighbor's Aussie jumped over their fence into our yard, and he and our Frodo went at it, despite their familial connection. We enrolled him in obedience training after the two fights and he's been great ever since. Just know that they are very energetic and problem solvers! Fences cannot contain these dogs. We call ours a Ninja! hope this gives you some helpful insights.

Go for it!
by: Tabjab

Hi there-my husband and i adopted a 5 yr old Aussie (whom had been re-homes 3 times then sent back to breeder) for our then 5 1/2 yr old Aussie. Long story short we have "no" regrets!
My aussien(Kodak) was our first Aussie and he was quite the active boy... A friend told us about "Rosco", we didn't want to know his past (as far as why he was passed along) we treated him like a puppy as far as establishing potty routine, exercise etc... By wk one he was part of the pack! It didn't take long for him to win our hearts and he's a perect buddy for our Kodak. I might add after their meet & greet away from home, once home I took them both for a long walk before bring Rosco in the house. I also bought new toys for both of them, and played in the yard a few minutes to establish Rosco's toy of choice (ball, ball & ball!!!) before heading in....
All & all he has been part of our family for 4 yrs and we can't be happier!! One thing we've learnt from this experience is that we are hooked on "Aussies"!!! Hope this helps. Wishing you & your partner years of "Aussie" happiness!

Thanks
by: Rob

Thanks for the positive comments.

Gunner will be coming home next week... the journey ahead will be taken positively if not with a little trepidation!

So far so good
by: Rob

Well, it's been a few days now. There's been a little bit of snipping and whining from our pup Zola as she becomes accustomed to another dog in her space and taking some attention away from her - but overall they seem to be getting on.

Sometimes we overlay human emotions on our animals, but Gunner genuinely seems grateful to be part of a new pack and a home. If things don't derail disastrously for some unexpected reason, then I think we just became a two dog household.

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