Still Living My Dream

by Karin and Lajla
(Gothenburg, Sweden)

Hi everybody! I wrote about my girl Lajla a couple of years ago on the post Living My Dream. This is an update.

Well, she is now 8 1/2 years old and still going strong. She is sometimes a bit more tired in the morning but otherwise she is al the same.

We don't do agility and frisbee anymore even if she would like to, because I want to keep her healthy and I am afraid that she will get stiff.

We still run together though—about 10-20 km a week, and she loves to hike and explore new places. Sometimes I meet other dog owners who have an "old dog" in the same age that really looks and feels old. Then I think I'm lucky to have an Aussie.

My kids have moved out (almost) so she spends a bit more time at home alone but sometimes I take her to my office where she follows me like a shadow.

I don't trust her with food and she doesn't like new situations and things she's not use to.

So even as we socialised her a lot, it always takes time with anything that is new for her. That's probably typical for the breed.

For example, we didn't have a car the first years of her life, so it took time for her to get use to going by car when we got one three years ago. Now she's ok with it, but she still prefers buses and trains.

One and a half years ago we bought a small summerhouse where she can spend time outside. She really loves it, but she doesn't like to go for a run/walk with me when we are there without the rest of the family coming with us. She doesn't think it's safe "leaving the puppies alone". lol So my husband drives me to another spot and we run home, otherwise she just lays down and refuses to go with me. I wonder how many years it will take for her before that place is as safe for her as our apartment.

She still looks after my kids even as they are grown up (20, 22, 24 years old). Especially my son who is not allowed to lift anything heavy - she gets really upset when he does that. And he does a lot of course. She thinks he's really fragile, even if he's strong and healthy. She takes things pretty seriously.

A while ago we thought about getting a younger Aussie or puppy to to take over being my running companion when she gets older. But I just get the feeling she would never be able to totally relax with a younger dog. We had an old Nova Scotia living here for a short time and they got along well, but she got pretty tired always keeping an eye on him. I think she felt very responsible. He was not allowed to greet other dogs and so on, I think she thought he was very fragile.

So probably a young dog or puppy would make her too nervous, it could be too much for her I think. So we have decided she will be our only dog the rest of her life.

Anyway, posting some of my millions of pictures of her. When she was a puppy she was the sweetest girl in town, when she was 3 she was the love of my life, and now when she is as old as me (even older) she is a part of me. ❤️

Love this community and to read all these Aussie stories! I hope it will continue and not all be taken over by FB or Instagram—its not the same.

I want whole stories.

Please write everything about your Aussie—the longer the better—I promise I will read it all!

Greetings from Karin, Lajla and the "herd" from Sweden.

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