The Lou Experiment

So one of our summer adventures last year was getting a puppy.  Ryan has always wanted a puppy.  His family always had dogs and puppies when he was growing up so we finally decided to give it a try.  Since this was something Ryan really wanted, he did most of the research to decide what to get.  We had definitely eliminated anything huge like a St. Bernard or Great Dane.  We also did not want something like a Chihuahua.  After a few weeks Ryan decided that an Australian Shepherd would be fun.  We found a lady outside of Cozad who had some puppies and went to see what we could find.

Lou around 5 weeks old

We were able to pick up Lou when he was about 6 weeks old.  He was a Blue Merle and had such beautiful coloring. He was definitely a cute little thing and he started out pretty calm and we didn't have a whole lot of trouble potty training him.  He was easier to potty train than Nolan.  The kids, especially Shelby, were a little hesitant around him at first, but after a few days they were perfectly used to him and had a lot of fun with him.  For the first few months he was a great little pet.  Unfortunately a few things happened that made having an Australian Shepherd a bit of a problem.

Lou about 3 months old

The first big problem was Bobbie.  We took Lou over to stay with Pat and Bobbie while we went to the temple because we knew we would be gone all day.  At our house, Lou was not allowed to sleep on the bed and get up on the furniture or eat a lot of human food.  While under Bobbie's care, he was allowed to do all of those things.  Needless to say, the first night after we brought him back home, he was not very happy.  He whined and whined until we kicked him out to the garage to sleep.

The other problem was the amount of energy that Lou had.  He soon got big enough that he was face to face with Shelby, which she did not like at all.  He also weighted more than either kid so when he got excited and started jumping up on the kids, he would knock them down.  The kids really didn't like that either.  Lou then became an outdoor dog instead of an indoor dog.  When he was outside, he didn't jump on the kids near as much.  That actually went well until he figured out how to jump over the fence.  The first time we caught him jumping was when we came home from church to find him on the front porch.  For a while, he would only jump if we weren't home so we would just out him in the garage when we went anywhere.  Then he started jumping whenever Ryan came home so we would have to put him in the garage when Ryan was on his way home and then let Lou out after Ryan got in the house.  Then he just started to jump the fence all the time.  This was a real big problem because we couldn't keep Lou in the house, in the garage all day, or out in the yard unsupervised.

Lou chilling on the back patio

Finally after several months, we had to make the hard decision to let Lou go.  While he was a perfectly pleasant and beautiful dog, we just couldn't make an Australian Shepherd work.  He had way too much energy.  We were able to give him to a couple with a large yard and a lot of time to spend with him.

Lou enjoying a snack with Shelby

We really miss Lou but know that we definitely made the right decision for him.  Maybe when the kids are older we might try an Australian Shepherd again.  The next dog we get will need to be a calmer breed.

Taking a rest after playing with Ryan and the kids