CasselCreek  Australian  Shepherds

Nicket's Shift On The Fly
"Pete"

Our boy,

This gentle soul joined the family Thanksgiving weekend, 1996.  He is our first Aussie and soon had us "hooked" on the breed. Pete is a loving, loyal, and laid-back boy.  From the day we brought him home, he's never really been left alone and spent his first three years going to "Grandma's" house every day while we were at work. EVERYBODY loves Pete, and Pete loves everybody … Almost.  He does possess that Aussie trait of being just slightly reserved and cautious about meeting certain strangers for the first time.

He's a very smart boy and learned early on how to communicate effectively, and let us know exactly what he wanted. My husband hung a jingle bell on a ribbon at the back door. During Pete's first few weeks of puppy house-training, each time we would take him outside we took his paw and batted the bell.  By Day 3, he was ringing the bell himself to tell us he wanted out. After a few months, we couldn't even sneak out of the house without him … He would go to the back door and ring and ring the bell until we let him out. (The bell is now put away)!

As with most dogs, he loves to go for a ride … In anything! Car, truck, or wheelbarrow, he's not fussy. He's happy to sit on the seat and never leave the farm.  He loves to go with Glenn and a team on the hay rack.  We often joke that when we win the lotto, we'll buy Pete a truck of his own so he can spend his days lazily watching the world go by from the front seat.

We knew even before we brought Pete home that his eyes were affected by coloboma. We chose him as a special "pet" and had him neutered, never wanting to risk passing this serious defect along.  This reinforced for us again the importance of screening tests in all breeding animals.