# Our 2 dogs :)



## MidnightIris (Sep 14, 2013)

My boyfriend and I moved in together about a year ago, and he has two dogs. They very quickly found their way into my heart!

_Xena_ is 4- she is a black & tan kelpie. She's a very affectionate and clingy girl, and is also mostly obedient. She's a sweetheart and loves jumping up and putting her paws on your shoulders to give you a hug. That being said, she's our guard dog, and doesn't like strangers! Though, on walks, she's a good girl and happily struts amongst other people. Her ears also make us call her a bat lol. She's gorgeous. 


__
http://instagr.am/p/BNjmtJIBbVE/


_Patch_ is a cattle/staffy dog who was adopted by my boyfriend's mother. He is very much still a puppy even though he's almost 3. He loves being the center of attention and barks at you if he isn't to tell you where you need to be focusing. We're working on this lol. He plays rough but he's a beautiful sweet boy.


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## StarlingWings (Mar 15, 2013)

They are beautiful! Thank you for sharing your pups with us


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Dogs are such wonderful companions!
Thank you for taking the time to share your two very cute pups with us, Bee. :hug:*


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## MidnightIris (Sep 14, 2013)

Thank you so much! Yes they are our cuties! 

Thank you so much! And you're very welcome for sharing 



StarlingWings said:


> They are beautiful! Thank you for sharing your pups with us


They really are! I'm very much a dog person then bird person  your profile picture of your beloved dogs are beautiful. What breed were they?



FaeryBee said:


> *Dogs are such wonderful companions!
> Thank you for taking the time to share your two very cute pups with us, Bee. :hug:*


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## RavensGryf (May 8, 2015)

Your dogs really are beautiful animals. It looks like you and your bf _and_ the dogs are fortunate to have each other . We are so anxious to get dogs of our own again, but some things must transpire first, and a re-do of the backyard.


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## MidnightIris (Sep 14, 2013)

RavensGryf said:


> Your dogs really are beautiful animals. It looks like you and your bf _and_ the dogs are fortunate to have each other . We are so anxious to get dogs of our own again, but some things must transpire first, and a re-do of the backyard.


Thank you RavensGryf  we are, I'm grateful. I understand. Animals are members of the family too. One day I would love to get another dog, a puppy who I can watch grow up. I had a dog when I was growing up, and she was beautiful. What work would you do to the backyard? Do you have a breed in mind  ?


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## RavensGryf (May 8, 2015)

MidnightIris said:


> Thank you RavensGryf  we are, I'm grateful. I understand. Animals are members of the family too. One day I would love to get another dog, a puppy who I can watch grow up. I had a dog when I was growing up, and she was beautiful. What work would you do to the backyard? Do you have a breed in mind  ?


We need to re-do the backyard. We want grass. I want as little dirt in the backyard as possible so it doesn't get tracked inside. There is dirt because when my dad lived here the yard was a vegetable garden. I really hate gardening, so when we took the house it all died lol. I'd also put a patio set and either a canopy or umbrella out. After much researching of breeds and their characteristics, and our lifestyle and what we want in a dog, we find the Doberman Pinscher is what we want. Also a plus is they are a breed with low prey drive generally speaking (even though we'd never have the birds out where dogs could get them).


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## MidnightIris (Sep 14, 2013)

RavensGryf said:


> We need to re-do the backyard. We want grass. I want as little dirt in the backyard as possible so it doesn't get tracked inside. There is dirt because when my dad lived here the yard was a vegetable garden. I really hate gardening, so when we took the house it all died lol. I'd also put a patio set and either a canopy or umbrella out. After much researching of breeds and their characteristics, and our lifestyle and what we want in a dog, we find the Doberman Pinscher is what we want. Also a plus is they are a breed with low prey drive generally speaking (even though we'd never have the birds out where dogs could get them).


Little dirt would be good and it would also be harder for them to dig if they did that. Aw thats a shame that it all died, I would've tried to keep the garden alive but the outcome probably could've been the same lol. I don't know much about that breed. They look tough and athletic. Yeah, I don't let the dogs anywhere near the birdies.


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## Brienne (Apr 29, 2015)

Bee, both your dogs are gorgeous and happy...


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## Kate C (Oct 15, 2007)

Bee they are gorgeous especially Xena as I have her 6 months old twin at home.

My Swanie and her with my 14 1/2 year old Miss Piggy. Excuse the messy living room as I had not long been back from shopping and just put the non perishables inside the French door.


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## MidnightIris (Sep 14, 2013)

Oh my goodness Kate, you do have her twin!! how cute!! Xena's ears are too big for her, sometimes she looks like a bat lol. Both Swanie and miss Piggy are cuties  I'll have to show my boyfriend Swanie!



Kate C said:


> Bee they are gorgeous especially Xena as I have her 6 months old twin at home.
> 
> My Swanie and her with my 14 1/2 year old Miss Piggy. Excuse the messy living room as I had not long been back from shopping and just put the non perishables inside the French door.


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## MidnightIris (Sep 14, 2013)

Brienne said:


> Bee, both your dogs are gorgeous and happy...


Thank you so much


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## Kate C (Oct 15, 2007)

As you can see Swanie has big ears too. At the moment she is a teething big eared bat. She has a half a dozen chew toys but insists on bringing in sticks and stones and chewing on them. At least I don't have to go and cut kindling for the fire.


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## MidnightIris (Sep 14, 2013)

Aww so sweet lol. Had you thought about getting a new pup for a while before you got her?



Kate C said:


> As you can see Swanie has big ears too. At the moment she is a teething big eared bat. She has a half a dozen chew toys but insists on bringing in sticks and stones and chewing on them. At least I don't have to go and cut kindling for the fire.


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## Kate C (Oct 15, 2007)

Yes and no. Piggy's brother passed away just before Christmas at nearly 15 years old and that night I had gone to the pub and I had mentioned that he had passed. One of the ladies I know there told me her daughters working dog had had pups on the Sunday and would I like one. I knew that Piggy would be missing her brother as they had never been separated. I had thought that I may need to get another dog to spark Piggy up and give her a new lease on life. So I actually had 5 weeks to make my decision. I had the choice of all 6 puppies and picked Swanie out. As I had bred dogs for many years (I bred Piggy and her brother and 2 generations before that) I got her at 6 weeks and Piggy very much mothered her when she arrived. The old girl puts her in her place when she has had enough. At the moment they are wrestling on the lounge next to me. The old girl holds her own, she is like a big puppy again.


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## MidnightIris (Sep 14, 2013)

Oh wow, Kate. I'm sorry that you all lost Piggy's brother. It's so sweet that Piggy was taking care of her, how cute!!! I would love to see pics of Piggy and/or Swanie when you first got them (I know you said you bred Piggy)  It makes me happy to hear that Piggy is more lively and that she holds her own. 



Kate C said:


> Yes and no. Piggy's brother passed away just before Christmas at nearly 15 years old and that night I had gone to the pub and I had mentioned that he had passed. One of the ladies I know there told me her daughters working dog had had pups on the Sunday and would I like one. I knew that Piggy would be missing her brother as they had never been separated. I had thought that I may need to get another dog to spark Piggy up and give her a new lease on life. So I actually had 5 weeks to make my decision. I had the choice of all 6 puppies and picked Swanie out. As I had bred dogs for many years (I bred Piggy and her brother and 2 generations before that) I got her at 6 weeks and Piggy very much mothered her when she arrived. The old girl puts her in her place when she has had enough. At the moment they are wrestling on the lounge next to me. The old girl holds her own, she is like a big puppy again.


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## Kate C (Oct 15, 2007)

I will have to dig out the cd's with pictures of Piggy and Fat Boy when they were younger. Fat Boy was Piggy's brother. I got a new computer when I came down here and the pictures are still on there but I have them backed up to cd as well.


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## MidnightIris (Sep 14, 2013)

It's great that you have them backed up. I had everything backed up on an external HDD drive but it's become a dud now and I'm devastated. Had so many pictures of Budd on there and so many of family and such.


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## Kate C (Oct 15, 2007)

Yes I know that problem. I had one of my HDD fail and lost quite a few things including much of my family tree that I hadn't backed up to disc or flash drive and I am now having to rebuild all that I have lost. Just shows I really should back up to disc more often.


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## MidnightIris (Sep 14, 2013)

I have no idea how to back up to disc to be honest, but if it's fail safe then maybe I should... it's a shame that you lost your family tree, it's amazing that you had gathered together one too!


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## Kate C (Oct 15, 2007)

Luckily Bee I didn't lose all my family tree but a portion of it. I hadn't backed it up to a flash drive for a few months. Most of my family date back to 1842 in Australia and luckily one of my family members, who I didn't know at the time, had done a lot of work on our tree back into Ireland on my fathers side and sent it to me. But some states in Australia have Birth Death and Marriage records accessible free online. When I first started I only had the names of my four grandparents and the first name of my mother's mother was wrong but I managed to track them down. I found messages on a couple of genealogy sites and got into contact with them and they have given me information and I have passed what I have onto them. I am an only child and I found relatives I never knew I had, who, I am now in contact with. I have a very large tree and even found out I am related to Banjo Paterson who grew up and went to primary school in the town I now live in. The very school that is only a few paddocks over from my house.

To back up to a disc you need a cd burner in your computer but if not you can back up to flash drives. With pictures and documents it is only really a matter of copy and paste.


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## MidnightIris (Sep 14, 2013)

Wow Kate, it's so amazing that you know all of that about your family!! Honestly, my ancestry is _all_ over the place and I hardly know anyone unfortunately. My mother is Greek and father Sudanese. Majority of relatives of the families are mostly overseas. Speaking of genealogy I totally want to do that ancestry DNA test thing! would be pretty cool. I'm happy that you did not lose most of your family tree, because your search sounds pretty amazing. It's beautiful that you are in contact with the relatives you have now found. I googled Banjo Paterson, I don't think I've read any of his books but poetry might've been possible, in school and such- that is so cool! :blush:


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## Kate C (Oct 15, 2007)

There is a lovely statue of Banjo in our town square and a park just behind it as well with history about him. You probably know more about Banjo than you think, if you have ever heard or sang Waltzing Matilda, our unofficial anthem, well Banjo wrote the lyrics to that.

Our other famous bush poet and writer also features in our area. The town next to me Bowning was the home of Henry Lawson's aunt and he visited there regularly in the late 1800's and early 1900's and did quite a bit of writing there. There are even stories that Henry and Banjo drank together in the local Bowning Hotel often getting into arguments over a beer at the bar. Henry's aunts house is still standing and is beautifully restored and a café and nursery have been set up in the old stables. I even have a fig plant that has been propagated from one of the trees at the back of the house.


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## MidnightIris (Sep 14, 2013)

When I looked Banjo Paterson up, I found out that he wrote Waltzing Matilda!  I have to say it's amazing that there is a stature of your ancestor in your town. A little mind blowing to find out afterwards.

That is so cool! wow. I love that.


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