Walking our Pug Daisy and our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo is often an adventure and so was today’s promenade. Daisy, who is fifteen years old and has arthritis walks very slowly and cannot walk far. Therefore, I let her sit in a pet stroller on our walks. However, I let her walk a little bit, go to the bathroom, well the grass, and sniff around a bit. She also has incontinence problems and wears a dog diaper inside the house. I take it off for our walks.
Rollo our mini–Australian Shepherd, on the other hand, is very energetic and fast, and unfortunately very misbehaved. He is the worst behaved dog that we’ve ever had, and he growls and barks aggressively at every dog we meet. Yes, I know that is our fault and we need to fix this problem, but it requires some time and discipline. He also does not seem to understand that he is too small to take on large dogs like Bernese Mountain Dogs. Perhaps, he acquired that belief because our Leonberger Bronco was so patient with him.
So, what happened today?
During our walk I stopped to let Rollo go to the bathroom and I also let Daisy down, who also went. Right at that moment a woman with her two Bernese dogs approached us and Rollo went crazy. He barked loudly and the Bernese dogs barked loudly back. As Rollo ran towards them Rollo’s leash got stuck around the stroller wheel and he tipped the stroller over. As I tried to fix it, I made it worse, and the stroller tipped upside down. Luckily, when the woman saw this, she turned and went a different way.
Our neighbor Dave, who is a nice guy, had watched the commotion from his window and came out to help. As he ran towards me, he shouted, “Thomas are you OK?”, “are you OK?”. I thanked him and I was able to turn the stroller over and I put Daisy back in the stroller. As I did this Daisy peed all over me, but other than being wet and in need of a shower, I was back in business. I was annoyed with Rollo, but I did not say anything. I wonder what will happen on tomorrow’s walk.
Finally, a few words about Daisy’s pet diaper. It is a diaper with a hole for the tail. I think it is a great idea. Dogs eventually get old, and they may have bathroom problems. You cannot get angry with the dog when they pee on the floor or the carpet, they already feel bad about it. A diaper will solve the problem and make them feel better about it. They will quickly understand how it works. However, one problem with the diapers is that they easily slip off and to solve that we got suspenders with Velcro holding the diaper. You can buy this stuff from online pet stores, Amazon and many other places.
Leonberger Life 
The suspenders are a brilliant idea!
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Yes I agree. I guess enough people have complained that dog diapers tend to slip off as they walk around the house so someone had the brilliant idea.
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I love this!!! But you know I always love hearing stories about your dogs. And I’ve never seen suspenders used before. Wow. I didn’t even know they were available. Brilliant idea!! As for Rollo, I love the videos of dog trainer Will Atherton. I just saw one last week about working dogs (sheepherders) like the Australian Shepherd and how energetic they are and often hard to train, especially when it comes to walking. Here’s a good one. Have you seen this video?
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Thank you chihuahuagirl3. I watched the video and we have realized some of these things but after we had already gotten Rollo. It was an interesting video. Thank you for posting it. The breeder we bought him from were selling mini-Australian Shepherds to city folks without explaining about the breed. Later we found out it was a puppy mill. Luckily we have a fairly large ranch house and a yard for him to chase rabbits and squirrels, and we play ball with him a lot. He loves to play ball. That way he has an outlet for his energy. I remember when he was a puppy. When I was in the backyard, for example, picking up poop, he used to run behind me, nip at my heels, and kind of herding me like a sheep. It was fun and I let him do it. Together we did the yard work. I did the work and he steered me around. Eventually he stopped doing that.
We love him a lot and I think he is happy here but we realize now that this is not the right breed for a regular home. He is a farm dog. The situation also prevents us from getting another Leonberger because we are worried about how he would react to a new puppy. First we need to take care of Rollo before we think about other dogs.
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I love your herding story!! How funny!!! It was a very informative video for me too. So many of my friends have this breed. I knew it was a herding dog. But I never realized herding dogs have a LOT of energy, tend to bark like crazy and lunge at other dogs when walking on a leash, and are not suited to city life. I never thought all of this is due to their herding instinct which never goes away. I’m glad you found it informative too. Here are 2 more from this trainer. One on 3 important training tips and how to train your Australian shepherd not to lunge on a leash. These are really interesting, aren’t they?!
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Yes you are right. Before getting Rollo we did not realize he was going to be more difficult than the other dogs that we’ve had. The difference between a large Leonberger who is energetic but still has a much calmer and confident personality and an on the edge reactive mini-Australian Shepherd is big. The Australian Shepherd is a lot more difficult to train and control. I think these videos are great. Thank you for posting them here.
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You’re very welcome, dear friend!! I hope they help your walks to be less stressful and “eventful.” Lol
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Yes thank you very much chihuahuagirl3
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What a morning you had! I’m glad the other lady steered her dogs elsewhere and your neighbor ran out to help. I had a yellow lab named Bart that barked at every motorcycle he saw, and he even chased a few. He was a large dog, over 100 lbs., and at that time, I was about 20 years old and he weighed more than I did. He would run after the motorcycles, and he’d drag me at the same time behind him because I couldn’t hold him back. What a sight that must have been in the neighborhood, my dog running, me being dragged behind him on my belly. LOL Road burn and grass stains were a part of my life.
I’ve got so many stories about that dog. LOL We adopted him as an adult and he had some bad habits.
Anyway, I love your dogs, and I think it’s really sweet that Daisy has the life she deserves. 🙂
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LOL I can imagine that scenario. I can laugh but I know it isn’t fun. It happened to my wife and daughter with Bronco, and it almost happened to me. Strong big muscular dogs require a big handler because no matter how well behaved they are things will sometimes happen. I love dog stories. I certainly would like to see some of them. Also thank you Kymber for your kind words.
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Sounds like a wild day. Poor Daisy. Give her some extra love.
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Thank you. It was a wild walk. Today’s walk was calmer. Just one squirrel showing off his big bushy tail in front of us. He was a real show-off, which angered Rollo. But nothing else. I will give Daisy some extra love.
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🙂 🙂 🙂 She is adorable. 🙂
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Thank you so much Jeannie
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You’re welcome. 🙂
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I couldn’t stop laughing, Thomas. That’s life with a dog, what we-all sign on for. The doggy diaper–about the time that would become an issue, my large dogs (not ‘large’ like Bronco though!) usually move on down the Rainbow Bridge. Sigh.
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Thank you, Jacqui. The same here. Our other dogs, including Bronco, did not have this problem before it was time. However, Daisy seems to be going through a long lasting old age phase, slowing down, arthritis, getting tired easily, sleeping a lot, and incontinence problems, and this has been going on for almost two years, but she is otherwise healthy and happy. She wants to cuddle a lot.
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HI Thomas, you really are one of the kindest people I’ve ever known. The pet diaper is a great idea and your strap very innovative.
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Thank you so much Roberta. Yes the diaper is working very well. She goes anytime in the house and we just change it.
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🤗💖
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Oh, what a day..! I’m glad things didn’t get worse and people were helpful. Everyone went home with everything intact except for a little ding to the dignity.
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Yes you are right.. I am glad Dave is such a helpful person. I didn’t need his help (today) but it is great to know that we have neighbors who are willing to help.
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What an adventure! Good thing nobody was hurt. Your Rollo sounds similar to our Zoey – highly energetic and reactive. She has gotten much better with age though (almost 4 years old now) and responds well to the “leave it” command, but not always. Hopefully Rollo will mellow over time as well. Dog diapers are a wonderful invention! Thanks for the tip about using suspenders. You are a wonderful dog dad, Thomas! 🙂
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It is great that Zoey has gotten much better. Rollo responds to various commands very well but not when he is excited. He learns commands easily and he obeys them but not when he sees another dog. Then he is often very disobedient. But we are going work a bit harder on that. Lots of treats I guess. Thank you so much Debbie for your kind words.
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