A Hepsta is Born

Hello Homies!

And welcome to my blog

Over the coming months I’m going to tell you a bit about my  adventures growing up in semi-rural Australia and share some cool facts about why us pups do the things we do…

My folks named me ‘Hepburn’ after Audrey and Katherine.

You remember them, right? ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s‘, ‘The African Queen‘? Glamorous stars of the silver screen famous for their style, beauty and character?

Yeah, thought not. My folks are kind of old and out of touch.

I have nothing in common with those talented ladies so I am going to focus on just being me.

What I do have is a pedigree.  I am a 100% pure Australian Koolie, with papers and all. Never heard of a Koolie before? Well, we are pretty awesome.

The jury is out on exactly how we came about but like all ‘pure-breeds’, we are a combination of other breeds. According to Wikipedia, some German Tiger dogs and Collies brought over to Australia in the 1800’s to herd sheep ‘got together’ on their tea breaks and we are the result. A huge step forward for dogkind, I reckon.

Now, I’ve no idea what a sheep is. I’m just a 15 week old puppy after all and live in a house on a street. But the instincts run deep and I will try to round up anything I meet, on two legs or four.

Except Miss Kali… I only tried it once with her.

The really cool thing about Koolies is that we were bred to work, not parade around show rings with crazy haircuts and win ribbons you can’t even eat. This means we vary a bit from state to state, depending on which stock we have been raised to herd. No one cares how tall we grow, how straight our noses are, or even how big our ears get (luckily for me)!

We come in a range of colours. Most of my brothers and sisters were solids but I am a black merle, the coolest colour obviously. Black, brown, slate, white, it’s all there on me somewhere. Oh, and one blue and one brown eye just for the fun of it.

Check out my pics. Apologies for the quality. Most are a bit blurry at the moment ‘coz I’m usually on the move. My friend Tess is helping me out. She’s really patient and knows how to aim a camera. And she’s got a pocket full of treats.

Mum says Koolies are one of the most genetically healthy breeds in the world. She’s a vet and knows lots of interesting stuff about dogs, which I’ll try to get right and share as we go along. She’s also a bit of a tyrant with the training and endless rules but that’s okay as long as the food keeps coming. Did I mention I really like eating stuff? And it doesn’t even have to be food.

Dad says I look like a badger. He’s English and hasn’t had a puppy since he was five, so I try to be understanding when he gets mad over the trivial stuff. He’s gradually working out that ‘no’ is the new ‘yes’ and coming to terms with his place in the pack.

Miss Kali doesn’t say anything at all. She’s kinda scary and is well into the crazy cat staring thing, especially at night. Don’t tell Miss Kali I  said so, but Mum reckons she’s too fat, so I’m currently helping her out by hoovering up the ‘left-overs’ on her mat, and in her bowls, and the cupboard… I reckon she’d be way skinnier if she just played with me once in a while but all my attempts at making friends have failed. For a fat lazy cat, she sure moves fast when she feels like it though. She’s got a lightning right hook!

Life’s great around here. We have loads of interesting wildlife like wallabies, bandicoots, possums and bats in the garden. Which of course means loads of interesting poo (more about that in later posts).

The beaches are long and empty and crammed full of all the snacks a growing pup could ever need. We have the cleanest water for miles around and all sorts of cool marine life. I haven’t seen the whales yet (they come in September) but the dolphins and seals hang around all year and play off shore. We also have an island! I’m not too sure about the surf yet but the sand is seriously good fun.

Plus I get to go to work each day with the folks. The animal hospital where they work is great. Stacks of scrumptious smells and always someone new on the block. I’ll give you a guided tour sometime!

I’ve been living with this family for 2 months now. Most of the time I’m kept busy getting the house and garden the way I like it. It’s a full-time gig but sometimes when the family’s distracted by the goggle box, I just chill with the monkey and make confetti.

No one calls me Hepburn anymore; it just doesn’t fit.

I get Hep, grubby pup and, sometimes, when I finally fall asleep and they think I can’t hear them, poppet.

But you homies, you can call me Hepsta!

Coming next: “Nobody Knows the Trouble I Nose” in which I take a close look at one of my favourite body parts