Big Blue Hero

Hero is almost a year old now (he was born on December 10), and weighs about sixty-five pounds. For an Aussie, he's a pretty big boy. But when we first drove up to the farm where he was bred and met him, he was about three weeks old, and seemed to be the size and shape of a guinea pig. Here he is as a tiny puppy (pictures courtesy of Rocky Top Farm.)

I don't know why I picked him, exactly. Clearly he was too young for me to choose him on the basis of his personality. I liked his coloration (I rather superficially was looking for a blue merle with lots of white) and I liked the way his head and ears looked. I wasn't looking for a conformation showdog (I don't yet have the knowledge to pick out a show-quality Aussie from a lineup of full-grown dogs, let alone three-week-old puppies!), but I know the kind of Aussie head I like, so I did have a certain sort of look I was going for.

Hero had grown massively by the time we saw him again. He had mostly brown eyes, except for one streak of blue, and he looked like a ball of fluff (or possibly dryer lint). He was adorable. Here he is at three months, not too long after we brought him home:

He grew really, really fast, and quickly moved out of the dryer lint stage. By six months his adult coat had come in, though it was nowhere near as thick as it would become, and he looked almost like a full-grown dog. His earset changed to rose ears, folded to the side (which look fine most of the time, but flop rather goofily when he runs) and most of the pink on his nose filled in. He has a few "dilute spots" (areas where the fur is a murky brownish color, rather than black or gray), but his coat is nevertheless very handsome, and people remark on it all the time (merle coloration seems to be a novelty to most people).
Here he is now, all grown up. He's grown into a beautiful, sweet boy with a heart of gold and a brain of stone:-). Seriously, he's really quite smart and trainable, but he nonetheless has a goofily exuberant way about him that makes people think he's none too bright. I think he'll steady out as he gets older.