Alright, let me tell you about my little adventure trying to find one of these Lab Aussie mixes. It wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, let me tell ya.
It started pretty simply. My old dog, bless his heart, passed away a while back, and the house felt way too quiet. I wasn’t ready right away, took me a good year. Then, I started thinking about what kind of dog I wanted next. I’ve always loved Labs, just solid, friendly dogs. But I also met this Australian Shepherd down the street, super smart, tons of energy. So, the gears started turning – what about a mix? Seemed like a great combo, maybe a bit less hyper than a pure Aussie but smarter than your average Lab? Worth a shot, I figured.
Getting Started – The Hunt Begins
First thing I did, naturally, was hop online. Just typed in the basics, you know, “Labrador Australian Shepherd mix puppies,” “Aussiedor for sale,” stuff like that. Man, you get a lot of hits. Websites everywhere, pictures of cute puppies. Looked easy at first glance.
But then I started digging deeper. Lots of fancy websites, but some felt… off. Prices all over the place. Some wanted deposits before I even talked to a real person. That felt like a red flag right away. I learned pretty fast you gotta be careful. Too many scams out there, people just want your money.
Looking Locally and Talking Around
So, I decided to change tactics. Started looking closer to home. I checked out the websites for local animal shelters and rescue groups. Found a few possibles, but often they were older dogs or didn’t quite fit what I was looking for. Nothing wrong with rescues, mind you, adopted my last dog from one. Just didn’t find the right match this time around.
I also started asking around. Talked to my vet, asked friends who had dogs, even chatted with people at the dog park. Word-of-mouth, you know? Sometimes that’s the best way. Got a few leads, mostly “my cousin’s friend’s dog had puppies” type of thing. Followed up on a couple.
- One lead was way out in the sticks. Drove out there. Place was a bit rundown, didn’t get a great feeling about how the dogs were kept. Passed on that.
- Another lead was closer, nice lady, but the pups seemed kinda sickly, low energy. Didn’t feel right.
It was getting a bit frustrating. Seemed like finding a healthy, well-cared-for pup from a source I trusted was tougher than I thought.
Finding the Right Place (Finally!)
After a few weeks of this, hitting dead ends, I almost gave up on the specific mix. Thought maybe I should just go for a purebred Lab or Aussie. But then, I stumbled onto something – not really a big breeder, more like a family farm situation I heard about through a feed store bulletin board, believe it or not.
Called the number. Talked to the guy for a long time. Asked a ton of questions:
- About the parent dogs (he owned both the Lab mom and the Aussie dad).
- What health checks they’d had.
- How the puppies were raised (inside the house, handled often).
- Could I come visit?
He was open, answered everything, didn’t rush me. Invited me out to his place. That felt way better.
Visiting and Making the Choice
Went out there the next weekend. It wasn’t fancy, just a regular farm. But the dogs looked great. Saw the mom and dad, both friendly, healthy-looking dogs. The puppies were in a clean pen, tumbling around, full of beans. He let me sit with them for ages. There was this one little guy, mostly black with a white patch on his chest, kept trying to untie my shoelaces. Just clicked, you know?
He showed me the vet records for the pups’ first check-up and shots. Everything looked legit. We talked price, it was fair, not cheap, but reasonable for a well-cared-for puppy.
Bringing the Pup Home
So, I put down a deposit and came back the following week to pick him up. Named him Max. The first few weeks were chaos, of course – house training, chewing, the usual puppy stuff. But totally worth it.
Looking back, the whole process took patience. Lots of it. You really gotta do your homework, trust your gut feeling about the sellers, and be prepared to walk away if something doesn’t seem right. Don’t just jump at the first cute picture online. Seeing the parents, the living conditions, and talking face-to-face (or at least video call these days) makes a huge difference. It took effort, but finding the right dog from a good place was the goal, and I got there eventually.
