I am not currently producing dogs. I'm a great resource to come to if you're looking for one, though. Please feel free to reach out.

My stud dog's brother is getting used and has a litter on the ground. Contact Hardin's Aussies for more information on this and other planned breedings.

FINDING THE PERFECT PUPPY

This was written after someone fairly prominent in the breed told me she was surprised at what people we selling and sharing with here, so I gave her this write up as a way to select the right dog for her needs. May you find it as useful.

Considering lines of dogs:

• Identify potential lines of dogs you’re interested in. What is the training/temperament of the breeder that founded the line? That will show you a lot about whether that dog will fit your temperament because their ideal dog temperament will fit with yours
  • Are they methodical? Friendly? Powerful? Controlled?
  • EG: I have a strong, loud, floppy personality. I do well with hard headed dogs that can handle that, so I err on hard headed dogs vs soft.
• How many of those dogs have actually been used in applicable ways? Like, I like to see using dogs in multiple generations of my pedigrees. It’s not the titles, it’s . . . tell me stories about this dog on the ranch or in life and not just in competition. If a dog isn’t working for an owner, they won’t breed it. If the dog is working, it means there’s key team work and drive components there.
• How does the breeder select mates? 
  • Is it . .. this dog is cool and my dog is cool?
  • Is it . . . I happen to have some semen available, let’s try it?
  • Is it . .. this dog is close and convenient?
  • Is it . . . I need to avoid this line because I have bias against it?
  • OR is it . . . well, this dog’s lines have these things in them and so I’m looking to preserve this and improve this in this generation and then in the next generation etc etc (this is what you want, obviously - very rare)
• I have found breeders that adhere to “it’s a crap shoot” or won’t guarantee their dogs are probably not breeding with long term goals in mind.
• If a breeder talks about past dogs a lot and not so much current dogs, be wary.
• Ask the breeder for memories of the dogs in question that make them exceptional. One of the things about Fury for me is that I never proofed her and she always performed. She didn’t care about anything but me - what a cool thing in a dog. She found my keys in a field once. Rippa brought a couple head of cattle to my husband when they were backpacking in a forest. Danger figures out jobs without me training to do them - and he gets disappointed if he’s not right - will try but you can see him learning as he fixes it because he’s disappointed in himself. It’s stuff like that. If your dog is just a pet dog and people just let them lay around and be dumb and don’t have stories like that, it’s an unknown - and for me, that’s a no.
• Ask the breeder what their ideal dog is - if it’s vague and not passionate, pass. If they act like they’re too good for you, pass. 
• Ask the breeder what health problems and what not the mix might create. If nothing, move on. They should know. They should state genetic stuff, temperament, and build stuff.
• Ask what kind of home the breeder wants. They were intentional with the breeding, they should be intentional with the placement.

Meeting dogs:

• If you like a specific dog, they very much don’t always produce themselves - don’t get a puppy from them unless that quality is at least another generation back. Many breed greats were terrible about this. Look for consistency instead, or high COI on the dogs whose quality you liked. Even then . . . there’s not so many that produce themselves and people have tried.
• Think about dogs that have consistently stood out to you for style, achievement, etc
• Identify what qualities you are looking for that are deal breakers (aka, they might be really biddable but have allergies you gotta manage) because there are no perfect dogs
• Look back at the pedigrees and think about if the dogs in the pedigree exhibited the thing you might like to see in the dog consistently
• Make a point to meet said dog if so.
• Watch the dog play - play style shows me a ton about what their instincts are, how they interact with people and dogs. 
• How does the dog greet you? Is it how you want?
• Look for reasons to say no. We like to look for reasons to say yes. Weigh the nos against dealbreakers above.

Litters:

• I have seen GREAT variety across litters. Fury’s litter had two high octane dogs like her, two middle of the road (Rippa and her sister) and two just absolutely lazy. Lazy went to pets. Middle went to casual owners. High octane went to high octane people. I have seen a lot of breeders not know this and say that you can’t see anything in little puppies. Bullshit. (But same with kids . . . now that I’m a mom, I can confidently say that my kids haven’t changed since they were born). Those breeders aren’t paying attention - and again, crap shoot.
• You are a high value home because you’ll do everything and add value to the line. That breeder should be willing to let you observe the pups through videos and in person and you should use your deal breaker list against what you see. Or you should trust them enough that they know how to select for you (which means they’ve been doing this a while).