My son and I went to the SPCA looking for a new dog today. We had discussed this a few weeks ago and I decided I wanted some sort of German Shepherd breed. I like their loyalty and incredible smarts. When we got there we looked at 6 puppies. The first was a Siberian Husky who wanted to do nothing but bite my son. We then looked at a few German Shepherd/ Lab mixes that were all sweet puppies but too timid. My son decided to get out this Australian Shepherd. The puppy instantly felt right at home with us. We were sitting on this odd plastic looking Dr. Zues couch and Rusty, as we now call him, hopped right up and sat in my lap. He was calm and friendly and didn’t try to bite or claw me.  He was an instant hit. I looked on-line at the Australian Shepherd’s traits and was really impressed with how smart these dogs are.  Rusty does not disappoint, I am teaching him to sit and he already seems to have it down. I would imagine potty training him will be a cake walk and last night he spent the night in a crate with no problems. No whining or movement to speak of.