Raussie

Nobody warns you about the Raussie stare. You'll be minding your own business and suddenly realize two intensely focused eyes — one might even be blue — are locked onto you like you're the most fascinating puzzle on earth. Half herding instinct, half guardian devotion, all wrapped in a muscular, merle-or-mahogany package that can't decide whether to herd you into the kitchen or lean against your legs until you can't move. Raussies don't do anything halfway. They play like Aussies — flat out, ears pinned, grinning — and then love like Rotties, pressing their whole warm body against yours on the couch like they're trying to merge into one being. They'll outsmart you before breakfast, rearrange your schedule around their exercise needs, and then fall asleep in your lap like they weigh twenty pounds instead of seventy. The Raussie doesn't just join your family. They reorganize it.