Australian Shepherd
The Australian Shepherd is a working dog that was developed in the United States in the 19th century. The dog, commonly known as an Aussie, is popular in its native California and is growing in popularity in countries across the world. Contrary to its name, the breed did not originate in Australia.
Like many working breeds, the Australian Shepherd has considerable energy and drive and usually needs a job to do. It often excels at dog sports such as frisbee and dog agility.
Australian Shepherd Appearance
The four most common colourings of Australian Shepherds are blue merle, red merle, black tri(-colour), black bi(-colour), red bi(-colour) and red tri(-colour). Australian Shepherds can come in many other colourings as well, such as solid red, or solid black (called self black or self red); all can occur with or without white markings, tan (called "copper") points, or both. Dogs with tan and white along with the primary colour are called tri-colour. Dogs with white or copper only along with the primary colour are called bi-colour. It is a common myth that too much white on any Australian Shepherd is frequently accompanied by deafness and/or blindness. This is not nescessarily true, as the amount of white has very little to do with being either deaf or blind. It is entirely based on genetics. Deafness and/or blindness often occur when two merles are bred together (a double merle breeding, producing an Australian Shepherd called a 'lethal white'). The amount of pigment around eyes and ears is not necessarily an indicator.
There is also great variety in the Australian Shepherd's eye colour. An early nickname for the breed was "ghost-eye dog". Australian Shepherd eyes may be green, hazel, amber, brown, or blue; they may have two different coloured eyes, or even have bicolour or "split eyes" (for example, a half-brown, half-blue eye), which appear to be linked to the merle coloration. Merled eyes occur as well, where one colour is mixed in and swirled with another. Any combination of eye colour is acceptable in the breed standard, so long as the eyes are healthy. In general, however, black Australian Shepherds (self, bi-colour or tri-colour) tend to have brown eyes, while red (self, bi-colour or tri-colour) Australian Shepherds tend to have amber eyes.
The breed's general appearance also varies greatly depending on the particular line's emphasis. As with many working breeds that are also shown in the ring, there are differences of opinion among breeders over what makes an ideal Australian Shepherd.
Reflecting the great variation that still exists in the breed, an Australian Shepherd can stand between 18 and 23 inches (46 to 58 cm) at the withers and weigh between 35 and 70 pounds (16 to 32 kg). For show dogs, females should fall in the lower heights and males in the higher ranges.
A hallmark of the breed is a short bobbed or docked tail in countries where docking is permitted. Some Australian Shepherds are born with naturally short bobbed tails, others with full long tails, and others with natural partial bobs, where the tail is mid length and appears stubby. Most breeders dock the tails when the puppies are born.
Australian Shepherd Temperament
The Australian Shepherd is unique with regard to its temperament. There are two distinct types of personality to look for depending on the lines, as well as many shades within these two types.
Generally the breed is an energetic dog that requires exercise and enjoys working, whether it is learning and practicing tricks, competing in dog agility, or any other physically and mentally involving activity. Many need to run, full out, regularly. It is usually a sweet and affectionate dog who is faithful to its owners and may be good with children, although its overwhelming instinct to work may subvert its ability to function as a family dog.
Dogs with strong working instinct may show more reserved, guarding behaviours along with a tendency to chase or nip at running children or strangers if not properly trained. Its protective instinct and behaviours can be frightening to children, strangers, and small animals. Those bred for a more family-oriented temperament are more friendly and affectionate with strangers and generally more reliable around children. Because the breed was developed to serve on the ranch, a job which includes being protective of its property, it sometimes can be annoying with its inclination to bark warnings about neighbourhood activity, but it is not generally an obsessively barking dog.
Australian Shepherds may often greet you with a smile, snorting, and 'butt wagging' (earning them the name "wiggle-butt"s). The Australian Shepherd has its own unique smile by showing all the teeth, and often by snorting in a fashion that resembles sneezing. Since most Australian Shepherds don't have tails, they wag their butts instead. The Australian Shepherd is intelligent, learns quickly, and loves to play. This means that a bored, neglected, unexercised Australian Shepherd will invent its own games, activities, and jobs, which to a busy owner might appear to be hyperactivity in the house around fragile furnishings or involve the destruction of yard and property. Without something to amuse them, Australian Shepherds often turn destructive. Australian Shepherds also do best with plenty of human companionship: they are often called "velcro" for their strong desire to always be near their owners and for their tendency to form intense, devoted bonds with select people.
The Australian Shepherd has a reputation as a highly intelligent and versatile stock dog with a range of working styles. While improperly trained or frustrated Australian Shepherds may exhibit excessive running and barking, a good working Australian Shepherd is quick, thoughtful, and easy with its stock. The ability for the breed to adapt to the situation and think for itself makes it an excellent all-around worker. For this reason the Australian Shepherd is often chosen to work unusual livestock such as ducks (e.g., Indian Runners), geese and commercially raised rabbits.
Australian Shepherd History
The Australian Shepherd's history is vague, as is the origin of its misleading name. Although many claim that the majority of the breed's antecedents most originated in the Basque region near the Pyrenees Mountains between Spain and France, facts supporting this theory are not there. A few dogs from the German Coolie breed may have come with sheep from Australia. The colour and conformation of these dogs was similar, while the Basque shepherd dogs had more marked differences, they were much smaller and lankier, came in a wire haired variety, and lacked white markings.
Most ancestors of the Australian Shepherd breed come from the landrace of farmshepherds in North America. Although dogs from all over Europe added to the mix, the greatest portion were from Great Britain, and the largest influx was probably along with the Scottish fleeing their homeland and moving into North Carolina following the Battle of Culloden in the mid eighteenth century.
Early European settlers took many of their herding dogs with them as they emigrated to the eastern United States in the 19th century. Breeds as we know them today did not exist before Victorian times, but local variations of the ancestors of different breeds that we know today came into this country along with their owners and livestock. Included are some that are now extinct or that have merged into other breeds. These probably included the English Shepherd, Dorset Blue Shag, Cumberland Sheepdog, Scottish Collie, Glenwherry Collie, Welsh Sheepdog (which still includes a blue merle variety) and Bouvier des Flandres, as well as dogs from Germany and Spain. For many centuries, shepherds had more interest in dogs who performed well when helping to manage flocks of sheep than they had in the specific appearance of the dogs. As a result, over time, shepherds interbred dogs that they believed would produce better workers for the given climate and landscape. Terrain and weather conditions in the eastern U.S. were similar to that of Europe, however, so the existing imported breeds and their offspring worked well there.
In the western states, conditions were quite different. In the primarily arid and semiarid areas inhabited sparsely by early Spanish settlers, temperatures reached extremes of hot and cold, and fields varied in altitude from sea level into the higher, rougher Sierra Nevada and similar mountain ranges. The ranchers in these areas often pasture livestock on remote ranges without attention for months at a time. They prefer aggressive herding dogs that can be taken to remote pastures and work cattle that were not familiar with dogs or to the dogs.
With the 1849 California gold rush, a massive migration occurred from the east coast to the west coast, and along with the people came flocks of sheep and the eastern herding dogs. But it was just as effective to bring sheep in by ship, and in they came, including flocks from Australia and other regions. Shepherds came along with the flocks and also independently, from Latin America, Europe, and Australia, along with their own herding breeds.
Dogs from Australia had already begun to be selected and bred for climates and terrains that were often similar to California.
As shepherds selected dogs who could handle stock in harsh storms, high arid heat, and chilling cold, and who could think on their own in challenging terrain, reacting instantly to the movement of sheep and to their handlers' commands, the type that became known as the Australian Shepherd was born.
Selective breeding for many generations focused on aspects of the dog that enabled it to function as an effective stock dog in the American west. It had to handle severe weather; have plenty of speed, athleticism, energy, and endurance; and be intelligent, flexible, and independent while remaining obedient. The Australian Shepherd remained more of a type than a breed until the 1950s, when they became popular as performing dogs in rodeos. Their stunts and skills earned them places in several Disney films, including Run Appaloosa Run and Stub: The Greatest Cowdog in the West.
The Australian Shepherd Club of America (ASCA) was founded in 1957 to promote the breed, and the National Stock Dog Registry became its official breed registry the same year, which it continued until ASCA took over in the 1970s. In the late 1970s, ASCA created a breed standard, which described exactly how a dog should look and be constructed. This was the first step in becoming a breed rather than a type.
In the United States, the AKC is the primary breed registry for purebred dogs. However, many Australian Shepherd breeders felt that AKC put too much emphasis on conformation and not enough on performance, so ASCA declined to join the AKC. Those breeders who felt that AKC membership had its advantages split off from ASCA to form their own Australian Shepherd club, the United States Australian Shepherd Association, created their own breed standard, and joined the AKC in 1993. The decision about affiliation with the AKC remains controversial, as it does with many performance breeds.
These dogs excel at many dog sports, especially herding, dog agility, frisbee, and flyball.
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