Australian Shepherd History In the 1800s, the Basques began migrating to Australia to keep sheep. Their Pyrenean Shepherds crossbred with other working dogs, including Collies and Border Collies, creating the modern version of the Australian Shepherd.
The Aussiedoodle, sometimes known as the Aussipoo, is a cross between the Australian Shepherd and a Poodle. These dogs are the most popular Aussie cross today, particularly because they were bred to be the ultimate companion and family dog. These dogs are incredibly intelligent and love to socialize with all humans.
The Australian Shepherd, or Aussie for short, is one of the most popular breeds in the United States. Their boundless energy and high intelligence make them fun, entertaining, and hardworking pets and assistance dogs.
About the Breed
The Australian Shepherd, the cowboy's herding dog of choice, is a medium-sized worker with a keen, penetrating gaze in the eye. Aussie coats offer different looks, including merle (a mottled pattern with contrasting shades of blue or red).
Australian shepherd colors and patterns can vary greatly, but the United States Australian Shepherd Association recognizes these four major categories: black, red, red merle, and blue merle (merle being the genetic pattern that occurs in a dog's coat, often appearing as speckled patches of color).
They are often referred to as “double merles.” If these puppies only had lots of white, there wouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately, most of them are also blind, deaf, or both. This is the reason that the breed standards disqualify white dogs.
White Aussies are rare today because we have been slowly eliminating the “more white” forms of the white marking genes from our gene pool by not breeding Aussies with more than allowable white (though the preference for white trim on the show dogs does have some pushing the envelope.)
Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural.
North American breeders developed Miniature American Shepherds from a group of small Australian Shepherds. Their intention was to create a more compact version of the dog without sacrificing its dependable character and keen instincts.
The Australian White was developed to be a self-replacing, haired, meat sheep that required minimal maintenance. The four breeds of sheep that were selected to develop the breed were chosen for specific traits they could bring to the breed. These breeds were the Poll Dorset, Texel, White Dorper and Van Rooy.
But while certain breeds originated in North America, there's only one wild dog we can claim: the Carolina Dog. The Carolina dog looks an awful lot like the Australian dingo, and is sometimes called the “American Dingo” or “Dixie Dingo” because of its Southern roots.
They have feathering on the back of the legs and a generous mane around the neck. Coat colors vary and might be blue or red merle or red or black tricolor, all with white and/or tan markings. Most Aussies have a naturally short tail, but sometimes tails are docked if longer than four inches.
The Blue Heeler is a dog crossed with wild Australian Dingos and is the best cattle herding dog in America.
The word Australia when referred to informally with its first three letters becomes Aus. When Aus or Aussie, the short form for an Australian, is pronounced for fun with a hissing sound at the end, it sounds as though the word being pronounced has the spelling Oz.
Looking across the country, the Census tells us the 'typical' Australian male or female was born in Australia, has English ancestry and parents also born in Australia. But there are plenty of local differences.
The Australian shepherd golden retriever mix, also known as an Australian retriever or a Golden Aussie, has hit America as a very popular designer crossbreed. The Australian retriever is a mix between a golden retriever and an Australian shepherd.
The Aussiedoodle is a mixed breed dog — a cross between the Australian Shepherd and Poodle dog breeds. Incredibly smart, playful, and loyal, these pups inherited some of the best qualities from both of their parents. Aussiedoodles go by several names, including Aussiepoo and Aussiepoodle.
A Toy Australian Shepherd is the smallest Australian Shepherd size. They are the same size as a Teacup Australian Shepherd. Like the Teacup Australian Shepherd, the “toy” size of Australian Shepherd is not officially recognised by kennel clubs.
Aussies can also be split into four categories based on the four fabulous colors of the dog's fur. These categories are Black Australian Shepherd, Red Australian Shepherd, Red Merle Australian Shepherd, and Blue Merle Australian Shepherd.
One of the core Australian values is giving everyone a “fair go”. This basically means that Aussies believe everyone in the world deserves a fair chance at what they want to achieve or how they want to live their lives. When you start believing that, you know you've become a true Aussie.
An Australian Shepherd has a dominant personality and will want to be the alpha: Ask yourself, “Are you prepared to fill that role?” An Aussie will want to please his owner, but his strong drive and work ethic will be difficult to overcome by an owner who is a pushover.
Australian Shepherds are known to be one of the most intelligent dog breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club, and are renown for their obedience, agility, and excellence in herding and other active sports.
Solid black and red coats are the least common coats among Aussie dogs, with solid red being the absolute rarest. The red-colored gene is recessive in dogs, meaning red fur must be present in both parents to make a red-colored pup.
Solid Red Coat
This Australian shepherd coat color, which ranges from deep reddish to lighter shades of red, is the rarest color. To create a solid red coat, breeders must strategically pair dogs with the ee recessive form of the E gene.
Dogs with excess white markings, sometimes referred to as mismarks, or over-marked. Australian Shepherds with too much white are usually healthy(exceptions noted below). There are entire breeds that allow far more white than typical of Aussies.