Australian Shepherd Info

A Miniature and Toy sized Australian Shepherd should look the same as an Australian Shepherd just in a smaller version. Miniatures range in size from 14"-18" measured at the top of the shoulder. Toys range in size from 10"-14". All sizes come in four main colors with lots of variations of each color. They can be blue merle, red merle, black tri or red tri with or without copper and with or without white markings. Their eyes can be brown, green, hazel or blue and one eye can be one color with the other eye a different color. 

Australian Shepherds are an American breed. Bred from the small sheep dogs the Basque herders from Spain brought with them. The original Australian Shepherd was small in size, about the size of our Miniatures until the ranchers in the US started breeding them bigger to work their cattle. 

Aussies of any size are very loyal to their family but are reserved with strangers. Too much loyalty can be a bad thing too as this causes shyness in the breed. The Australian Shepherd have an overwhelming sense to please their owners and are often described as knowing what their owners want before they do. 

They also love to play and are very intelligent which makes them great for agility, herding, rally, obedience or flyball along with many other athletic activities. Even though they like to be active, they also enjoy laying around on the couch with their owners. Australian Shepherds enjoy being around their owner all the time and will follow you everywhere. This means that if you do lots of activities where dogs are not welcome, your Aussie will let you know of his displeasure and will resort to bad habits like excessive barking, digging, chewing and general separation anxiety. Owners must be able to provide their Australian Shepherd mental stimulation as well as physical exercise to keep their dog happy and healthy.

As a breed, the Australian Shepherd is fairly healthy, but they are prone to a few eye problems and a lot of Aussies are sensitive to certain drugs. Testing is easy with a simple cheek swab. 

Australian Shepherds are an American breed. In the late 1800's Basque sheep herders followed imported Australian sheep to the United States. They brought their dogs to herd those sheep with them. The American ranchers were impressed with the Basque's "little blue dogs" and began to breed other stock dog breeds into the Basque sheep dog. What was created was the Australian Shepherd. Initially, the dogs were on the small/medium size but when the cattlemen saw what great herders they were, they began to breed more size into them so they could herd cattle as well as sheep. 

In 1962, a woman in California named, Sady Travis bought a small Australian Shepherd that stayed 11" tall. In 1968, she found a small male to breed to and the whole litter stayed 9" -13." Since they were so popular, Sandy consulted her veterinarian and he advised her to "inbreed, line breed, and cull." So she did and began to consistently produce a smaller Aussie. Bob and Doris Cordova saw these little dogs and bought a puppy from Sandy in 1978 and named him Cordova's Spike. He stood approximately 13" tall. They registered him through the National Stock Dog Registry (NSDR) and later got the Miniature added to his papers when NSDR  started registering Miniature Australian Shepherds. Up until 1993, all three size varieties of the Australian Shepherd were shown in rare breed shows. In 1993 AKC approved the Australian Shepherd as a recognized breed. So today, the Mini and Toy sizes are still shown at rare breed shows. The two most common show venues are the International All Breed Canine Association (IABCA) and the American Rare Breed Association (ARBA.) And then there is the American Stock Dog Registry (ASDR) that holds many shows throughout the year and throughout the United States for dogs registered with them.