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ABOUT THE AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERDS ...
Basques sheep herders immigrated from Australia to the western United States of America as
Australian wool became popular. Americans imported boatloads of Australian sheep in the late 1800's, accompanied by the Basque
shepherds and their dogs. It was at this time that the "little blue dogs" began to be noticed. Because the dogs accompanied
their Basque herdsmen from Australia, they came to be known as Australian Shepherds, even though they were developed in America.
In
the ranges he became a dependable herding dog of superior intelligence and a loyal family companion. Legend has it that the
Indians held a reverence for these dogs because of the unusual blue eyes. Indians left these "sacred dogs" and their owners
unharmed.
Aussies came to the public eye as trick dogs, with acts performed at rodeos throughout the USA during the 1950's
& 1960's. In 1957 a club was formed by fanciers of the breed, but it took until 1993 for the breed to be fully recognised
by the American Kennel Council. The first dogs arriving in Australia in 1990 and they were recognised by the Australian Kennel
Council in 1994. Many fanciers of the breed have imported dogs into Australia from across the USA and the breed is growing
in popularity today.
The Australian Shepherd (known as 'Aussies') is a medium-sized dog, slightly larger than a Border Collie, which has a wavy
coat. Adult males stand at 50 to 57.5 cm (20-23") and females at 45 to 52.5 cm (18-21"). A range of colours is available,
including blue merle, red merle, solid black and solid red, and variations with white and a copper trim. (Merle is a coat
colour due to a dominant colour pattern factor distinguished by the presence of irregular dark blotches against a lighter
background of the same general basic pigment. Merle is usually applied to long coated breeds, an exception being the smooth
coated collie. The most common type of merle is blue merle - black patches or streaks on a blue-grey background).
The breed standard allows for blue eyes, or one blue and one brown eye, or marbled eyes in the red merle and blue merle
varieties. Up to 25% of the nose may be unpigmented, and tails can be either natural or docked. In the United States some
Australian Shepherds are known to be born with bobtails.
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