Australian Shepherds
Breed Fact: The Australian Shepherd is actually an American breed and in the US the first Official registry was in the 1950's.
Breed Information: Name Australian Shepherd
Official recognition: UK working Group, AKC Herding Group
Color variations: Blue,blue merle,Black,Red Merle
Size large 18 to 23 inches Feeding 3 bowls coat care 3 brushes
The Australian Shepherd has adapted well to search and rescue work
as well as family life.
Basque Shepherds from Spain emigrated to Australia towards the end of the nineteenth Century taking their dogs with them, later moving on to the Americas and
taking their dogs. From these dogs in the US the breed originated. Although the breed is a relatively recent arrival in Britain, it rapidly became popular and has a seemingly ever-increasing number of enthusiasts.
An intelligent dog with strong herding and guarding instincts, the Australian Shepherd has great stamina, is loyal, animated, lithe and agile, able to alter both speed and directions instantly. It has an even disposition, and the breed may show initial reserve but should never be shy or aggressive. The medium length coat is straight to wavy with a weather resistant undercoat and the range of colors is spectacular: blue, blue merle, black and red merle all with or without tan points.White is only allowed in specific areas.
NOW, what about the Mini Aussie? Where do they fit in?
Where do Mini Aussies fit in?? The history and origin of the Mini Aussies is closely tied to the Australian Shepherd. Miniature Australian Shepherds were bred from Australian Shepherds and they have a shared history.
A woman named Doris Cordova from Norco California began breeding Australian Shepherds with the aim of developing a miniature size variation in 1968. Her motivation was to create a dog with the charactistics that made the Australian Shepherd great, but in a package small enough (under 17") to better allow them to be house dogs and to make travel to stock shows easier.
Good Things Come in Small Packages!
This much smaller Aussie proved to be very popular and in 1990, the Miniature Australian Shepherd Club of USA (MASCUSA) was formed MASCUSA was able to garner recognition for the Miniature Australian Shepherd from the American Rare Breeds Association>(ARBA).
However the Miniature Australian Shepherd never showed with the Australian Shepherds in ASCA.If a dog was registered with the Australian Shepherd Club of America>(ASCA) and had an ASCA pedigree and was below "preferred Height" per the Breed Standard they could show since there is no size disqualification. However, if they were registered as a Mini, ASCA revokes their papers becaue the ASCA considers the Miniature Australian Shepherd a different breed entirely.
In 1993 the AKC offically recognized the Australian Shepherd. Due to the policies of ARBA to not permit showing of dogs with the same name of AKC recognized breeds MASUSA had to change the name of their Minis to avoid confusion between the now separate breeds.
The name "Miniature Australian Shepherd" was changed to 'North American Shepherd'. That seems simple enough, but MASCUSA also changed to reflect this change to North American Miniature Australian Shepherd Club of the USA>(NAMASCUSA). It was quite a mouthful, but it retained the connection to the 'Australian Shepherd' legacy.
Then in 1998 as a result of a policy change by ARBA,it was decided by NAMASCUSA to revise the name again, this time to 'North American Miniature Shepherd'. Whew!!
So you can see that the history of the breed's name is closely tied to the history of its parent club, the North American Miniature Australian Shepherd Club of the USA.
I think we will just call them Miniature Australian Shepherds, or better yet-
Mini Aussies! Nice and small just like they are!!
For Further Reading: Vanished Trials and Faded Memories of Australian Shepherd History>
Ernest Hartnagle and Jeanne Joy Hartnagle-Taylor
