Australian Shepherd Training

The Australian Shepherd is a breed of herding dog that was developed on ranches in the Western United States. Despite its name, the breed, commonly known as an Aussie, did not originate in Australia.[1][2] They acquired their name because of association with Basque sheepherders who came to the United States from Australia.[3]

Australian Shepherds rose rapidly in popularity with the boom of western riding after World War II. They became known to the general public through rodeos, horse shows, and through Disney movies made for television.

For decades Aussies have been valued by stockmen for their inherent versatility and trainability. While they continue to work as stockdogs and compete in herding trials, the breed has earned recognition in other roles due to their trainability and eagerness to please, and are highly regarded for their skills in obedience. Like all working breeds, the Aussie has considerable energy and drive, and usually needs a job to do. It often excels at dog sports such as dog agility, flyball, and frisbee. They are also highly successful search and rescue dogs, disaster dogs, detection dogs, guide, service, and therapy dogs. And, above all, they can be beloved family companions.

Appearance

The breed's general appearance 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. In addition the breed can be split into two distinct lines - working and show dogs. Working dogs tend to have shorter coats, thinner and are sometimes smaller while the show lines are bred according to breed standard and can have long fur.

[edit] Size

The Australian Shepherd is a medium sized breed of solid build. The standard calls for the Australian Shepherd to stand between 18-23 inches at the withers. Females being 18-21 inches and males measuring 21-23 inches

[edit] Color
Color variants: Black tricolor, red merle, blue merle, liver tricolor.

Aussie colors are black, red (sometimes called liver), blue merle (marbled black and gray), and red merle (marbled red and silver or buff); each of these colors may also have copper points and/or white markings in various combinations on the face, chest, and legs. A black or red dog with copper and white trim is called tricolor or tri, a black or red dog with white trim but no copper is called bicolor or bi. White should not appear on the body of the dog from topmost point of the shoulder blade to the tail. The ears should be covered by and completely surrounded by pigment other than white to decrease the risk for white related deafness. Eyes should also be surrounded by color, including the eye rim leather. Excessive white on the face and ears can place an individual dog at greater risk for sunburn and subsequent skin cancer. The wide variation of color combinations comes from the interaction between the a color allele, which is either black (B) dominant or red (b) recessive, and the dominant merle allele (M). Together, these provide four coat-color aspects that can appear in any combination:[4]