Did you know that there is, as far as I know, an Australian Shepherd breed (from Australia)? Perhaps it's only recently been recognized in the States as a breed. I found out about it while searching around for Australian breeds, since my Joey is an Australian Cattle Dog (Blue Heeler).
Cheers
faerisweet
nominate your own title
Poolville,Texas
Australian Shepherds
28 Oct '07 5:01 pm Alot of people around here have what they call Australian shepherds and also blue heelers, my dear departed Banjo was a border collie, blue heeler mix. They make good dogs for the ranchers apparently, lots of ranches around here. Strangely we have alot of transplanted Aussie ranchers in this area too.
Mark
Home gardener & plant fetishist
Berkeley, California, USA
Hi Faerisweet and Gordon
28 Oct '07 7:20 pm I don't really know what the origins of the Aussie Shepard may be, and it sounds from the excerpt below that no one really does. Your Joey -Blue heeler or Australian Cattle Dog- is definitely a breed from that continent so far as I know. When Lia was in Australia she kept telling people about our 'Aussie' Fletcher and no one had ever heard of one. As a result we went looking on line and found things like the quote below.
BREED HISTORY
While there are many theories as to the origin of the Australian Shepherd, the breed as we know it today developed exclusively in the United States. The Australian Shepherd was given its name because of their association with the Basque sheepherders who came to the United States from Australia in the 1800's.
