Australian Shepherd Question(s)?
I know at least a few of my contacts have Australian Shepherds, so hopefully I get some good answers.
I’ve been looking at Australian Shepherds recently, and I have some questions about them that hopefully some people who own them or have worked with them can answer. I realize all dogs are individuals, regardless of breed, but these are more general breed questions.
Question 1, I have heard that Aussies are among the dogs who have an Ivermectin reaction. I know it is a severe problem. What is used as an alternative?
Question 2, There were a few Aussies I found that were small, like only 14-15 inches at the shoulder. I know that the “mini” Aussie doesn’t truly exist, but what would you call this dog? Just a small aussie? I’m guessing they were about 25-30lbs. This was at the shelter.
Question 3, If you do agility or dog sports with your dog, how often do you train? Both formally (maybe at a training center) and informally (at home). I know some people train entirely at home.
5 Responses to “Australian Shepherd Question(s)?”
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November 3rd, 2010 at 3:52 am
I’ve had 3 aussies and I know this isn’t answering your ques but they are truly the best dogs. They are super super smart as in you have to spell words in front of them so they dont understand you. They just are bred to pick up on our human ways and words much more than other dogs. Making them like little kids who LISTEN and do what you say and learn incredibly fast. And those mini aussies, ya are just bred small. But the biggies are better haha, though not unless you like aussies who dont seem like aussies. Get one and love it!
November 3rd, 2010 at 3:55 am
I -can- answer question two for certain. I have seen a LOT of Smaller Aussies as well, and I know for a fact people are breeding them to be smaller, or they are from genes / runts etc.
The updated Standard by the Parent Club as of March 2o1o says, “Preferred height at the withers for males is 20 to 23 inches; that for females is 18 to 21 inches, however, quality is not to be sacrificed in favor of size.”
“The Miniature Australian Shepherd, North American Shepherd, North American Miniature Australian Shepherd, and/or Toy Australian Shepherd breeds are not recognized as a variety of Australian Shepherd by ASCA. The club considers such dogs to be a distinct and separate breed and will not accept them into its registry.” ~ ASCA
So, either way….. against standard. Exist? As a purebred? No [definitely not imo]. As a badly bred one? Yes. Have you ever seen a “Mini Chinese Crested”? *GAG*
As for number three… We train a few hours per ever-other day, we have a course in our backyard BUT if there’s bad weather, we go to the local centre to train.
November 3rd, 2010 at 4:00 am
1. I don’t really know about alternatives, other than most I’ve talked to get minimal vaccinations and have no real chemicals used on them. I know there are several different types of dewormer, though, so I wouldn’t see that as a *huge* problem
2. a poorly bred Aussie.
3. I don’t do them.
November 3rd, 2010 at 4:29 am
Here is a link with some info on the MDR1 gene which can be found in herding dogs.
http://www.sheltie4me.com/info/display?PageID=5258
I don’t use heartguard on my shelties, I use Interceptor instead. You can test to see if the dog carries this gene. If not you are ok, if the dog does, yes there are alrernatives. If you do a search for MDR1 you can find a ton of info on it.
I train my dogs 5-6 days per week on average.
November 3rd, 2010 at 4:48 am
1. Not really as big of an issue as one might think.There’s brands out there that work fine without Ivermectin or without enough to cause issue (Interceptor is one of the more popular brands used on herding breeds with this issue).
A vet can suggest different brands if need be, and if you get truly desperate there’s testing that can be done to see if your dog really would have an issue with Ivermectin or not. For as long as I’ve dealt with Aussies I’ve never had the issue but it’s one of those things best to avoid.
2. Either a mixed breed (This is the most common even with back yard breeding scum selling “mini” and “toy” Aussies- Aussies are mixed with smaller breeds to make a dog that looks like an Aussie but is pointlessly smaller in size), or a larger scale teacup scam (runt bred with runt to make smaller, generally sickly, dogs).
If you get a dog that looks like a smaller Aussie assume it’s a mix and love the dog for what who he or she is- These dogs should only ever be gotten from a shelter though, no point in putting more money in the pocket of idiotic scamming excuse for breeders (and if you can’t tell this whole “mini” and “toy” Aussie BS makes me quite angry).
3. Whenever there’s time really- I tend to take the dogs to at least one formal class, and then after that it’s mostly training at home roughly once a week. The only time my dogs get training in a center if there’s easy to access equipment (if someone says “hey I have an agility course set up feel free to use it” no way am I saying no).
More often then not an Aussie simply needs mental and psychical stimulation , doing a single sport isn’t usually going to be good enough. I’ve only met the rare person that can train for for something like agility every single day and it’s even less common to see an Aussie that wouldn’t get bored with the same task every single day (I’ve seen Aussies bored with agility after it became “too easy”).