Packet Ranch ~Ghost Eye Aussies & Miniature American Shepherd ~DNA & OFA Health Testing

Each year, we strive to improve our program..... one litter at a time... baby steps... laying the foundation for our future. I truly believe that the only way to KNOW what you are producing is by retaining pups from your program in order to evaluate how they mature~ disposition/conformation/drive~ all parts of trying to lay the foundation for our breed's future. I have kept back a couple of our male pups & have also brought in some new males to outcross on our girls, who are mostly products of our breeding program. I cannot wait to see what we will produce in the next coming years ......

The development of the Australian Shepherd is believed to have begun during the 1800's. The Gold Rush in California & the Civil War created a great demand for the mutton & wool. So large flocks of sheep were imported from Australia, the dogs accompanying these flocks, along with other breeds, would be the beginning of the development of the Australian Shepherd.

Settlers from the British Isles brought their old fashioned collie type- often called shepherds. The collie of those days had a more upstanding style of work with a "Looser Eye" than its descendant- the Border Collie. The original collie was a strong, multipurpose working dog that was usually black with white and/or tan markings or blue merle.

Dogs arriving with shipments of sheep from Australia were largely of British origin along with the Smithfield dog (described as being longhaired & bobtailed), collies of various colors including merles and the German Tigers-referred to as German Koolies or German Coolies & known today as the Australian Koolies- which are known for their merle color & show a striking resemblance to the Australian Shepherd. Merino sheep were imported into Australia in the 19th century from Saxony in Germany & their German sheepdogs were imported along with them. These dogs were interbred with numerous working dogs of British origin, before eventually making their way to America...."Welsh Heeler" was on name used in Australia to describe these resulting crosses.

As these dogs of similar type & background were imported from Australia, they became known as "Australian Shepherds" in the American west & were prized for their sheep herding skills.

The qualities of strong herding & guarding instinct, exceptional intelligence, alertness & high energy that we love in the present day Aussie came directly from a practical need for these traits in working stockdogs, the Australian Shepherd was actually "American Made" by American stockmen. The Australian Shepherd's popularity rose rapidly with the Western style horse riding after World War II due to Rodeos, horse shows, movies & television programs. The first glimpse many people had of the breed was at "Wild West" shows or rodeos. In the 1950s & '60's, rodeo contestant, Jay Sisler, brought his three Aussies, "Queenie", "Stubby", and "Shorty" to shows where they "showed their stuff". With not much more than a nod from Jay, the diminutive blue and white dogs mesmerized audiences throughout the USA and Canada where they silently moved 20-30 sheep from one place to another. Jay Sisler and his team of dogs were featured in the Disney movies Run, Appaloosa, Run and Stub" The greatest Cowdog in the West.

Ranchers continued to develop the breed, maintaining the adaptability, keen intelligence, strong herding instinct & eye catching appearance. As a herder, the Australian Shepherd is a loose-to med-eyed dog. It will watch an entire group of animals, but not with an intense graze & tends to work in an upright positions versus the crouching position most observed in the Border Collie. Some dogs use more eye in situations, where added power is required for stubborn or balky animals- what I tend to call tough cows.

As Stockmen began replacing their sheep with cattle hers, they also began breeding their Aussies to be larger scale- eventually leading to the known breed of Australian Shepherds. There are still many lines of smaller Aussies still around & being used by the standard Australian Shepherd breeders as well as the Miniature & Toy Australian Breeders.

In 1968, Doris Cordova, from California, began developing the Miniature Australian Shepherd. She wanted to breed the smaller Australian Shepherd, 17" & under, to make for better house dogs & traveling pets to stock shows. Cordova Spike, one of the most well known dogs from Cordova Kennels- was placed with Bill & Sally Kennedy who continued to develop the Mini Aussie at their B/S Kennels. Shortly after, Chas Lasater, from Valhalla Kennels, also began producing the Miniature Australian Sehpherd. These breeders were insturmental in the creation of the breed.

Today the Aussie serves as working ranch dogs, guide dogs for the blind, hearing dogs for the deaf, pet therapy dogs, drug detectors, search-and-rescue and of course as a beloved pet & companion.

The National Stock Dog Registry (NSDR) was the original registry for the Australian Shepherd dating back to 1947. You can find many Aussies, Mini Aussies, MAS & Toy Aussies that will go back to many of the dogs that were originally registered with NSDR as Australian Shepherds. The NSDR go back to the very foundation of the breed. It wasn't until 1957 that the Australian Shepherd Club of American (ASCA) was formed & most breeders were still continuing to register their Australian Shepherds with NSDR. It wasn't until late in the 1960's that ASCA began to make it's presence really kown & not until 1977 that they made a unified Breed Standard. In 1990, ASCA was recognized as the parent club of Aussies. In 1991, AKC recognized the Australian Shepherd breed & in 1993, they officially accepted them inth the Herding Group. At the time, the standard Australian Shepherd breeders made a legal rule of NOT allowing another size of the Australian Shepherd to ever be allowed within the AKC. WHY you ask? IF you read their breed standard, although they have a preferred size listed for their males & females, they DO NOT have a set size requirement ~ therefore ALL sizes of Aussies can still be registered as Australian Shepherds as quality is not to be sacrificed for size, BUT with that being said, you will NOT see a small Aussie in the 14-16" range being put up as a winning dog in an Australian Shepherd class when showing....This is the reason behind why the Miniature Australian Shepherd can never be recognized as a breed with AKC while using the name "Australian Shepherd".....

In 1980, NSDR created a separate breed category for the Miniature Australian Shepherd where you could take your smaller Aussies. Several clubs promoted these small dogs, as they were registered and shown with various rare-breed organizations. The first parent breed club and registry, Miniature American Shepherd Clu of the USA - MASCUSA, was formed in 1990 and incorporated in 1993. The American Stock Dog Registry was created in 2005 & registers the Australian Shepherd by their adult height (Standards are 18"+, Minis are 14-18" & Toys are 10-13.99"). The breed itself has been known by a variety of different names thru its development as well: Mini Aussies, Miniature Australian Shepherd, Toy Aussie, North American Shepherd & now the Miniature American Shepherd as well. Due to Breeders & owners wanting to be able to take part in AKC showing venues, the MASCUSA club decided to petition the American Kennel Club to accept the Mini Aussie into their registry. Due to the rule that no other breeds could have the name "Australian Shepherd", it was voted on to change the name to "Miniature American Shepherd" in order to be entered into the AKC stud book. The breed entered the AKC Foundation Stock Service as the Miniature American Shepherd in May 2011. The Miniature American Club of the USA (MASCUSA) is the designated national parent club of the American Kennel Club, so it is through that organization that the official AKC Breed Standard for the MAS came from.

Now during this time frame, there was a LOT of controversy within the Mini Aussie ranks as lines were being drawn in the sand from Breeders & Registries alike over the necessary name change to be taken into the AKC ranks, etc....In retrospect, the Mini Aussie breed itself became split into 2 separate entities....those breeders that took their programs AKC MAS (Miniature American Shepherd) and those who remained with their other Registries as Miniature Australian Shepherds. With some registries & with some breeders, papers would be revoked if you took your dogs AKC MAS and a lot of breeders basically did NOT wish to take their programs AKC MAS due to the fear of not having enough breed diversity.

The first year, AKC allowed any registered Aussies that fit within the size requirement of MAS to be taken into the MAS stud book~ to be flipped to Miniature American Shepherd. For the most part, only Australian Shepherd Breeders who saw the opportunity of being able to show their smaller Aussie stock competitively, took advantage of this to flip their dogs into the new breed~as mentioned previously, smaller AKC Aussies rarely if ever get placed in shows due to their smaller stature. After that initial year, that loophole was closed Dec. 31, 2014. You also could have an Australian Shepherd as a parent up to Dec. 31, 2014. The AKC MAS studbook remain open until Dec. 31, 2024, but with stipulations as to which Mini Aussies actually would qualify to be flipped into the MAS breed. You can take a Mini Aussie into the AKC MAS studbook from qualifying Registries as long as its parents are NOT Australian Shepherd. What constitutes an Australian Shepherd to AKC? Any dog that is registered as an Australian Shepherd (including standard Aussies) or who's pedigree consists of straight Australian Shepherd bloodlines. For example, IF you have 2 AKC Aussies & you have a litter by them, then register those pups as Mini Aussies ONLY with another registry, those pups are STILL considered to be Aussies as their pedigrees are made up of straight Australian Shepherd bloodlines. Each of the parents have to have at least a snippet of Mini Aussie bloodlines somewhere within their pedigree in order for a Mini Aussie from a different registry to be eligible to be taken AKC MAS. Which is more difficult than you would think, as a LOT of Mini Aussie programs routinely utilize Aussie bloodlines within their breeding programs to keep Breed Type within their dogs. After all, the majority of Mini Aussies are just that, dogs that have been bred down in size from Australian Shepherds- hence the name "Miniature Australian Shepherds". It even gets more technical as well, as some of the Mini Aussies that are registered with the various Mini Aussie Registries COULD be FULL Aussies, but because their ancestors have been registered as Mini Aussies for the past 5 generations & not as Aussies, AKC will accept them because that 5 generation pedigree shows enough "Mini Aussie" to qualify them..... Got to love dog politics...

Of course, as with any breed, you will run into the odd breeder that decides they want to quicken up the evolution of a breed & will incorporate a different breed(s) in order to get their desired result.... hence why in some conversations, you will still hear some people saying that the Mini or Toy Aussie has been crossed with other breeds, ie. Pomeranian is one breed that I have heard tossed around in many conversations. With ALL registries, you will run into GOOD examples of a Breed as well as BAD examples of a Breed. It is up to the Breeder to Breed towards the Breed Standard & to be honest in their Breeding Practices of upholding the dogs that they are breeding. When breeding to downsize, a lot of time you WILL begin to lose Breed Type- bone will get finer, eyes will get rounder, the crowns of their heads tend to be more apple shaped.... it is a balancing act to keep the smaller Aussies "LOOKING" like Aussies....Sorry, I degress....back to the history of the breed!

Although MASCUSA petitioned AKC to extend the stud book closure for the MAS (Miniature American Shepherd), they were denied, August 2024, which will be limiting the gene pool as the Mini Assie as a breed. With this closure, I am finding that breeders Worldwide, are now falling back to their Miniature Australian Shepherd Registries in order to make sure that they can ensure a greater gene pool going forward with their programs. It has been said that the American Kennel Club can be Petitioned at a later date in order to reopen the MAS stud book, but it is known that IF they do reopen it, that there can be NO Australian Shepherd in the first 3 generations, Some countries have their own Miniature American Shepherd stud books that they have extended & some are still allowing an Australian Shepherd to be a parent of the litter that they will register as a MAS. Obviously, the Mini Aussie, as a breed, is still experiencing growing pains due to being such a young breed. Only time will tell if Registry Politics will cause the breed to become stagnate due to lack of genetic diversity or if it will be allowed to grow & flourish like Breeders would like & need.... Ideally, I personally, would LOVE for AKC to allow the MAS studbook to be opened indefinitely as they have allowed the Border Collie studbook. Wishful thinking??? Most likely, especially since they currently have closed our studbook against the MAS parent club wishes....

At this time, all of our dogs are registered with ASDR ~ American Stock Dog Registry ~ and any of our dogs that qualified to be taken into AKC as Miniature American Shepherds have been dual registered with AKC. The dogs with AKC registry, also will qualify to be registered with the Canadian Kennel Club ~ CKC. These dogs will also qualify in Europe for their FCI MAS paperwork. At this time. I DO intend to still have some dogs that are ONLY ASDR registered, as I have some really nice young girls that we ran out of time to be able to get offspring to take AKC, as they had Australian Shepherd bloodlines too close up in their pedigrees to be accepted. My hope is that in the future, AKC will reopen the MAS studbook & if they do, I plan on having some new prodigy to be able to be taken Miniature American Shepherd......

Packet Ranch~ Ghost Eye Aussies & Miniature American Shepherds....

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lOCATION

box 148, chaplin, saskatchewan, canada

e mail

penny@packetranch.com

Call us

1-306-629-3278

PERFECTION IS ACHIEVED NOT WHEN THERE IS NOTHING MORE TO ADD, BUT WHEN THERE IS NOTHING LEFT TO TAKE AWAY....

BREED HISTORY of the
Australian Shepherd, Mini Aussie & Miniature American Shepherd

Jay Sisler & his trained Australian Shepherds performing at various Rodeos & Shows in the USA & Canada during the 1950s & '60's

Ghost eye periwinkle "Peri"

Ghost eye hillbilly rock "Stoney"

ghost eye giddy up n go "Giddy"

Packet Ranch ~ Ghost Eye Aussies
Canadian Bred ASDR Registered Toy/Mini/Standard Aussies & AKC/CKC Miniature American Shepherds ~ MAS

penny@packetranch.com Phone: 306-629-3278 Chaplin, Sask., Canada

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