Have you ever caught yourself looking at any dog breed and wondered, "Have they always looked that way? Surely this breed has not been created to look like this". And you'd be right. Contrary to some peoples beliefs, in dog the dog breeding world; The looks, standards, goals of this said breed have changed. Breeders have lost sight or no longer use the dogs to practice their original purpose.

This phenomenon has been going on for many years and has changed many well loved breeds dramatically over the last 100 plus years forming the dogs we now know. The two examples I want to quickly use to demonstrate this point are the Rottweiler and German shepherd. Both the popular breeds are a great off hand examples of this. The German shepherd's spine was never intended to look that way, the hunched (roached they call it in breed terms) causes severe  spine issues and even extreme hip dysplasia sometimes as early as only 6 months of age (feel free to email me on here and I'll show you an X ray of the GSD pup showing the typical signs of hip dysplasia). Nor the Rottweiler meant to have such a boxed in muzzle, frontward facing ears and docked tail. It  was originally bred with a snippy type nose like a typical hound dog. Only over the years the muzzle sat further and further back on their face. These were not the case when both respective and now popular breeds were developed. Here are just a few examples of what I mean. Breeders are suppose to breed to preserve and better the breed they've chosen. Not harm them by exaggerating features until it causes health problems. Links provided below show this very thing, though these are just a few quick links I'd advise you to do a deep drive. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgpBwnMBfBw

https://pawsplanet.me/10-photos-showing-how-dog-breeds-have-changed-over-the-past-100-years/

https://www.facebook.com/RCNSW/posts/evolution-of-the-rottweiler-breed-since-1906-the-rottweiler-breed-standard-could/2917099858312090/

All this being said has set the stage for the reason I've created this project. The Australian Shepherds was designed originally with a more moderate coat, tail left on, pricked ears, longer hocks for quick acceleration, etc (looked very similar to a Border Collie nowadays as they were a portion of their base breed during development).. Each year more different than the dog before and what is desired in the show ring by judges these days, allowing the judges at the time to change the breed each and every event. Breeders too do this. They have lost sight of what the original dog was, designed to do and what they were capable of in their element. An all terrain, rain or shine livestock dog that could in an instant, grab an aggressive cow by it's face to turn them in the right direction. Aussies these days just stay in the house as plushy house ornaments. I'm sure you've seen it where you live also. An Aussie with a puffy coat so long and full they can't even stay outside in the shade during a hot day without overheating, let alone herd a flock of sheep. No drive, no motivation, no grit at all to function as their design intended more than 150 years ago.

The goal of this project is to go back to basics. Start from scratch and build back our beautiful breed the way it was intended to be. Below is a photo of a "Western Sheep Dog" in the American West in the year 1920 (credit to the artist) which shows a completely different coat, ear set and body type than what is seen in our current 2020 typed Aussie. I also want to point out here that Australian Shepherds were based of the Basque Shepherds that were a land raced breed. Part of what when into Aussies was a common breed also in the Basque shepherd known as the "old German Herding Dog" which is still going today (albeit also different, look at the ears here between the top/historical and bottom/modern photos, the neck and torso are also more condensed).

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Jeanne Joy Hartnagle- Taylor discusses major shifts from the designed breed to what it looks like now. You can find many of her books listed at: https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/693961.Jeanne_Joy_Hartnagle_Taylor many good reads, like: Canine Form Follows Function: Separating Fact from Fiction, The Australian Shepherd Judging Compendium,and Stockdog Savvy are her highest ranked books on goodreads.com

​

Alrighty, the portion you've all been waiting for!

This section is where I introduce you to the dogs going to be used in my project. MCC's "Burn It To The Ground, Cinder". She is is my Amber eyed, sleeker working coated, Blue Merle tan and white 3/4th Australian Shepherd 1/4th Blue Heeler who of which will be my main female. She fits the type of previous stated dog and the designated look we are going for. Of course health is our top priority here as we are responsible for all dogs produced going forward with this. So we made sure she passed all Health Clearances prior. OFA Hips/Elbows scored Excellent and normal, Annual Eye Exams performed by a Certified Veterinarian Ophthalmologist assessed as "Good", Health testing completed and shown only one copy of PRC present (checked and triple checked via Embark, Wisdom Panel and UC Davis as well. Her results are as follows: Bb,kyky,atat (awat through Embark, clarified to have bb1 and bb3 tan points through UC Davis),EE,DD,Ssp,NI,mM268 (Also cleared up using UC Davis as Embark can only detect the presence of the Merle gene, not the length).

I have provided a stacked picture of her below showing her strengths and weaknesses.  I just want to clarify that she dooes not my any means meet the standard in North America as she's a crossbreed and she does have a tail for one which is frowned upon in the AKC for Aussies, but it's accepted in every other kennel club overseas. Please enjoy her pictures! 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​