Breed Profile: Australian Shepherd

I was going back through my previous breed profiles, and I noticed I had not done one on a dog out of the herding group! Please forgive me! I chose the Australian Shepherd today because I love the coloring of this particular breed! They truly are unique!

Physical Description of the Australian Shepherd:

Height: 17-24 inches

Weight: 40-70 pounds

Life Expectancy: between 12 and 15 years

The Australian Shepherd is a medium-sized dog that looks very rustic. This breed is ready for all kinds of weather (especially the cold)! Their coat is weather resistant and they even have an undercoat to further protect them from the elements! An interesting characteristic about this breed is the color if her eyes. They can be blue, amber, brown, or just about any other color (including flecks and marble). The coat color is widely varied and includes coloring such as: blue merle, red merle, solid black, and solid red (all with or without white or tan markings).

Personality of the Australian Shepherd:

This breed is extremely loyal, affectionate, and courageous. They do well in a household with children or an active family. A great perk about the Australian Shepherd is their intelligence. They are an incredibly smart breed - this makes them easy to train. It also seems as if they have a sense about what their owners expect of them and are very eager to please!!

Australian Shepherds are excellent herders and if left alone and bored with nothing to occupy their time, may become destructive and nervous. This breed does well when given a task or job to do, and they are generally a very quiet breed.

Exercising Your Australian Shepherd:

As you might have expected, this breed needs plenty of vigorous exercise. I strongly recommend you take her on a long daily walk. A great idea for exercise would be to give her a job to do that requires working, herding, and thinking. This kind of activity is wonderful for an Australian Shepherd’s mental and physical health!

Living Requirements for Your Australian Shepherd:

Since this breed enjoys outdoor work, and running freely, I strongly advise against an Australian Shepherd if you live in an apartment. It just isn’t fair to her to keep her cooped up in a small apartment when what she really wants to do is go outside and run! A house with a large backyard (even a farm) would be the perfect place for this breed!

Common Health Issues of the Australian Shepherd:

The gene that produces the merle coloration also produces a risk for blindness as well as deafness, so be aware of that when selecting a puppy. The best thing you can do is test the hearing of the puppies before you select and purchase one! If you are unsure, take her to a veterinarian to be checked out!

Check out this super cute picture sent to me by a reader:

Although Jackaroo lives in Alabama, he dreams of being a movie star and cruising up Hollywood Blvd. and having a casting name of “Cowdog”. He’s a 2 year old Blue Merle Aussie who is active in Agility, Obedience and Car Window Riding (seen here).

If you have pictures of your Australian Shepherd, please send them to: dsheffler@petstrong.com

Thanks for reading! As always your participation in comments and discussions are encouraged and greatly appreciated!!