Page 19 - Aussie Magazine no1, 2023

By their very nature, dog breeds are connected to specific

places, reflecting both their native climates and cultures. As
a result, the names of dozens of breeds incorporate their

national origins, from the German Pinscher to the Swedish
Vallhund to the Bernese Mountain Dog... and then there’s the
exception to the rule; the Australian Shepherd.

Despite its formal moniker, this medium-sized
herding dog is quintessentially an American Cowboys
breed, developed in Western states like California,
Colorado, Wyoming, and Idaho to tend to the
large flocks of sheep grazing there.

And that’s pretty much where the consensus
ends.

Who was the likely ancestor who bequeathed the
Australian Shepherd; its medium-length coat and
natural bobtail, as well as the blue eyes and merle
patterning that appears in some dogs? What’s
the reason for the Aussie reference in the breed's
name? And how much of the breed's identity
is owed – at first glance, inexplicably – to the
Basques, a culturally distinct group of Spaniards
whose tenure on the Iberian Peninsula dates
back to Roman times? All good questions. And all
without many definitive answers.
Careas have merle coats that can be of medium
So where did the Australian Shepherd come length and can have blue eyes. Though there is
from? no evidence that Careas-like dogs were brought

To find the Australian Shepherd’s earliest roots, to the Americas with the Conquistadors, their
we go first to the white-washed adobe missions similarity to the Aussie is nonetheless intriguing.
established by the Conquistadors, who arrived
in the New World in the 1500s. Needing meat Regardless of their provenance, as the centuries
to supply their soldiers and clergy, the Spaniards slogged on, these Spanish-derived herders
imported their hardy native Churras sheep, as procreated apace, creating a kind of generic
well as herding dogs to tend them. Some early sheepdog that populated New Mexico, California,
accounts describe a wolf-like dog, much larger and beyond.
than the modern Australian Shepherd, yellowish
or black and tan in colour, and more a guardian In the mid-1800s, this sleepy evolution was jostled
than a herder. by boom times: The California Gold Rush created
a soaring demand for sheep to feed the torrent
For a better ancestral fit, we can look to the of newly arrived miners; the aftermath of the Civil
progenitors of the Carea Leonés, a smaller, War exacerbated the need for a steady national
energetic sheepdog from the León region of north- supply of mutton and wool. The American West
western Spain, which herded the Churras sheep again found itself in need of an infusion of sheep
alongside the Spanish Mastiffs that guarded them. – along with more dogs to herd them.

A Worldwide Magazine for the Aussie • Issue 1/2023 | 19