Pet Lovers

[goldensrbest]

@ kachina 624, i  did not know you have a mini aussie, i thought you had collies, tell me about your experience with them,please.

[NickNack]

@Kachina624   paging you for @goldensrbest .

[KingstonsMom]

I've also had a mini Aussie, they're highly intelligent aand awesome dogs, although high energy.

Here's my Hayly (standing underneath our coffee table:

[Kachina624]

@goldensrbest    Seems like we recently had a thread here where I went into quite a bit of detail about my Aussies (now officially Mini American Shepherds).  I'm on my second mini and also had about 4 standard Aussies, all rescues.  Somehow, our collie rescue group ended up with some Aussies and I was the designated Aussie mom.

They are cute as a button but not "easy" dogs.  They are extremely smart and they'll spend their first few years with you testing your limits to see what they can get away with.  Mine have not been extremely high energy.  I've had Piper, my present dog, 3 years and he's just settling down and acknowledging that I'm the pack leader, not him.  This may have been easier had my pups not been young adults when I got them.

Darn!  I'm half asleep and keep hitting the post button before I'm finished.

The big problem I've had with Aussies is that many seem to be dog aggressive.  I had to re-home a nice, sweet little male Sheltie because Piper, who is neutered, kept seriously attacking him.  One of my female Aussies seriously attacked another female.  I had two beautiful black tris, a male and a female, that attacked other dogs.  They both had to go to other homes.

I discussed this problem with my vet who was an Aussie fancier and director of an Aussie rescue group and she indicated it is not an unusual problem.  She did not know of any way to alleviate the problem as it's deeply ingrained.  I see breeders who have many dogs that don't seem to have a problem.  I've wondered if the dogs I've encountered are in rescue because of their bad traits?

Anyway this has been my experience.

[KingstonsMom]

My mini Aussie was a true mini Aussie, as her registration papers reflect, the result of breeding 2 very small aussies together, whereas the mini American shepherd is the result of breeding a mini Aussie with another small breed dog. 

[Kachina624]

@KingstonsMom   I believe you are mistaken.  The AKC would not register such an animal.  I'm familiar with several breeders and their pups come from two purebred Miniature American Shepherd parents.  Miniature American Shepherd became an official AKC recognized breed 3 or 4 years ago.

People do occasionally breed a mini to something like a Papillon to get an exceptionally small dog but they are "designer" dogs and are not registered.

[KingstonsMom]

@Kachina624 

No, I'm not mistaken, but we've had this debate before.

My registation papers reflect my mini's family history and ALL were registered mini Aussies.

Many other sites with the same info, but here's just one:

https://blog.alangusaussies.com/2014/02/24/miniature-australian-shepherd-versus-miniature-american-s...

[Kachina624]

@KingstonsMom   You have not had this debate with me!  Your dog was called a mini Aussie because that's what they were until about 3 years ago.  If it was longer than that it was not registered with the AKC; perhaps it was the CKC or some other organization.  Mini American Shepherds did not exist until very recently.  Look it up yourself.

The blog to which you posted the link is just someone's uneducated opinion.  It's full of mistakes.

[char1976]

My daugther has a mini aussie, It isn't a year old yet, very smart dog but very high energy. I have a standard red tri aussie, 3 years old and very laid back. In fact mine thinks she is a lap dog.

[KingstonsMom]

@Kachina624 

Yes, we have had this debate before, so this is my last post on this subject, yes my baby Hayly was longer than 3 years ago and and I still have all of her AKC paperwork regarding her bloodline,and DNA evidence  and she is 100% pure blooded Mini Aussie.

I had 6 standard Aussies before her, so I've done extensive research on her.

I'm very well aware of the debate about the 2 different 'names' for the breeds and YES, there's a lot of misinformation about the 2 different breeds and their names, I've had much correspondence from Aussie experts when I first got my first mini, Hayly.

I'll agree to disagree with you on this one.