What is an Australian Shepherd

Well i was at a friends farm the other day here in country NSW
and i had to ask her what sort of dog is that “me feeling stupid” she
replied its an Australian Shepherd now this was kinda new to me as
i have never heard of one, so i had to look this up and find out
more about these lovely dogs.
Great working dogs for the farm.

They came from the united states working on ranches and herding stock,
they were induced here in Australia around 1949, also good for
Australian conditions, they work very hard, always looking for a job, are
rather easy to train and are very loyal.

Color and texture.

• Black, with or without tan points and/or white markings on the face, collar, legs, chest, underbelly. Neither white nor tan points are required. Solid black dogs are equally desirable as ones with tan and/or white.

• Red (Liver) with or without tan points and/or white markings on the face, collar, legs, chest, underbelly. Neither white nor tan points are required. Solid Red dogs are equally desirable as ones with tan and/or white.

• Blue Merle (a mottled patchwork of gray and black) with or without tan points and/or white markings on the face, collar, legs, chest, underbelly. Neither white nor tan points are required. Solid Merle dogs are equally desirable as ones with tan and/or white.

• Red Merle (a mottled patchwork of cream and liver red) with or without tan points and/or white markings on the face, collar, legs, chest, underbelly. Neither white nor tan points are required. Solid Merle dogs are equally desirable as ones with tan and/or white.

Tails are docked

In some countries the tails are docked/chopped off when born, while in most countries this type of cruelty is banned good!
Then again some breeds will be born with shorter docked tails.

Temperament does it bite ?

If not trained properly they can chase and nip people as being a guard dog
they are quite protective of there owners but if brought up around a
family are very good with children, they do bark as with most dogs,
but the bark is not really obsessive.
The dog likes lots of walks, exercise and playing with a ball, should
not be left bored in the backyard, loves human interaction.

Life span of the dog

For a fairly average size dog in normal working conditions with good exercise and a good diet of fresh meat, chicken necks and dry food, is around 11-13 years.

The cost to buy one

I have listed a few places where you might be able to buy one, if your buying the dog as a working dog it wont need to be micro chiped here in Australia.
Average price is $250 USD - $650
sourse http://www.puppyfind.com
http://traddingpost.com.au

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 11:24 am and is filed under Pets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.