History
The early history of the Australian Shepherd is not exactly known. It started, when in the last half of the 1800's and the early 1900's thousands of wool sheep from Spain, France, England, New Zealand and Australia were imported to the Western United States and the dogs working these sheep came into the States as well. Some breed historians think that the herding dogs of the early settlers from Europe are the origin of the Australian Shepherd, so old European herding breeds are assumed to be the ancestors of the Australian Shepherd. Other breed historians assume that the Australian Shepherd goes back to the basque herdings dogs. During this time the Basque shepherds and their "little blue dogs" (ancestors of today's Pyrenean Shepherds) were famous for their herding performance. The basque herding dogs certainly had a great influence in our breed. Today the shorter haired (face rasé) type of the Pyrenean Shepherd looks very much like an Australian Shepherd, only smaller. Natural bobs are also common in Pyrenean Shepherds. It is supposed that these basque herding dogs were bred to other larger herding breeds to get dogs that are also capable of defending lifestock. The Basques and their dogs went to Australia and from there brought sheep herds into the States. Identifying the dogs with the sheep from Australia the dogs were soon called "Australian Shepherds". At that time good herding dogs were very much sought after. The farmers started to breed dogs that are very much alike to preserve their working abilities and the breed started to develop. Stockmen were impressed of these very capable working dogs and their ability to handle any type of livestock, including cattle.