Australian Kelpie

History

You can call this breed Santa's Little Helpers if you wish - not only are they small in size for a working breed, but they can accomplish anything they want, and are known for being incredible with herding Reindeer! This breed is caught between two different theories of how it developed, and depending on who you are talking to, it may change. We are going to give you both theories and let you decide for yourself. The first theory is that this breed simply came about by breeding Boarder Collies and Dingo's together. The second theory, claims to have slightly more evidence backing it up, that the Australian Kelpie was developed from English Northern County Collies that were imported to Australia during the 19th century. With that aside, what we can tell you for a fact is that the Australian Kelpie breed is a small, but fierce working dog. They are incredible with herding all types and sizes of livestock, and are wonderful with agility.

Appearance

Both males and females measure an average height between 18-20 inches tall, and generally weigh between 25-45 pounds in weight. This breed is built very athletic - just looking at their appearance, you can tell their full of energy, stamina and drive. This breed has a double layer coat that is weather resistent for all weather changes both hot and cold, and it is available in black and tan, black and red, black and fawn & red and tan. Their skull is triangular in shape, as are their two large ears that stand firm on the top of their head. Their eyes are almond in shape and available in a light brown to black in color. Their tail is medium in length for their body size, slightly feathered with their coat and should remain laying low towards the ground when the dog is relaxed.

Temperament

Here is a fact that many of you may not know; in the homeland of this breed, owners allow them to freely roam, and farm themselves anywhere from 1,000 acres and more at a time. This breed is not for everyone, and is NOT fit for apartments. The Australian Kelpie breed has an immense amount of energy that needs to be met DAILY. This is a breed that truly belongs on a ranch or farm, with many acres to roam freely and safely, and has a daily job to do. Even for those farm owners, this breed can be difficult to work with sometimes, as they are a selfish dog breed, wanting to work for themselves and not for anyone else. However in general terms, the Australian Kelpie breed is an extremely hard worker, who has no issue putting in over time. This breed is highly aware of its surroundings and is known for responding instantly to its owner on the farm a majority of the time. This breed is protective of his and her family, and will protect when necessary. This breed can be good with small children when raised along side of them, and properly trained.

Grooming

This breed has an all weather, double layer coat that is suitable for summer and winter outdoors. Daily brushing and bathing when needed. This breed does shed.

Special Notes

This breed is not meant for everyone, and requires an immense amount of acreage and activity. Please properly educate yourself about this breed prior to considering adding one to your family to ensure that this is the correct breed of choice for your farm or ranch. Do not add this dog to your home unless you are able to provide life long physical and financial care. All dogs originate from wolves (Canis Lupus). Each breed of dog was originally created by mixing different breeds together in an effort to bring forth certain characteristics. Once a breeder has created acceptable “breed characteristics” within their bloodline and these “breed characteristics” have shown to be reliably reproduced in the offspring for three (3) generations, the bloodline may be upgraded from the category of “foundation stock” to “pure-bred”. The same “pure-bred” breed standards vary from different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders. Dog DNA testing companies can have accurate results for a specific bloodline of a small colony of dogs. However, there are tens of thousands of different bloodlines in the world which have not yet been tested for marker baseline results by Dog DNA testing companies as of 2017. For this reason Dog DNA testing companies do not guarantee the 100% accuracy of their breed lineage results and will also show different marker results for the same pure-bred breed in different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders.