Some History of the Australian Shepherd
This is Chevreherd's understanding of the history behind the formation of what we call the Australian Shepherd:
As told in ASCA's Yearbook (1957-1977), the Australian Shepherd Club of America formed from the efforts of a small group of people in Arizona in 1957 and quickly grew to include affiliates in California, Colorado, and Oregon. In California in 1966 a group formed the International Australian Shepherd Association and maintained their own registry. IASA eventually joined forces with ASCA in expectation that the Australian Shepherd would gain recognition with the American Kennel Club. This was voted on by the membership yearly and through ASCA this goal never became reality. It took a daring move by a small group of show enthusiasts who formed the United States Australian Shepherd Association to secure AKC recognition in 1993.
The Australian Shepherd is said to have got his name because of the number of blue bobtailed dogs seen working with boatloads of sheep from Australia arriving in California and on up the coast towards Alaska during the gold rush days (sheepherders from the Basque area of Europe were hired to care for this influx of sheep to the US). Sheep were also being either driven across the country from the east (British influence for foundation dogs) or from the south (Spanish influence--tended to have more pastoral/guardian qualities). The blue merle bobtail look is certainly a dog type that the United States adopted for its own. The very earliest efforts at establishing a "breed" seemed to be centered in Eastern Oregon (Arnew/Diamond A) and Western Idaho (Sisler), although similar type dogs were scattered throughout the Western US including Harper dogs in Kansas; Ritter/Ronsley lines in Nevada; Breazeale, Carrillo and Little in California; and in Arizona included Eloise S. Hart, ASCA's first president, whose first dog came directly from Spain in about 1930. She registered the first Australian Shepherd in 1957 with IESR-The National Stock Dog Registry in Indiana. Don Breazeale from Northern California had ranch dogs from 1936 and was the first to register his dogs with the Animal Research Foundation in Texas in 1952. (Yearbook ASCA 1957-1977 pg 11-9). The melting pot for Aussies seemed to be Colorado where several breeders became very active in the 1960's- 1970's.
This brings me to the story of ASCA's fourth president, Elsie B. Cotton of Portland, Oregon. Ms. Cotton along with Harold E. May (vice president and also from Oregon) initiated several of ASCA's most important vehicles for growth: Aussie Times publication since 1968, active support of show events and creation of Stock Dog Committee, and parent club registry in 1969; the "Breed Club Registry" became operational in 1971 as well as the formal show program with its championship point system that permitted titles earned through match show competition.
Another great resource of Australian Shepherd history comes from the Animal Research Foundation. Mr. Al Walker, ARF Genealogist & Registrar sent us the following information on the ARF's history. The very first Australian Shepherd registered by the ARF was "Lady", in September 1959, owned by Mr. Breazeale, Modesto, California.
"Mr. Tom D. Stodghill, Genealogist, Educator, Founder of the English Shepherd Club of America and the Animal Research Foundation, Quinlan, Texas, researched the Australian Shepherd from 1952 to 1959. ARF registered the first Australian Shepherd in 1959. In 1970, the Australian Shepherd Club of America [ASCA] presented him with a 'Life-Time Honorary Award'. Mr. Stodghill passed away in 1989 after directing the ARF for 42 years. Today, the ARF continues Mr. Stodghill's work by researching and registering Australian Shepherds, plus 250 other standard and rare breeds, along with educating its members on breeding techniques. To learn more about ARF and its mission, you can visit their websites at Animal Research Foundation or Stodghills ARF Registry." |
Chevreherd greatly appreciates this opportunity to clarify the history of our great breed: the Australian Shepherd and thanks Mr. Walker for his input.
From the 1966 Spring Edition of Tom D. Stodghill's Animal Research Magazine published out of Quinlan, Texas comes a story of Stockdogs from Australia. I am thinking I have read, although I haven't found the reference at this time (July 2002-Chevreherd) that Cotton's Blue Bobby was the dog that inspired the profile in ASCA's logo.
ARF's magazine in 1966 as well as ASCA's Yearbook refer to one other documented importation of dogs from Australia: A Scottish family named Simpson was reported to have brought black and white bobtailed Smithfields with them when they moved to Australia in the early 1800's. The Simpson's lived in the Upper Hunter River, an area in New South Wales which is a fertile cattle and sheep farming community in Australia. They crossed their Smithfields with the German Coulie, producing a medium-sized dog that had black or blue merle body colors, some with prick ears and others drop ears. Many had blue, or brown and blue eyes. During the gold rush days, they moved their family to Northern California, bringing livestock and dogs with them. It was here in the USA that these dogs were named the "Australian Shepherd."
Another registry for Australian shepherds is the IESR-National Stock Dog Registry. They do not have a web site, a contact person on the web, nor a phone number found on the web. They do put out a nice little magazine. However, here is their mailing address:
National Stockdog Registry
P.O. Box 402
Butler, IN 46721
Web Editor's Note:
Smithfield (Smithfield Stubby or Australian Smithfield Stubby)
There's not much else out there on this breed. Most sites just mention the name
and go no further than that and I found no pictures. The information is
summarized basically from these sites:
http://www.petpublishing.com/dogken/breeds/auscdog.shtml
http://www.cattledog.com/misc/history.html
The Smithfield was considered one of the most popular herding dogs in 1788. It's name was taken from the central Smithfield meat markets of London. It is described with the following adjectives: a big, cobby, heavy, bulky, flop-eared, black and white or black with white around the neck and sometimes on the tip of the tail or on the feet, bob tailed dog with a long heavy dense rough coat.
When it was brought to Australia, it was not thrilled with the warmer climate and overwhelmed by the outback. The difficult terrain and huge unfenced areas were too much for the dogs to keep the cattle under proper control. Also their constant barking bothered the drover's horses and cattle. Their bulky build and coat helped contribute to a lack of stamina for what the dogs were up against in the new land. The Smithfield's bite was also considered too severe by the ranchers.
German Coulie (Coolie) There are sites with quite a bit of info.
http://www.barkingbuddies.com/tailwork2.html
This site has a picture at the page top that looks just like an aussie: http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/koolie.htm
, but the bottom of the page is quite a bit different. http://www.barkingbuddies.com/mojo.html
This link is more like the other site's bottom page picture.
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