Boerboel

The Australian Shepherd is a relatively young breed of dog with an interesting history. The breed originated in the western United States in the 1800s and was used primarily as a working dog for shepherding livestock. Initially, the Australian Shepherd was developed from stock imported by Basque sheepherders who traveled to California from Australia.  Although originally referred to as “Australian Shepherds”, scientific evidence suggests that this name may have been given due to these dogs being mistaken for similar-looking Collie breeds. As such, their name has since been shortened to Australian Shepherd (or Aussie).  The first official recognition of the Australian Shepherd occurred when they were presented at an AKC Show in 1957, although it was not until 1993 that they received full recognition as part of AKC’s Herding Group. Today, Aussies are popular both as family pets and farm dogs across many countries due to their intelligence and trainability.