Australian Shepherd or Mini Aussie

Hey everyone, fist post here so if I am in the wrong section I apologize. My question is I have a 9 wk old Miniature Australian Shepherd that I got from a very reportable breeder. She classified my pup as a Mini Aussie who is looking to get around 17" to the top of the back and roughly 35-40lbs. His mother is an Australian Shepherd and the dad is a "Mini Aussie" but good size. Wouldnt that make my pup just an Australian Shepherd but smaller in size? Is is just that my dog will be smaller then a standard Australian Shepherd, and wouldnt that make him an Australian Shepherd and not a Mini Aussie? I dont know, please any Aussie owners please chime in with any help possibly explaining this to me. Either way he is one great dog.....

Thanks
Chris

I think it would just be your pup is an Aussie/Mini Aussie.

I could be wrong, so Aussie owners feel free to correct this, but I think Mini Aussies were bred with some other dog breed to create the 'smallness'.

From my understanding legit "Mini" Aussies are just smaller versions of Aussies. Bred by not adding other breeds, but by breeding smaller Aussies.

You are correct. Your dog is an Australian Shepherd, just may be smaller than the standard.

I dunno, I think we would have to see pics to give you a really good answer

*really just wants to see pics of an aussie puppy*

Since both parents our aussies, i would say your pup is an australian shepherd. just on the smaller end of the standard

My dog was bred with a Standard Aussie 17.5" @ the shoulders and dad a mini at 14.5" at the shoulders. 2 pure bred's I think the toy aussie's are bred with other dogs..

Chris

Then I'd say just a smaller than standard, but purebred Aussie Shepherd...if the breeders reputable she gave you papers right? What's he/she registered as and with whom?

Mini Aussie Rescue & Support, Inc. (MARS)

According to this, the mini aussie is the outcome of only breeding small aussies.

Now there is a "mini aussie" breed club and standard(1960) as well as an Australian Shepherd breed club and standard(1957).

So, breeding the two together at this point (I would think) is a mixed breed.

The Mini Aussie is what you get when you breed small aussies together. They're not a seperate breed.

^^agreed.

I will post a pic as soon as I figure out how.

Chris

How are they registered? Is one registered as a Minie and the other a Standard Aussie? If that's the case I would agree with xpaeanx, that it would be two seperate breeds (mixed breed).

When you go to post a reply, see above the text box where it says Message: then there's options like Fonts and Sizes and such? Same row as the bold, italic and underline options, on the right hand side (4th from last) there's a button to insert image (yellow box with what looks like mountains on it). Click that, post the URL to where you have the image posted (photobucket is a free, easy site if you need one) and then voila, in the post it will show up as the picture

From what I understand, the standard aussie club of america will not register mini aussies. However, under certain circumstances standard aussies in other registeries can be also registered with the mini aussie club.

This is how my friend's dog Darby was registered. His parents were both registered mini aussies, and both registered AKC aussies. One was an 18" bitch and the sire was, I think 16". Both purebred. The entire litter was eligible for registration as either, because of their parent's status, but Darby's owner only registered him with the mini aussie club because he only got 17".

Mini aussies and toy aussies are totally different animals. The mini aussie club maintains a registry to make sure there are no mixed dogs being bred into the lines. They also promote working ability and health testing in their code of ethics. In fact, the standard for minis says the following:

So is that true breeding a mini with a standard produces a mixed breed?

The original parent club, ASCA (Aussie Shepherd Club of America) won't register Minis because they don't meet the standard for the Australian Shepherd. Dogs that are significantly undersized have a disqualifying fault and aren't suitable for breeding. That's why there are separate registries for the Minis. Now, some female Aussies can end up being very small even if they're out of normal standard parents, so if a dog is an inch or two under standard, they then qualify for the Mini label, or are just referred to as "out of standard".

There are breeders who do keep crossing back to the standard size so as to preserve the original traits and those breeders are better, in my opinion, than those just keep breeding mini to mini, because that's how you end up with very skewed features, shifts in temperaments, etc. These dogs were not meant to be the size of cocker spaniels. It inhibits working ability.

In Darby's case, no, because his parents were dual registered. Actually, his dam was from a mini X standard breeding, and she was in standard for an aussie at 18". At the low end, but in standard. Some of his siblings were standards, and some including him were in the mini range. His owner was going to breed him to a 19" female, but then he didn't pass the CERF so they neutered him instead.

The aussie club of america sees them as separate breeds because breeding for a smaller size is breeding for an out of standard trait. They won't register dogs that are registered as mini aussies. From how Darby's situation worked out though, I don't think they care if a dog is dual registered as long as they are registered with the aussie parent club all the way back.

Incidentally, mini's also have a size limit. They are not allowed to be smaller than 14".

I have always heard that mini aussies were mixes between alot of smaller dogs along with aussies.

Here are a couple pictures of my "Mini Aussie" He is 10 wks old yesturday.
His name is Mickey...

What a cute little fluffball!!