–First post is by a lady who claims to breed “toy / mini australian shepherds.”

I have a 3 year ancient, 8 pound black tri BET (blue eyed tri PRODUCER). ASDR registered, full registration is available-

Pet price
Breeding price

He LOVES to snuggle on the couch, is reserved around strangers, but will LOVE you, partially potty trained as he will mark, but isn’t terriable about it-I’m out of town right now, and will be back in the next week if you’d like to see him. This is a RARE breed, YES THERE ARE TOY AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERDS-I have an AKC 8 pound female, and. Tucker grew up in a kennel before I bought him, but has been inside my loving family, and is VERY SWEET!!! He will dance for you and and lick you!!

email me for more information-I’ll work wiht the price depending on yoru wants/your home, but hes not free, and keep in mind this is RARE and sought after- www.barbiedollsteacupaussies.com

–Second post is by a person discrediting her.

Toy aussies / Mini aussies are NOT real breeds!
Yes, they do EXIST but so does my Australian Bernard. But surprise, that’s not a real breed, just my australian st. bernard mix!

The AKC does not recognize “Mini aussies” or “toy aussies.” No reputable kennel does! The ARBA recognizes ‘Minis’, but not ‘toy aussies’, have you heard of this association? Okay then. And it’s amusing, the registries and clubs who do recognize and breed ‘Mini Aussies’ don’t even recognize the ‘toy aussies’ as a real breed.

It’s right with any breed… would you refer to a Yorkshire Terrier as a standard Yorkshire Terrier? No, because there is only one size (so anyone who’s paid hundreds for a ‘teacup yorkie’, you should have done your homework), the same is right with Rottweilers, Labradors, Jack Russell’s, etc.

So how do you get a miniature or toy aussie? Please read the excerpt:

In the end there are two ways to achieve smaller sizes–by inbreeding on naturally small dogs or by thwart breeding to other small breeds to rush the miniaturization process. Obviously each approach has its problems.

Inbreeding reinforces desired traits, but also brings out the hidden genetic problems. So generations of inbreeding can cause a privileged occurance of inherited problems like hip dysplasia, epilepsy, cataracts, auto immune problems and so on.

The other means is to thwart breed. Some folks seem to think that if a dog looks sort of like an Australian Shepherd–merle coloration, wedge shaped head, longish coat and docked tail, that it must be an Aussie. Just because it waddles and quacks, doesn’t mean it is a duck!

Some of these breeders will incorporate other toy sized breeds to rush the miniaturization process. This amounts to essentially breeding a mutt and fraudulently selling it as a purebred dog. A good way to make sure this doesn’t take place is to question the breeder for records showing that several generations of dogs have been DNA tested proving that their parents are the dogs represented on the pedigree. This is a common place requirement in legitimately recognized breeds like the Australian Shepherd.

Reducing a dog to a toy size also can increase reproduction problems. Females may only be able have tiny litters of one to three pups, sometimes only by C-Section. Toy sized puppies can be born with a myriad of ingrained defects, some apparent, some not. Remember, in scenery, change takes place slowly. The breeders of miniature and toy breeds are forcing changes in the structure of their dogs at an astrophysical pace.

The toy breeders are attempting to produce an entirely new breed variation on just a few generations at the expense of the health and well being of the animals. Reduced size brings about profound changes in soundness–such as the need for Cesareans–because of the rapidity of the change from large to small. The dog’s genetic code does not necessarily change in proportion to the reduction in size.

Toy dogs are often bug eyed or wall-eyed. The reduction in head size occurred quicker than the reduction in eye size, thereby moving the eyes around to the sides of the head. Dogs bred for small size often have nervous system difficulties such as epilepsy.

Vets can provide you with a long grocery list of problems that they frequently see in association with the extreme miniaturization of a breed.

There are no doubt, healthy, pleased miniature and toy sized Australian Shepherds, but how many others are having problems? Question the breeder of the toy dog how many of the offspring he or she has followed up on throughout their lives? What sort of health clearances did these dogs have and how often were they checked. What is the mortality rate of the puppies?

What it comes down to is this: It has taken generations of careful breeding to produce consistency in the Australian Shepherd.

The goal of the original breed was to maintain a working ranchdog who was healthy and had a temperament suited for herding livestock and protecting the family home. Reputable b
Oh, I didn’t even notice it got cut off. I don’t know what the rest of the post said. But my question was did this person with the ‘toy’ aussie have grounds for what she was saying? Are they soon to be usual by the AKC? But from what I’ve gathered, that’s not right. Thank you guys. I like this breed, and I didn’t think this BYB was right, but she was a little convincing.

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