Our Australian shepherd is the smartest (and craziest) dog we have ever had.
A funny thing about him is his love of toys. We started to call his stuffed toys “baba bear”, so if you say to him, “Go get your baba bear”…he’ll run off and fetch one, and bring it over to you.
A few times, I’ve seen him nap with one, as captured on this photo — my entry for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge theme of Enveloped.
Despite their name, Australian shepherds (also known as “Aussies”) were bred and developed in the Western U.S. There are different variations in their color, and our guy is called a “blue merle”. He has one blue eye, and one brown eye, which I think adds to his crazy and sweet personality. Crazy ol’ blue eye!
He is turning 15 this year, so has slowed down a lot. Considering that dogs similar in size to Aussies live from 11 to 13 years, we are happy that ours is still here for us to love.
A little about the Aussie’s history:
The Australian Shepherd’s history is vague, as is the reason for its misleading name. It is believed by some that the breed has Basque origins in Spain and was used there by shepherds. Those shepherds might, then, have emigrated to the West Coast of the United States via Australia. However, scientific evidence has shown that the breed has lineage from American dogs that originally came over the Bering Land Bridge. What is known is that it developed in western North America in the 19th and early 20th centuries.