Get to know your
Australian Shepherd.

What is inside the Australian Shepherd

This edition combines three parts in one file. The total page count includes general content, the breed-specific section and the planner; it does not refer only to breed-specific text.

1. General foundations

A reading foundation covering home preparation, everyday care, nutrition, training and life together. These chapters are shared across the collection and provide context before the breed-specific section.

2. A section devoted to the Australian Shepherd

History, profile and breed-specific care topics organized into ten chapters. Browse the list below and read a short history excerpt to get a feel for the writing style.

3. Printable planner

Pages for your records, details, dates and memories within the same PDF. Print only the sheets you need. This is not an app, and fillable form fields are not advertised.

Your breed-specific chapters

1. Breed history and origins
2. Breed profile and characteristics
3. Health predispositions discussed in the guide
4. Feeding by life stage
5. Energy and activity
6. Temperament and life together
7. Physical care and coat
8. Care calendar
9. Observations organized by body area
10. Training and socialization

A short excerpt to begin

From the history chapter in this edition: a short reading sample.

Despite its name, the Australian Shepherd is not Australian. The breed's origin is one of the most debated in canine history, but the most widely accepted account traces it through a triangular route: Pyrenean Sheepdogs from the Basque region of Spain and France, taken by Basque shepherds to Australia to work on vast sheep stations during the 19th century, where they were reportedly crossed with Collies. The resulting dogs — compact, agile, often merle-colored, and commonly born with shortened or absent tails — were then brought to California in the mid-to-late 1800s alongside the Australian Merino flocks that ranchers were importing.

Excerpt from chapter 20 · History and origins