I got a puppy! Meet Pixel, the Mini American Shepherd.

[GreenJay]

She's charming! She does look remarkably like a blue Merle Aussie . We have 2 Aussies, they keep ya on your toes!

 

[Pyxis]

She's charming! She does look remarkably like a blue Merle Aussie . We have 2 Aussies, they keep ya on your toes!

The breeds are likely closely related. When they first started developing the MAS, they started with dogs that were thought to possibly be small Aussies

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

I haven't been posting in here very well, haha. Pixel is a year old now! In fact, it's been a little over a year since I got her. Here's a picture from her birthday:

She even had a birthday party at a local pet store where I've become friendly with the owner, and her dog friends came and they all had a good time.

She is so cute!

 

[DesertSplash]

Just starting a thread for Pixel, somewhere that I can share the fun stuff - and vent my frustrations, haha.

This is Pixel! She is a Mini American Shepherd. Her birthday is 1/23/22. I brought her home last Saturday.

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We are of course still working on potty training, basic training, and crate training. So far, aside from potty accidents and her eating my phone charger last night (sigh) things are going well. She is doing pretty well on learning Sit, and she knows her name and will come when called (for the most part, lol).

No one seems to know this breed. I had to get pet insurance for her under 'Mini Australian Shepherd' which yes, is what the breed used to be called when it was first being worked on, but is not the real AKC name. The vet didn't even have it! I had to argue with them about it. Her health certificate from the breeder's vet lists her as Australian Shepherd, not even Mini, because that's probably the only option that clinic had too, so my vet tried to say "Well that's what her health certificate says so that's what she is" and I was like, I literally have her AKC papers right here, she is NOT an Australian Shepherd. So I can see this will be a recurring theme, sigh.

Anyway, I hope to eventually get her herding training, and her job will be to herd my waterfowl for me. No more of me chasing the ducks and geese around to get them in at night, once she's trained! And this is a very smart working breed, so she WILL need a job.

Your American Shepherd is very pretty. Glad to hear you'll be training her since both Australian Shepherds, as well as American Shepherds, are very intelligent and thrive when they're given a job to do.

 

[Pyxis]

Your American Shepherd is very pretty. Glad to hear you'll be training her since both Australian Shepherds, as well as American Shepherds, are very intelligent and thrive when they're given a job to do.

Thanks! She's a good girl. Lots of drive. I wasn't able to find a herding instructor in my area, so I'm kinda doing it myself. She'd never win a competition, probably, but as long as it works for us, that's good enough for me, lol.

I did find a local place that does agility though! Thinking we'll try that out in the fall when this crazy hot and humid weather has hopefully subsided.

Since I'm posting, here's some new pictures of my little monster: