Why are Australian Shepherds called Australian Shepherd?
This breed does not eventuate from Australia so why are they called Australian Shepherds? It seems to be a misnomer to me.
The other posters beat me to it, but if you want to delve into a better explanation of the history of the breed the Hartnagle website has a very well researched explanation:
http://www.lasrocosa.com/vanishedtrails.html
The Australian Shepherd is a breed of working dog that was developed on ranches in the Western United States. Despite its name, the breed, commonly known as an Aussie, did not in fact originate in Australia. They acquired their name because of its association with sheepherders who came to the United States from Australia.
–Straight from Wikipedia.
References :
http://www.wikipedia.org
“They acquired their name because of its association with sheepherders who came to the United States from Australia.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_shepherd
References :
The other posters beat me to it, but if you want to delve into a better explanation of the history of the breed the Hartnagle website has a very well researched explanation:
http://www.lasrocosa.com/vanishedtrails.html
References :
Australian shepherds where brought with Basque shepherd over to australia. From there they where brought over to The U.S. where they were named Australian Shepherds. Not realizing they actually hailed from Spain and Andorra. when australian sheep where impoted to the U.S the Basque shepherds and their dogs made the trip and the Aussie aquired its name.
Add: and I got a thumbs down why? Its true. They didnt have the internet back then and there was a definate language gap between the western states farmers and the Spanish shepherds. Their naming the aussie that is completely understandable since they came over from Australia and for all the farmers knew originated there. Plus they where working Australian sheep
References :
Aussie owner