Australian Shepherd breeders
The Australian Shepherd (Aussie) is an AKC Herding-group dog that, despite the name, was developed in the American West by Basque shepherds working their flocks across California, Idaho, and Colorado in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Also known as: Aussie
Buying a Australian Shepherd, the working-breeder checklist.
A serious Aussie breeder leads with the MDR1 conversation. The MDR1 gene mutation (multidrug resistance 1) makes affected Aussies dangerously sensitive to common veterinary drugs including ivermectin and several anesthetics, and roughly half the breed carries at least one copy. Responsible breeders test every breeding dog and disclose the result to every buyer. They also produce OFA hips and elbows, a current CAER eye exam, and they will not breed merle to merle under any circumstance. They ask about your home: Aussies are working dogs that need a job, and a breeder who places an Aussie with a sedentary household without a long conversation about exercise needs is the wrong breeder.
Typical price range
An Australian Shepherd puppy from a responsible breeder usually costs between fifteen hundred and thirty-five hundred dollars in the United States, with proven working lines and conformation prospects on the higher end. Mini Aussies (now formally the Miniature American Shepherd, a separate AKC breed since 2015) command similar prices. Anything under eight hundred dollars almost always means the breeder skipped the MDR1 test or the eye exam, both of which are non-negotiable in this breed. Ask exactly what is included: shots, microchip, dewormer, vet check, AKC paperwork, and the lifetime take-back clause.
Health checks worth asking about
The United States Australian Shepherd Association CHIC requirements include OFA hips and elbows, an annual CAER eye exam, an MDR1 DNA test, and DNA tests for HSF4 (juvenile cataracts), CEA (Collie eye anomaly), and PRA-prcd (progressive retinal atrophy). Some lines also screen for degenerative myelopathy. A breeder who can hand you the MDR1 status of both parents and an OFA number for hips is giving you the two most important data points in the breed.
No Australian Shepherd breeders on Breed Ledger yet.
What buyers ask about Australian Shepherd.
Other herding breeds worth considering.
Each link goes to the breeder directory for that breed. Australian Shepherd not quite the match for your household? These are the closest relatives.