Miniature Ausseippet

The Miniature Ausseippet hybrid is a mix of the Miniature Australian Shepherd and Whippet.  There is no information available on the hybrid so we'll have to get our hybrid history from the parent breeds.  The Miniature Australian Shepherd has an interesting history to be sure.  For starters, it doesn't hail specifically from Australia, as its name would suggest, but rather is the result of shepherds from the basque region of France and Spain bringing their working dogs from the European continent to northwest part of North America in the 19th century. These shepherds are said to have come from Australia and that is suggested as the reason for the "Australian" part of the moniker.   These working dogs were bred for a variety of shepherding tasks, at which they excelled.  When they were brought to the United States, their hard working traits were utilized in much the same way as from whence they came.  Eventually, the breeding characteristics of the Australian Shepherd, which were quite different in the early years, were standardized and the larger breed was recognized by the American Kennel Club in 1993.  In the 1960's, a Californian obtained several smaller Australian Shepherds, their small and compact size getting her interest and capturing her heart.  She began to work with local veterinarians to create a smaller version of the larger breed.  She did manage to get litters which contained both larger and smaller versions of the Australian Shepherd, which caught the interest of professional breeders.  They got into the fray and worked to create the smaller "mini" version and to develop standardized breed characteristics for this new mini breed.  But, the road to gaining American Kennel Club recognition of this new mini breed wasn't easy.  After much arguing and deliberation among the larger Aussie breed fanciers and the AKC, the Miniature Australian Shepherd was recognized by the American Kennel Club in 2015 but it necessitated a name change to "Miniature American Shepherd".  This mini version is currently quite popular as family companions, in agility and obedience competitions.  The Whippet parent breed is one which originated in the United Kingdom in probably the 19th century.  While its ancestry and actual date of origination is shrouded in mystery, small dogs resembling Greyhounds have been found depicted in pictures and artistic carvings for centuries prior to this.  Additionally, some believe that breeds in its ancestry could include small Spaniels, the Italian Greyhound and possibly the Manchester Terrier.  Another theory or explanation for the smaller size of the Whippet rests with the breeding practice of using the smaller "runts" of the litter as breeding stock to reduce the size of the offspring.  Regardless of which theory one buys into, the official facts revolve around the breed being developed in England in the 19th century for purposes of rabbit-luring activities. This compact canine breed quickly became popular with the working class as well as the rich, royal and famous.  They valued them for their hunting abilities as well as their speed on the racing track.  The Whippet breed made its way to the United States with English immigrants in the New England area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  The qualities of the breed quickly caught on in the United States and it was recognized by the American Kennel Club in 1888.