Page 27 - The Labrador Retriever

THE BACK STORY:
MINIATURE AMERICAN SHEPHERDS
by KAREN KELLER
President, Miniature American Shepherd Club of the USA; Timeless Miniature American Shepherds
AKC approved the split of the Australian Shepherd by phenotype into two breeds in May of 2011, now known
as the Australian Shepherd and the Min- iature American Shepherd. The pheno- type being size.
In May of 2011, the American Ken- nel Club also approved MASCUSA as the parent breed club to represent the Min- iature American Shepherd.
The model that was used to split the Australian Shepherd breed was the Nor- folk and Norwich Terrier. The pheno- type that split these Terriers into two breeds was their ear set. Initially, AKC recognized these two breeds as one breed, the Norwich Terrier, until 1979, when division by ear carriage became official. The drop ears are now recog- nized as the Norfolk, while the prick ears remain Norwich in AKC.
Prior to AKC recognition, the Min- iature American Shepherds were known as Miniature Australian Shep- herds, North American Shepherds or Mini Aussies. MASCUSA, the AKC par- ent breed club, has been around since 1990 with the sole purpose to promote and advance the Australian Shepherds smaller than the preferred height of 18 inches.
MASCUSA was originally formed in 1990 and incorporated in 1993. Per Article II of our first bylaws, MASCUSA’s objectives and purpose was to aid and encourage the breeding and raising of purebred Miniature Australian Shep- herds as a small mirror-image of the Australian Shepherd dog, more specifi- cally defined in our breed standard.
Left: Australian Shepherd Right: Miniature American Shephard
238 • SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, FEBRUARY 2017
OFFICIAL AKC HISTORY OF THE MINIATURE AMERICAN SHEPHERD
The Miniature American Shep- herd was developed in California during the late 1960s with the breeding of small, unregistered dogs that were thought to be Aus- tralian Shepherds. These dogs were bred with a goal of maintaining their small size, active character and intelligence.
The breed was first registered with the National Stock Dog Reg-
istry in 1980 and was originally called the Miniature Australian Shepherd. By the early 1990s, they had attained nationwide popular- ity. Several clubs promoted these small dogs, as they were registered and shown with various rare-breed organizations. The first parent breed club and registry, MASCUSA, was formed in 1990 and incorpo- rated in 1993. The breed entered the AKC Foundation Stock Service as the Miniature American Shep- herd in May 2011. The Miniature