Teacup Australian shepherd--12lbs!!!

[Albino]

I personally ADORE the toy aussies. A GOOD one looks just like an australian shepherd, just smaller. Heavier bones are favorable, toyish look is actually a severe fault and is punished heavily in shows. Bulging eyes, tiny bones, these things aren't favorable. They are also supposed to behave just like an aussie, have a strong herding instinct, pretty high energy, just like a normal aussie. There are some BEAUTIFUL toy aussies out there, and I don't think they're a corruption of the aussie breed, I think they're wonderful. A properly bred one is all aussie in a 12" package. They're obtained through selective breeding of smaller dogs, not by crossing them with anything. And a good breeder will ALWAYS try to make their dogs look as aussie as possible, and not sacrifice conformation and personality for size. When breeders start trying to breed them smaller than 10 inches, you do start seeing more toyish features and they look more like papillions, but that is considered faulted, since they are supposed to be bred to look like aussies as much as possible. Hate me as much as you want, I personally adore them.

Also, let me just say about the breeders, from what I've seen, they love their dogs as much as anyone else. Its not like every breeder is a puppy mill just out for money. There are some really wanting to breed quality dogs who will do well in the show ring, agility, herding, and just being a family pet. They make sure the dogs go to quality homes, not just somewhere that they'll be abandoned. They care about their dogs. Not every breeder is just making some novelty for a quick buck. I'm not even a breeder, and never will be, but even I'm a little offended by how many people think that just because someone breeds a dog that they aren't concerned about the health of the puppies. Yeah, there's some out there who aren't and who are just greedy, but there's still such thing as good breeders.

Just out of curiosity, were you guys this outraged when they started shrinking the poodles to toy sized?

Seriously, you guys are acting like these dogs are some kind of monstrosity or something. For a community that is supposed to love dogs, I'm kinda surprised to read this thread.