Mini Aussies are kind of touchy with me ... I've met several REALLY awesome NAS breeders, who imho were far better people/breeders/aussie people than the many many Australian Shepherd breeders in my area. Where I live, you typically see Mini breeders with real working dogs, and Aussie breeders with big floofy show dogs, and I spoke to a LOTTT of breeders in person and online. I have seen the effect of using a 16-18" Mini/Aussie on livestock compared to a 22"+ show-type Aussie, and it's pretty much a different dog. When Di and I went to herding camp, there were several Mini's there who kicked butt and were very nicely-bred. There are also very reputable Aussie breeders out there taking on Mini's as a side project.

I feel they are being exploited by loads of puppy mills and BYB's, and interbred with Poms and whatnot to create 9" Teacup Aussies, which is disgusting!!! There is no way any well-bred Aussies could be bred down to 10", at all. From what I've seen, NAMASCA is a great breed club and all of the Mini's I've met have been really well bred, even dogs. But, it kind of killed me to think of some one breeding down Border Collies to 14" and giving them a different name, so I see where Aussie people are coming from. Sue has also talked to me about how Australian Shepherd litters from good breeders often have pups slightly under the standard, 16"-17", depending on the parents' sizes. Luckily, I didn't have to painfully go through the process of choosing between the Mini breeder that I really loved, and finding an Aussie breeder; because I've always wanted a Cardi and my Mom grew up with one and jumped on the chance to get a pup from the friend of our family. I'll hopefully get an Aussie someday! They're really great dogs... but there are plenty of spazzy Aussies within the breed (just like BC's ), so definitely choose your breeder wisely. A family that lives nearby got an Aussie boy from a random breeder who has a farm that is borderline puppy mill, and their dog is just a freak . Truly. He is 70 pounds of insane, dense, barky, jumpy, mouthy, dog... poor guy! After paying $800 for him, he also has countless breed faults, eyes that are 1/2" apart, a bad overbite, yeasty ears, a badly docked tail, a super narrow head, etc, etc, and the Mom went and said that Gonzo "HAS to be a mix! He looks way too mangy to be a real Border Collie!" She also mistook him for an Aussie when she first met him ... The family he lives with is kind of like that, though, so he could've earned his behavior from them. Aussies really should act/look nothing like him, there are plenty of bad breeders for every breed.