Ausdauer Australian Shepherds

Ausdauer Australian Shepherds AKC/ASCA Australian Shepherd Breeder in Southeast Missouri.

2025 Remainder Goals 🫶🏼🏆I had this with photos and a long caption on FB, but IG doesn’t allow captions that long so I ha...
06/19/2025

2025 Remainder Goals 🫶🏼🏆
I had this with photos and a long caption on FB, but IG doesn’t allow captions that long so I had to get creative in how I posted it there. Canva for the win 🤣 I had to use compressed font so I’m sorry - I hope it’s legible!

🎯 2025 Remainder Goals & Reflections: The Sport Balancing Act (buckle up, its a long one 😮‍💨)The other day I added up my...
06/19/2025

🎯 2025 Remainder Goals & Reflections: The Sport Balancing Act (buckle up, its a long one 😮‍💨)

The other day I added up my projected entry fees for the remainder of the year and the number surprised me. Honestly, it didn’t feel like that much as I entered things one at a time. But when I broke it down by sport, I realized a huge chunk of that was dock diving and Fast CAT.

So I started asking myself: Where is our time and money going, and why? What are our goals, both short and long term? And how do I balance the sports that are fun with the ones that contribute to our Hall of Fame (HOF) goals?

🐰 FAST CAT Goals:
• Riff – BCAT
• Hops – DCAT (maybe)
They’ll likely be done with Fast CAT after that. It’s one of those sports that can get expensive very quickly, especially once you start chasing FCAT. We’re choosing to pause here (Theory will likely do some once she’s of age) and shift our focus elsewhere. We have two weekends in September available, and if Riff picks it up quickly, his BCAT is absolutely within reach. He can’t start competing until after July 21, when he turns one.

🌊 Dock Diving / Jumping Goals:
• Hops – DS (maybe)
• Riff – Compete in ASCA or NADD?
Hops last jumped in what is NADD’s senior division at ASCA Nationals (Oct 2024). She already holds her DJ, and DS would be next if she keeps that same distance. I’m not planning to pursue ASCA dock jumping with her this year since she’s jumping at the bottom of the Deluxe division, and without my throwing skills improving, I don’t see her clearing the 17.5’ needed to move up.
Right now, I’m not interested in chasing advanced levels in the same distance category, because we’ve got limited time and money, and I want to prove my dogs across more venues rather than going deep into just one. Dock can get expensive fast, and our time is better spread out this season.
My goal is to get Riff off the dock before the season ends. A title in NADD or ASCA would be the cherry on top.

🐕 Conformation (and the mental game)
Let’s talk about my *ahem* conformation aversion.
I burned myself out chasing majors and CHs with Envy.. reserve after reserve, all during a chaotic time in my life. It really took a toll on my confidence in the ring. I’m working on rebuilding that. I had even sent Envy out with a handler for two weekends, but it was too expensive for my budget, and frankly, too stressful for her. I don’t have the financial or emotional space to pay thousands of dollars to a handler for months.
So I’m easing myself back in. I want to regain and keep the joy for me and my dogs in this sport. We’ve got UKC and AKC shows on the books, and maybe even IABCA. I hesitate to set a concrete goal of finishing a CH on Hops or Riff but I’d like to. I just don’t know if I can handle the grind mentally.
The area I live in is highly competitive for AKC conformation, a lot of breeders in the Midwest use professional handlers. Some long time breeders don’t. My handling and grooming aren’t as polished, my face isn’t well known, but I won’t improve if I don’t keep trying.

🏆Agility Goals:
• Hops – Novice titles in AKC & ASCA
• Riff – Build his foundation
Hops has been in agility training for about a year (off and on), and she hasn’t competed yet. Lately she has really progressed and our trainer says she is almost ready.

🐑 Herding Goals:
• Riff – Instinct test
Riff still hasn’t had an instinct test, because I’m slacking. If he shows interest, I’ll focus some thoughts into making a long term plan for him. Hops loves working stock, and I love working with her but with her agility training, possible conformation showing, and then hopefully breeding, I honestly don’t know where I’ll find the time to train her for herding titles.
It feels like a waste of money to keep training in stock if I can’t get to the point of titling. It sucks. I don’t have stock at home, and the commute + expense + time is a lot right now. Riff, being male (no heat cycles or puppies), may be the better long term candidate for stockdog goals but we’ll see what he shows us.

👃🏼 Scentwork
This is something I really want to do with both Hops and Riff. Cersei has her Barn Hunt novice title and loves using her nose, and her kids do too. But starting a brand new sport means time, money, and mental bandwidth.
Sadly, scentwork doesn’t count toward Hall of Fame in ASCA or AKC, so I’ll probably table this one until next year. I might be able to fit in a class with Riff for confidence building, though, if we can’t find another.

🎓 Obedience / Rally / Tracking
🔹 Obedience: I have mad respect for everyone who competes here but I’m not sure I have it in me to walk that path right now. Maybe in 10 years.
🔹 Rally: I’d love to do this with Riff, and maybe Hops. I’m considering a class for him. If I could line it up to attend the same day as another class for Theory, that’ll help justify the three hour round trip commute.
🔹 Tracking: Not for me. It’s just too hard to access training and trials where I am.

🧠 Big Picture: Balancing Fun vs. HOF
I’ve mentioned a few times that “it can get very expensive very quickly.” That’s true of probably all the sports. So I’m trying to strike a balance between:
• Sports that me and my dogs enjoy that are lower pressure for me mentally (like dock diving, Fast CAT, possibly scentwork), and
• Sports that contribute to long term goals, especially Hall of Fame recognition for Ausdauer.

Not all titles are created equal in the HOF world. AKC and ASCA require accomplishments in specific disciplines: conformation, agility, obedience, rally, herding/stockdog, and tracking. “Fun” sports like dock and Fast CAT don’t count and I get that. I’m not arguing they should.

But as a preservation breeder working toward HOF goals, I have to align the smaller goals with the big ones. That means making tough decisions about how we spend time, money, and energy, without losing the joy that made me love this in the first place.

The “harder” sports bring more pressure. There are higher barriers: access to equipment, access to trainers, handling skills, nerves. Sometimes we just want to do the fun things with our dogs. And sometimes, I think the dogs want that too.

So I’m here still figuring it out. I know my dogs are capable. Now it’s my turn to hold myself accountable, set smaller stepping stone goals, and build us up toward the bigger dreams.

My dirty cutie patooties! Baz & TheoryBaz (front) is looking for a performance/sport home! Food + toy motivated. The dam...
06/19/2025

My dirty cutie patooties! Baz & Theory
Baz (front) is looking for a performance/sport home!
Food + toy motivated.
The dam is titled in agility, dock, fcat, barn hunt, & more. Half siblings titled in several sports as well.
PM for more information.

⛰️ F***g (formerly Seren) has made it all the way to Alaska ⛰️This brave, sweet girl took on a full day of travel with t...
06/16/2025

⛰️ F***g (formerly Seren) has made it all the way to Alaska ⛰️

This brave, sweet girl took on a full day of travel with two flights, a layover, and delays on both ends, and absolutely rocked it. Her new mom said it best: “She was a champ.”

We are so proud of how well she handled the chaos of airports and airplanes. Calm, patient, and adaptable, she took everything in stride like she’s been doing this her whole life.

F***g has now met her new big brother, a handsome Border Collie, and the two are already hitting it off (photo attached). She’ll have every opportunity to explore whatever sport or adventure her heart leads her to, and we are beyond excited for the amazing life ahead of her.

Her registered name is still in the works, but one thing is certain. This girl found her perfect match, and we could not be happier.

Welcome to the Ausdauer family, Lauren and Shaun!

✨ Meet Theory ✨(formerly Lumen from the Ethereal Litter)Ausdauer’s Where Light BeginsHer name is a full circle tribute t...
06/15/2025

✨ Meet Theory ✨
(formerly Lumen from the Ethereal Litter)
Ausdauer’s Where Light Begins

Her name is a full circle tribute that ties together her call name Theory, her baby name Lumen, and the light filled theme of her litter. From the moment she arrived, she’s carried a spark, and now she gets to grow into the brilliance we always hoped for.

Sired by the lovely BISS RBIS GCHG ASCA CH CopperRidge’s Believe It Or Not ATT CGC FDC “Ripley” and out of my fierce and fabulous Gemfire’s Black Hearted Dragon JS-O RS-N LC-N BCAT DJA RATN TKI “Cersei”, this little girl has some big pawprints to follow but I think she just might blaze a path all her own.

I’m beyond excited about this puppy and have big plans to do all the things with her but for now our focus is on growing up, having fun, and letting her shine in her own time.

Here’s to the start of something bright ✨

(Photo from a few weeks ago - she’s dirty puppy currently)

🛒 First Tractor Supply adventure for Bane, F***g (formerly Seren), and Lumen (new name coming soon)! 🐾At 12 weeks, they’...
06/09/2025

🛒 First Tractor Supply adventure for Bane, F***g (formerly Seren), and Lumen (new name coming soon)! 🐾

At 12 weeks, they’ve only had their second round of puppy vaccines, so for their safety, they rode in the carts instead of walking on the floor. We don’t know what other dogs have been in the store, and until they’re fully vaccinated, it’s better to be safe than sorry. 💉🚫🐕

That said, this kind of trip is perfect for early socialization: new sights, sounds, smells, automatic doors, kind strangers, and strange cart wheels rumbling underneath them, all in a safe and positive way. This is how we build confident, adaptable puppies! 🌟

✨ F***g (formerly Seren, from our Ethereal litter) is heading off to her new home in Alaska this weekend! ✈️🌲She turned ...
06/09/2025

✨ F***g (formerly Seren, from our Ethereal litter) is heading off to her new home in Alaska this weekend! ✈️🌲

She turned 12 weeks old on Friday and, per Alaska’s import requirements, got her rabies vaccine and health certificate today. While I usually wait until after the full puppy vaccine series to give rabies, it’s safe after 12 weeks and required for her trip home — and she didn’t even flinch! 🐾💉

She was the sweetest little schmooze at the vet — soaking up all the love, relaxing on the exam table like a pro, and working for her cheese stick in the lobby like the smart, focused girl she is. 🧀

If I had unlimited time, money, and sanity, I’d be keeping her too.. she’s that special. I hoped and wished for a girl in this litter and was lucky enough to get two. While her sister stays here, F***g is off to a life full of adventure with a Border Collie big brother, some awesome human parents, and plans for barn hunt, dock diving, and whatever else her heart wants.

I’m so proud of her and beyond excited to watch her future unfold. 💜

Bane is still looking for his performance home!Today I glued his ears — they’d both gone rose while I was on vacation. H...
06/08/2025

Bane is still looking for his performance home!
Today I glued his ears — they’d both gone rose while I was on vacation. His natural set is still within both AKC and ASCA standards, but I personally prefer a button ear (and let’s be honest, so does the conformation ring). So we glued!

Of course, sometimes even glued ears do their own thing (Hops, I’m talking to you 😅), but I still like to give them the best chance to land where I prefer.

Pedigree Matters. And So Does Purpose.There’s an old post that still floats around now and then. It points out how two d...
06/08/2025

Pedigree Matters. And So Does Purpose.

There’s an old post that still floats around now and then. It points out how two dogs can hold the same title, but one might have earned it in two weekends while the other took two years. That difference matters. But it doesn’t always reflect the dog’s ability. It could just as easily reflect the handler’s experience, their training access, or their resources.

Some people send their dogs out to professional trainers or handlers to earn titles. That doesn’t make those dogs less worthy. Not everyone has livestock at home or a local dock or the skills to bring a dog to competition level in a demanding sport. But it’s important to understand that titles don’t exist in a vacuum. They are one piece of a much bigger picture.

And in a breed like the Australian Shepherd, where we see a wide range of working styles, structure, energy levels, and instincts, that bigger picture matters more than most people realize.

A lot of well meaning people do their research and end up hearing the same advice over and over: “Look for a breeder who shows in conformation.” And while that can be good advice in some cases, it’s not always the right fit, especially in a breed as diverse as the Aussie. If someone is looking for a dog to do a specific job like agility, herding, dock diving, or scentwork, they should be looking at parents (or at least one parent) who is actively doing those things. Because it’s not just about having a title. It’s about all the pieces behind it. The traits we need for those jobs (drive, instinct, confidence, biddability) are shaped through generations of intentional breeding. Without that purpose behind the pedigree, you’re often leaving things up to chance.

Why that matters is because when breeders aren’t testing their dogs in the environments they’re selling puppies for, they may never see behaviors that are problematic for that job. For example, if I weren’t running my own dogs in agility, but was placing puppies into sport homes, I might not see that a dog struggles to regulate arousal and reacts to pressure by biting the handler. That creates a chain of frustration and resentment, on the breeder’s end, the buyer’s end, and for the dog stuck in the middle. These are the kinds of mismatches that careful, honest breeding and equally careful placements can mostly prevent. (Things still happen. They’re dogs, and we’re humans.)

In herding, if you need a dog who’ll confidently work cow and calf pairs up close, that takes a different kind of pressure response than a dog who naturally wants to stay wider and work off the stock. These differences aren’t just training, though with enough time and money, sometimes they can be. They’re genetic.

In scentwork, it’s the difference between a dog who naturally uses their nose, wants to seek out odor, and offers confident indications, versus one who needs the drive carefully shaped and built from scratch. That workability is inherited just like everything else.

In dock diving, it’s the difference between a dog who naturally takes to the water, tracks the toy, and jumps without hesitation versus one who needs a year just to get comfortable stepping off the dock, that often comes down to what’s behind them. It’s not random. It’s genetic.

These qualities don’t just appear out of nowhere. They come from intentional breeding decisions. They come from selection. They come from pedigree.

This isn’t about conformation breeders versus performance breeders. Some programs do it all. Some specialize. What matters is that buyers understand the context behind what they’re getting, AND that breeders are honest about what they’re producing.

As breeders, we sometimes get frustrated when buyers misrepresent their goals, experience, or expectations. But we need to hold ourselves to that same standard. Are we being honest about what our puppies are actually bred for? Are we placing them in homes where their instincts, drives, and tendencies are likely to be an asset and not a problem?

Saying “they’re Aussies, they can do anything” sounds good, but it doesn’t always serve the dog or the home. Versatility doesn’t mean one size fits all.

Pedigree matters. Purpose matters. Context matters.
For the breed, and for the people who live with them.

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Farmington, MO
63640

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