I don’t think there is a Koolie owner or breeder alive who hasn’t had their own ideas on how the Koolie got its name or what breeds were the foundations of the Koolie breed.
I do know there is a lot interest in these two items regarding the Koolie.
Who wouldn’t like to know more about their own beloved breed.

So here is your chance to share your thoughts, put the record straight or just contribute your opinion and supply your theories as well as add to the Koolie information library.

Here are a few earlier Speculations.

1. Regarding the possible foundations of not only the Koolie but all working breeds in Australia, by English Author Iris Combe, read the piece from her website http://www.roughcolliesofdistinction.com/breed_ancestry.htm
look under the paragraph Australian and American breeds, under the subheading Branches, and again under the subheading Australia, then post your opinion.
Do you agree or disagree with the theory that Captain Cook brought the first herding breed to Australia’s shore, and Iris Combes portrayal of the Koolie.

2. The Koolie name from where did it come, was it a mispronunciation, a misspelling of Collie or the derogative term for a laborer. Do you have other theories/speculations on where it came from.

Those two should get you started, put on your thinking caps and feel free to let your imagination roam.
No one will challenge your opinions, because everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, speculation or theories.
If you have other theories regarding the Koolie, post them so we can discuss them as well.
If you have facts to strengthen your point, post them as well.
Look forward to your input.

Can't say I have a theory to offer but definitely looking forward to reading others.

Hi Tjukurpa

I don't think that speculation will solve this dilema but could cause more confusion.

I think that the genetic research that is persently going on could solve the puzzle when our Koolies DNA is cross referenced to other breeds to see where
there is a crosslink we may find the answer.

The answer to this question must be based in fact rather than wishes and therefore needs to be soundly documented.

It is believed that the Australian Shepherd and the koolie may be related so why doesn't someone organise a DNA sample of a good representative of each breed with long established lines behind them and submit this for testing to establish once and for all if there is a relationship.

Others believe that the Koolie had a different origin than others so why cant the parties with some proof of origin do the same get DNA samples of good representatives in each group and submit them for testing.

This will of course rule out some and possibly include others but would in any case lead us to a factual resolution of this question.


Jack WIlja Koolies

Hi Jack

You are correct in your thinking, DNA will eventually give up the truth.

And plans are in the pipeline to widen the search to include, Aussies, German Tigers, Welsh, Scottish and other European Collie bloodlines.

It just takes time, we have had to wait years for some of the test to even exist like the merle test and breed specific.

But more attention is being placed upon dog genetics than ever before and I believe we will have answers sooner than later.

Speculation can create confusion, but it can also divulge new theories.

I have had my head in many books over the last couple of months and I can tell you most of the information written before the nineteen hundreds was pure speculation, and yet a lot of it has been proven correct, but many wouldn't have thought to go that way if it hadn't been for the original theories.

I believe healthy theorizing or speculation is good, just so long as no one labels it as fact, we all have our own unique perceptions, our own opinions.

Here is another piece of fact that has been uncovered.
Would just love your opinion on it.

The early breeds which came to our shores in the 1800s were not as many have presumed sheepdogs or herding breeds, a very large portion, looking to have arrived before any herding breeds, were the terriers for ratting and greyhounds for hunting.
Records show that our early settlers, the ones who had the money to set up the sheep stations and breed the Marino and the cattle, brought with them a combination of Greyhound, Terriers and later on as they became established a small solid colored working breed possibly of Collie influence.

Once I get use of a scanner I will show you a photo from the early 1800s.

I must admit that I never gave much thought to the early influences and would never had thought that greyhounds figured in the picture.

But having been exposed to so much literary delights, I am thrilled by my new understanding of the Australian past and our early convicts and free settlers, it is all just so seductive to know that because Australia has only been settled for 200 years most of our efforts have been recorded, you just need to look.
Just fascinating.

Hi Tjukurpa

I don't think it matters what people think the breed should look like as the shape and coloration on these dogs is diverse that I think a lot of people will be disapointed when a standard is set if this ever occurs, and who is to say who decides what the standard should be.

I have long lines of Koolies as you know and even they are as diverse as any other lot.

I have of course dogs that I consider my best dogs and have mated 2 of them recently that should produce an exceptional litter. This is however not what I am after, I am after a dog that has good confirmation and is quick and agile and has stamina it must also have natural instinct to burn and be hard enough to do any task given doeasn't matter what the circumstance may be.

The last litter of pups I sold went mainly to kelpie people on sheep and cattle properties who have all given me plenty of feedback and they all say the same. Firstly HOW SMART these dogs are and the INSTINCT they show from day one. I sent an email on to the registraar that I received from South Australia a pup I sent down there working sheep in yards and paddocks at three months of age.

This is what I am after dogs that can do what they have been bred for.
It is only after this has been secured that I will consider color. I believe that a Koolie that can't run easily is a waste of time as is a Koolie that isn't agile enough as this dog is likely to get hurt when working as it hasn't the means to help itself.

I am sure there are plenty of Koolie owners out there that have a type of dog I am talking about.

The people that haven't will be pleasently surprised when they get one.

Hope this all makes some sort of sense.


Jack Wilja Koolies

Hi All,

I have an observation I would like to have confirmed if possible.

I often notice a bitch with pup's blocking these pup's head on when they are 4 weeks and older.

I have had some bitches over the years that didn't show this as strongly as others and have on occasion had a bitch other than the mother of the pup's do the same.

I have because of this often thought that this teaches the pup to block and therefore become a natural header.

Has anyone else noticed the same.

If this is the way I think it is it may be possible to use a surrogate bitch to create better pup's than would otherwise be the case.

All my bitches are natural headers but have seen plenty who lacked this trait and it would be nice if through discussion like this we could all improve our litters that are lacking.

Your feedback would be greatly appreciated on this matter.

otherwise I guess ot is food for thought


Jack Wilja Koolies

All my females have weaned their pups from around three weeks, normaly by four weeks their back out in the paddock, only coming in for night feeds, junior males take over raising the pups and teach them manners and confidence.
I know this is not the case for most breeders but it is what happens here.
The actions of the Adults do influence the pups, that is why a pup raised around a grumpy adult will either become grumpy itself or will never display any confidence because it's spirit has been crushed.

But there must be something within the pup first to drive it to go one way or another.
Possibly the bitches don't instill or create the condition, maybe they just inhance what was there already?

It is definetly worth recording the event, over time we will be able to see if your theory is right on the mark.
Maybe I'll introduce a female after mum finishes her job and see what occures.

I don't instigate any habits, I have just allowed the Koolies to work naturaly, this includes how they raise their pups, in a pack situation it appears the junior or lower rank males like to raise the pups.

Hi Tjukurpa

It was just a thought, I don't normally have a lot of time to sit down and watch the pup's when I let them out with some of my other dogs but when Sue had her last litter I noticed Sue heading her pup's fairly harshly and a short time later also noticed Jess doing the same to Sue's pups.

I then thought that this may be a routine that the bitches go through to teach the pup's.

Again it was only an observation but if this is widespread behaviour it may be worth keepimg an eye on.

Jack Wilja Koolies

Totaly agree Jack.
I'll definetly be adding it to the list of questions I ask new Koolie breeders when we find them as well as our own long time breeders.
The replies could be interesting.
Thanks for the heads up Jack

Why not conduct a 10-15 ( or less) question survey on breeders observations, That way the responses would could be collated and the information used for future reference and/or discussion point for hte club newsletter

Hi Lawson Legend

I don't know if that would help because I have been breeding dogs for a long time and only recently noticed this trait in two of my dogs.

I think that the post here will be seen by other breeders who can keep an eye on their dogs to see if this has any creedance.

They can then add a post and we should be able to determine if this is usual behaviour.

The test would then be to find a mating that only produced natural heelers and then introduce a bitch to the pup's that is a natural header and see if these pup's end up being natural headers or heelers.

It may still be the case that the disposition of the pup's is genetically set
and what I have observed was just the dogs playing.


Jack Wilja Koolies

Good thoughts, thanks guys, a questionair is not out of the question, there so many member who are not on the internet.
The newsletter being their only connection with other members.
I try to put conversations from the forum into the newsletter, but sadly I have yet to get feed back.
Maybe if I sent out something like you suggested Lawson around July when members are renewing their memberships we might get a better response.

So what to put in the questionair?

Not too much but something to peek their interest, something to make them comfortable to supply any information they would like the club to record.

Have a think guys this could be real help.

I was so interested in reading the posts I almost forgot to say hello to all my "Aussie" friends. Hi!

Hope all is well in your world. I can see you are in the middle of some really interesting ideas. The text in black is T.J.'s

2. The Koolie name from where did it come, was it a mispronunciation, a misspelling of Collie or the derogative term for a laborer. Do you have other theories/speculations on where it came from.

From everything I've been reading lately it seems highly likely that collie colley would have been used as the generic term for sheepdog; then adding the further distinction of German as opposed to the *common* collie (if there was such a thing.

I've wondered if Coolie was used to identify working dogs, why more strains of dogs wouldn't have been called coolies. I'm looking forward to see what you come up with.



Here is another piece of fact that has been uncovered.
Would just love your opinion on it.

The early breeds which came to our shores in the 1800s were not as many have presumed sheepdogs or herding breeds, a very large portion, looking to have arrived before any herding breeds, were the terriers for ratting and greyhounds for hunting.
Records show that our early settlers, the ones who had the money to set up the sheep stations and breed the Marino and the cattle, brought with them a combination of Greyhound, Terriers and later on as they became established a small solid colored working breed possibly of Collie influence.

According to an account dated September 01, 1911, collies were not yet deep-rooted in the west at this time, “Dogs on a California Ranch” in Country Life in America, L. H. Durant a large rancher from Los Angeles who used four different breeds on his California ranch and considered each one essential for its particular work including Airedales that he used to tend sheep. He said, “I find the Airedale terrier a practical and useful dog on the ranch.” They were very useful in working among sheep and goats, with little training. Then he went on to say, “The Collie shown in one of the pictures is what we call an old-fashioned sheep-dog, of which there are comparatively few even in the West, yet, I believe that they are more useful than the present sharp-nosed, high-bred type. The Collie’s particular duty is to keep the livestock away from the yard, and especially at five o’clock every night to keep the hogs from the separator house. This work he takes great pride in, and allows none of the other dogs to interfere with it. He is wonderfully successful.”

Here is some of the information we recently put together to document the Basque connection to Australian Shepherds in an article titled:

Vanished Trails and Faded Memories of Australian Shepherd History:

Some historians propose Basques and their sheepdogs from the Pyrenees played an insignificant role in the history of the Australian Shepherd breed. They believe that Basques did not to go Australia with their "little blue dogs" and then come to the U.S. with boatloads of sheep. They state further that the Basque herders came directly to the U.S., and hardly ever brought dogs with them, and that most that came did not have sheepherding experience in the old country.

Why, then were the early breeders so persuaded the dogs were mainly Basque derivation? Were they mistaken? Could it be, as has been suggested, that “the theory of Basque origin probably came about from the understandable assumption by some breeders who obtained their first dogs from Basque sheepherders, that the dogs themselves must be of Basque background, and it makes a romantic picture to envision the Basque sheepherders being followed around the world by "their little blue dogs," but this picture, nonetheless, is erroneous." *1


Juanita Ely, a sheep rancher and one of the oldest documented breeders of record affirmed, “The blue Australian Shepherd dogs first came to Australia from the Great Pyrenees on the Spain side as it is a small country with Andorra, a little country lying between Spain and France of only 191 square mile. There isn't much work for the boys to do so they take their little blue dogs and go into Australia to herd sheep. A lot of these boys are Basque, coming from a region in north Spain .” *2

She also noted, “The wool from Australia was finer and much longer staple than we had here in the United States so we brought boatloads of sheep from Australia to Seattle , Washington. The Basque herder and his little blue dog coming over to care for the sheep on the boats and so started working in that vicinity, then located in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. As these dogs were brought to the United States from Australia, we speak of them as Australian Shepherds.” *2

While we don't know exactly how many Basque came through Australia . We do know that according to William Douglas, director of the Basque studies program at the University of Nevada; Basque emigration and Australia presents an “obvious enigma.” He asserts that despite the fact that Australia is world-renowned for its sheep industry and Basques were the primary source of sheepherders in America , none engaged in the sheep business in Australia. Among the historical and ecological reasons he cites why Basques failed to gain a foothold in the Australian sheep industry include, the fact that Australia's best sheep country was monopolized by the earliest British settlers, and the sheep needed little direct care since they were raised on year round permanent pastures (rather than trailed between winter and summer ranges) as they were in the American West. *3

In Australia, sheep were and are grazed on pasture areas year round. They are not moved to different areas except in times of drought. There are no climatic extremes on the continent. Something like 40 percent of Australia has only two seasons, a warm, dry season and a hot, wet season. They have only small areas where they get permanent snow in winter and these areas are not used to any extent for grazing. *4

Despite the fact that a number of Basques who came to the United States were not shepherds in their homeland and didn't bring dogs. What is not recognized is the detail that a lot of herders were hired with a contract to herd sheep in the western ranches who were shepherds in their homeland. And, when they came to the United States they brought their sheepdogs with them.

This was during the time; the Western Range Association negotiated an agreement with the government of Spain to recruit sheepherders due to the acute labor shortage during W.W. II. Severe labour shortages in the 1940s led to Public Laws 587 and 307 in 1950 and 1952, respectively, which authorized recruitment of greater numbers of Basque sheepherders (Land & Douglass, 1985). Basques came by the thousands from Spain to Idaho , where they comprised much of the work force in sheep operations.” But, in the mid-1950s, with the return of troops from Korea, Idaho sheepmen lamented that ‘the Immigration Department started sending our Basque herders back to Viscaya…and we had to work out an agreement with the Department of Labor to secure H-2 status [for the sheepherders]' (Shadduck, 1990). *5

By the mid-1950s, labour had become a serious problem and, in 1956, Drumheller hired Gregorio Zorroua as foreman who soon hired an exclusively Basque crew of herders and tenders (Washington Wool Growers, 1983). Despite references that insisted that few Basque immigrants had previously worked as sheepherders (Douglas & Bilbao, 1975), sheepmen in Washington State recruited Spanish Basques who had worked with livestock for many years before their arrival in America, including ‘herding sheep for a transhumant outfit that trailed from the arid lowlands to the Pyrenees summer ranges' (McGregor, 1982). The Drumheller sheep business lasted until the 1970s.*5

One of the few legal channels for Spanish immigrants in the twentieth century were contracts for sheepherding, with Basques from northern Spain receiving strong preference by potential employers (Douglass & Bilbao, 1975). Although imports of livestock as well as packing materials and crop seed were strictly regulated (for diseases and contaminants) after the first half of the twentieth century, little attention was paid to wool (R. Westbrooks, personal communication) or to the personal possessions of immigrants, such as dogs (J. Kirkelie, personal communication). A retiree in Aragon related that, when he went to California to herd sheep in the early 1970s, sheepherders coming from Spain brought only a few personal items; but in his father's generation (i.e. during the period immediately after World War II), many of the immigrants brought their herding dogs with them. (A. Oros, personal communication). That herders brought their dogs was corroborated by another interview in which a Basque immigrant and his four brothers all brought their dogs, with sheep fleeces as bedding, when they flew to the US in the 1940s under sheep herding contracts (J. Larranaga, personal communication). *5

The “little blue dogs,” so to speak were associated with Idaho , the Pacific Northwest and Colorado. Teddy, the little blue Basque dog Juanita Ely got in the 1920s was the first blue dog she had ever seen, but it wasn't until the time around W. W. II they started showing up in any numbers and ranchers started breeding them in earnest.

The boy, a teenager from whom Juanita acquired her first “little blue dog”, was Andorran, yet he identified himself as Basque. The little country of Andorra is co-ruled by the Princes of Andorra (Bishop of Spain and the President of France). Both Spain and France grazed large flocks of sheep (and goats) on Andorra 's vast mountain pastures each summer. The Spanish owned flocks were tended by Shepherds from the Madriu Valley in the heart of the Pyrenees. Early foundation bloodlines were based on dogs from the Pyrenees Mountains.

The Pyrenees are not as sharp a divide between France and Spain as they are generally credited with being. At places along the summit of the range it is difficult to judge where the water divide may be. Nor is there a cultural divide; for the Catalans are found in almost equal strength on the two slopes of the eastern portion of the range as are the Basques at the western."With pastoral life as a prime element in the existences of both the Spanish and French mountaineers, these pastures are, in summer, the true focus of the local economies. The extent of the pasture rights held by the people is as important to measure of the prosperity of the valley communes as is the amount of cultivated land. Indeed the communes frequently hold privileges upon the pla land in disregard of the national boundaries. The flocks and herds of the two people mix here." - Roderick Peattie, Geographical Review, 1929. *6

Feo was brought from the Pyrenees to the United States by a contract herder in the 1950s. By 1960, our friend, Joe Fernandez had gotten him from Juanita and was using him along with our little Goody (Goodie) in Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico where he was running several bands of sheep consisting of 3,000 head per band. It was a large operation. *2

Ina Ottinger of Casper, Wyoming, stated that her parents imported two dogs from Spain in 1937. She had the original shipping certificates. She continued breeding that line of Wyoming ranch dogs into the middle seventies. She also acquired a little red merle male that looked just like Las Rocosa Sydney that was brought to the United States by a Basque sheep shearer during the World's Fair in Seattle. When the herder left to go back home he couldn't take the dog with him so she bought him. Some of the offspring are found in pedigrees as Wyoming Ranch dogs. *2

Unfortunately, as we've explained before, under the old registry system, each time that a dog changed ownership, the previous owner's name was deleted and the new owner's name entered as the prefix to the dog's name. That part of history becomes obscured. Take Ely's Spike for example. On some pedigrees, Ely's Spike is listed as being sired by Sisler's Spike, when in fact; Sisler's Spike and Ely's Spike are one in the same. Juanita got Spike from Gene Sisler (Jay's brother). Spike's sire and dam are listed as “Unknown.” The old-timers may not have known the name of the sire and dam, but they knew where they came from.

Spike came to this country from the Pyrenees Mountains with a Basque herder. Spike had a harsh coat very much like the dog pictured with the sheepherder on the Drumheller ranch on page 32 in The Total Australian Shepherd: Beyond the Beginning. There are many, many others like that.

Sometimes when the dog changed hands it became foundation registered by a totally different name with “Unknown” ancestry. This activity all took place in the early years from the 1940s to the 1960s when the foundation dogs were first being registered as a breed. Even though their names appear in pedigrees, many of the early dogs weren't registered. They had already lived and died.

Eyewitness accounts provide a context or framework for Australian Shepherd history. Regardless of which theories researchers subscribe to, you cannot ignore the oral histories of the early breeders which have been confirmed by independent sources. Even though they are not recorded on paper it doesn't mean the accounts didn't happen or that they didn't play a primary role in shaping the breed.

The pioneer breeders were not dog people. They were sheep ranchers whose livelihoods depended on the dogs. The dogs were an essential tool, but not the focus of the operation. The ranchers didn't care what color they were or if the dogs came from Spain , Timbuktu or Australia . There were unique qualities associated with the little Basque dogs that didn't exist in the breeds available at the time or they wouldn't have searched them out.

The foundation breeders had no motive to exaggerate the story, but every reason to convey the facts as they were because without the particulars, the opportunity to find root stock would be greatly decreased. This had nothing to do with creating a romantic breed history. Remember at that time there was no association or registry. History doesn't change; it simply needs to be rediscovered.

By Ernest Hartnagle and Jeanne Joy Hartnagle-Taylor

Sources

1. Rorem, Linda, Australian Shepherd History, Dog World Magazine, 1987

2. Hartnagle, Carol Ann, Hartnagle, Ernest, The Total Australian Shepherd: Beyond the Beginning , Hoflin Publishing, 2006

3. Douglass, William A., Basques in Australia , Basque Studies Program Newsletter, Issue 18, 1978

4. Cooper, Barbara, Working Kelpie Council, Personal Communication, January 2007.

5. Roche, C. T., Vilatersana, R., Garnatje, T., Gamarra, R., Garcia-Jacas, N. Susanna, A., Thill, D. C., Tracking an invader to its origins: the invasion case history of Crupina vulgaris, Weed Research Volume 43, Issue 3, European Weed Research Society, 2003

6. Peattie, Roderick , Andorra : A Study in Mountain Geography, Geographical Review, Vol. 19, No. 2, 1929

Thanks Jeanne Joy

That was a good bit of history.

I have over the last 12 months spoken to many old farmers and long term breeders of Koolies and they all say the same.

Fifty years ago the Koolie was different to what is today and there was a type.

A dog with a short coat, pricked ears, limited or no white, a dark coat showing some merle pattern often with 1 wall (blue ) eye.

If this is the case

How did we get to the present range of colors and how would now a suitable dog be found to DNA test to compere to another breed that has probably
had the same happen to it.

I am trying to breed back to this standard as I believe that some of the problems that the Koolie now has weren't present in that era.

I think that the history you have shown also causes one to consider that they may also have outsourced to improve the breed or because they couldn't find suitable dogs as is the case with the Koolie.

We may never know the outcome unless dogs that can be guaranteed pure can be DNA tested from different breeds.

I think that if a dog was used in this test that was outcrossed 150 years ago we will end up with a result that would not represent the breed as it should be.

I believe that it is going to be very hard to find such dogs if not impossible.

I don't put to much creedance in the literature as this could be tainted as many people are biased in some direction and the background of the author would not always be known and therefore could because of personal beliefs be tainted.


Jack Wilja Koolies