Miniature American (aka Mini Australian) Shepherds
Canadian Kennel Club Registered • Health Tested for over 270 diseases
About Us
Whistling Ridge is a small network of individuals dedicated to ethical breeding. We raise quality puppies that will become beloved members of your home. We believe that everyone deserves the joy of puppy love, and are committed to providing the best possible start for our puppies and their new families.
We are available to our adoptive families long after our puppies are settled in their new homes, offering support for life. We are passionate about our work and dedicated to providing the best possible experience for our clients and their new family members. We raise CKC Registered Miniature American Shepherds, which were formerly as Miniature Australian Shepherds. In recent years
recent years the became formally known as Miniature American Shepherd, but the dog has the same qualities and endearing characteristics. The breed was officially approved by Agriculture Canada under the Animal Pedigree Act, and added to the Canadian Kennel Club registry as a fully recognized breed, January 2025. They are a herding
breed, with high intelligence and energy. How they are bred strongly influences how that energy manifests and how manageable it is. For our breeding program, we hold back puppies that show promising temperament and characteristic to produce stable, non-reactive off spring, to ensure excellent pets for our adoptive families. Energy is part
of who they are, as a breed. We do not try to breed lazy dogs. They still have energy and love the outdoors, but we aim for balance, so they are trainable and make excellent family pets for a broader range of environments, from studio apartments to farms. We test for over 270 diseases, including 12 breed specific, and ensure that we are breeding for health and breed standard. We select mating pairs to better the breed, and produce excellent Miniature American Shepherds, strong in body and temperament.
Past Litters
Why choose Whistling Ridge?
At Whistling Ridge we pride ourselves on raising exceptional puppies. This begins with selecting breeding stock of excellent quality and health, sound temperament, and within the breed standard. All adults in our breeding program are health tested to ensure our adoptive families receive healthy puppies, free of genetic disease, so that they can live a long and full life. We stand behind the health of our puppies with a 1-year genetic health guarantee, as outlined in a contract provided to all our our adoptive families. We raise our puppies indoors so they are well socialized to household activity, and the normal coming and going of family members and guests of the human and canine sort alike. Not to mention the occasional political canvasser or sales person, and various delivery persons. Blenders, vacuum cleaners -- robot and other -- all become part of normal day-to-day life. When guests come, puppies are the centre of attention, as we gather to snuggle them and visit. As soon as they begin eating solids, we begin teaching the entire litter to sit politely before eating so that by the time they leave, they have excellent mealtime manners. At around 5 weeks, we begin the potty-training process, and by 6 weeks we begin crate training, and have them sleeping through the night by the time they are adopted. While they need to transition to their new home on each front, our pups come well on the way to being trained. We do the hard work so that our adoptive families can enjoy their puppies with less stress through the transition. We provide a brochure to help with training and transition. And we stay available to offer support for the life of the puppy.
Australian v/s American Shepherds ... what's the difference?
Miniature American Shepherds come from same bloodlines as the Australian Shepherds. From the 1960's until 2015, these smaller Aussies were known as Miniature Australian Shepherds, or Mini Aussies. When breeding Mini Aussies to Standard Aussies, they were not considered a mixed breed when they were called Mini Aussies or Miniature Australian Shepherds. This changed in 2015 when AKC recognized Miniature American Shepherds as their own breed, While very similar in many ways and having the same bloodlines, the breed standards are unique to each breed. The transition has not been without challenge, on paper, but the Miniature American Shepherd breed remains the same delightful family dog that the beloved Aussie is known to be. Both are loyal, sensitive, unbelievably intelligent dogs that are easy to train, and are very loyal. Over the years, having had and loved a range of dogs, when we met the Aussies -- regardless of their name -- we fell in love at a whole new level. Their brilliant minds and trainability, their gentleness and deep affection and their undying loyalty... what is not to love?