"We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are."
(Max Dupree)

I haven't been around the politics of Australian Shepherds very long, less than four years. I wonder if they have always been so lively. Just since I've been paying attention, a whole raft of different proposals and discussions have taken place, all focusing upon the future of the working Australian Shepherd. These have included:

• A Working Description formulated by the Stockdog Committee of ASCA
• A Farm Trial program, created by a small group and presently being reviewed by a subcommittee of the Stockdog Committee for possible inclusion under the ASCA Stockdog Trial umbrella
• A Cattle Talent Evaluation program, envisioned as a non-club offering, which is presently more substantial than an idea but less solid than an organization — perhaps best described as in an exploratory phase
• The founding of the Australian Shepherd Trialing Association, a venue entirely separate from ASCA, for non-judged time-and-point trials

The above are only the ones which have really caught fire, not the many others I have heard discussed.

What's going on here? People do not invest the kind of time and energy that all these movements represent, unless they feel quite strongly that they are needed. What is so wrong with the status quo that so many feel dissatisfied?

These are winds blowing in different directions, but they all seem to arise from a common agreement that the trialing system ASCA presently adheres to contains some inherent flaws that need addressing.

Given the astonishingly violent antipathies between opposing groups, it is peculiar how similar their interests really are. Everyone wants a system that rewards the kind of work Aussies shine at. Everyone appreciates creative and challenging trial courses. Few knowlegeable people would agree that ASCA stockdog titles are any incontrovertible proof of working talent.

ASCA is a large organization, and its membership is overwhelmingly dominated by those interested primarily in conformation shows and dog sports. It seems to me that the leadership of ASCA disproportionately supports the much smaller working Aussie membership, and to me that's a good thing, even if not particularly fair. But even so, generating useful change in ASCA appears to be an excruciatingly slow and uneven process, with no particular promise that any great idea won't die, either from ignorant opposition or sheer inertia.

There are of course plenty of people who see nothing particular to fix. But I believe the winds of change are blowing. ASCA originated at a time when Aussies were unquestionably one of the few true working breeds. That's changed. Now Aussies are more often viewed as the most recent example of the ruin of a viable stockdog breed, and even those of purely working ancestry are often judged as simply not as useable as the eye breeds which now dominate the ranching industry.

The ASCA stockdog program began when there was no competition for a trialing venue for loose-eyed breeds. Now other groups such as the AHBA and even the AKC have developed similar trialing programs, and stockdog associations have demonstrated how to put together cattle trials that are a real challenge for a cowdog.

The ASCA titling system has over time become something of a straitjacket. For titles to have reasonable equivalence, every trial must be a similar as possible to every other. And since climbing the title ladder has assumed so much importance, more creative options such as ranch trialing and the ranch dog certification program, which aren't a part of the ladder, have sunk into obscurity.

One question that lies at the heart of these discussions is: what kind of stockdog do we want the Aussie to be? A hobby herding dog capable of moving ducks and dogbroke sheep around an arena? A cowdog that is tough, biddable, and savvy enough to take on any other cowdog breed head to head? And, will changing or adding new evaluation systems, trialing venues, or anything else, make a difference?

I guess time will tell.